Visitors offered access to mediaeval crypt and ancient Roman road.
Rome’s Venerable English College, the oldest British institution outside the UK, is expanding its guided tours to include public access to its underground areas for the first time.
New guided tours will make it possible to visit the mediaeval underground crypt, which houses a Crucifixion dating to the early 15th century attributed to the school of Antoniazzo Romano, and a section of the ancient Via Triumphalis, which crossed the Regola and Parione districts.
The Venerable English College is located on Via di Monserrato, near Piazza Farnese, where it has stood for more than 650 years.
Crypt and the Crucifixion
The underground crypt was largely excavated in the late 15th century under the patronage of King Henry VII. Originally serving as a meeting place for the Confraternity of St Thomas of Canterbury, it later became a privileged burial site.
Visitors can now view an ossuary established in 1818 to house remains recovered from tombs desecrated during the French occupation.
A primary highlight of the crypt is a rare 15th-century fresco of the Crucifixion, attributed to the school of Antoniazzo Romano.
This artwork originally resided in the Salone del Crocifisso on nearby Via dei Cappellari and served as a final place of prayer for those condemned to death by the Court of the Curia Savella.
Legend suggests that Beatrice Cenci prayed before this image prior to her execution in the late 16th century.
Via Triumphalis
Six metres below the current street level lies a significant section of an ancient Roman road, discovered during renovations in 1870.
Identified as part of the Via Triumphalis, the road once connected the Roman Forum to the Vatican Hill.
The site is also linked to the Stabula Factionis Venetae, the headquarters for the most popular of the four chariot-racing teams that competed at the Circus Maximus.
A brief history of the Venerable English College
in 1362 as a hospice for English and Welsh pilgrims, over the centuries the historic building has hosted cardinals, monarchs, diplomats and intellectuals, including Thomas Cromwell and John Milton.
The hospice became a seminary in 1579 when Pope Gregory XIII issued the bull of foundation of the English College.
Pope Pius V had excommunicated Queen Elizabeth I and in 1585 she banned Catholic priests from entering her kingdom under pain of execution.
Over the next 100 years, students of the seminary who returned home as priests faced persecution, with 44 former students martyred.
After being ransacked during the Napoleonic occupation in 1798, the college was re-established in 1818 and continues its mission today, training around 30 seminarians and priests every year.
Visitor information
Public access to the Venerable English College is available exclusively through guided tours organised by Mirabilia Art Wonders.
Tours are held every Saturday, in English at 10.30, and in Italian at 11.30.
The tours include the Church of St Thomas of Canterbury, the Refectory and the Chapel of the Martyrs, with special access to the Crypt and Roman road on designated Saturdays.
Tickets cost €12 and must be purchased in advance via the official website.
