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# San Saba church in Rome, founded in the 6th century for Greek monks who fled Palestine
- URL: https://theparnassian.com/en/odna-iz-samykh-neobyknovennykh-tserkvei-rima-bazilika-san-saba-na-menshem-grebne-aventinskogo-kholma/
- Published: 2025-04-18T17:19:52.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-02T18:38:23.000Z
- Author: Alexandr Radayev
- Tags: Architecture, Faith, Heritage, Rome

One of the Most Extraordinary Churches in Rome: the Basilica of San Saba on the Lesser Crest of the Aventine Hill.

Mere walls of old plaster and a mere floor, one would think; yet in the Roman church of San Saba they form a veritable chronicle of styles. The church was founded at the end of the 6th century for Greek monks who had fled Palestine, and whom Pope Gregory the Great settled here, on the estate of his mother Silvia.

The Greek monastery was founded on this spot just as the population of Rome was shrinking sharply and the surrounding territories were left almost deserted. For a long time the "Greek" monastery of San Saba performed an important diplomatic function, representing the see of Constantinople in Rome and sending its monks to church councils in Byzantium in the name of the Pope.

The church of Saba was rebuilt in the 10th, 13th and 15th centuries and passed several times from one order to another: the Benedictines, the Cistercians and, in the end, the Jesuits.

From the outside the church looks unremarkable, but within it presents a rather original mixture of styles and decoration from different eras.

![](https://theparnassian.com/content/images/2026/09/photo_16053@18-04-2025_20-19-52.jpg)