Chiesa di Sant'Anselmo all'Aventino

The chiesa di Sant’Anselmo all’Aventino is a church in Rome. It is in the Cavalieri di Malta square, in the rione Ripa. It is a "Badia Primiziale" of the order of Saint Benedict.

The church is more modern than it looks: it was built by Francesco Vespignani between 1892 and 1896, on a land given by the Knights of Malta to the Benedictines, who made it their central church in Rome, together with the monastery and the theological university.

The church shows a neo-romanic style, Vespignani built it according to the project of the Belgium Benedictine abbot Ildebrando of Hemptime. The church is made of three naves, divided by granite columns. The ceiling is a truss and the apse is covered by a mosaic. The crypt is made of 5 naves. the church is built on the ruins of an ancient Roman domus of the 2nd-3rd century A.D., still preserved under the church. From this domus comes a mosaic showing the myth of Orpheus, now in the monastery.

Nowadays the church is mainly known to the local Roman people because of the performance of Gregorian singers during the Sunday mass.

Next to the church there are the "Pontificio Ateneo Sant'Anselmo" and the "Pontificio Istituto Liturgico".