The tour of the 7 Churches, an Easter tradition

“Fare il giro delle sette chiese” (“To tour the seven churches”) is an expression that is often heard, but today it has taken on a different meaning from the original. We use it to say “to have worked hard to do something without having succeeded”, but originally the expression literally meant to make a pilgrimage of the seven Churches in Rome, an ancient Catholic custom dating back to at least the 7th century, which was formalized in the 16th century.

The tour was done on Shrove Thursday and consisted of a circular route of more than 20 kilometers visiting the seven most important churches in Rome (four major papal basilicas and three important minor basilicas): Basilica of Saint John Lateran, Basilica of Saint Peter in the Vatican, Basilica of Saint Paul Outside the Walls, Basilica of Saint Mary Major, Basilica of Saint Lawrence Outside the Walls, Basilica of the Holy Cross in Jerusalem and the Basilica of Saint Sebastian Outside the Walls.
It took two days for pilgrims to complete this journey while stopping to pray in each church, so much so that after some time it took on a sort of penitential form, and the pilgrimage was moved to the end of Lent period, in memory of the journey of the Passion of Christ. Also for this reason today the saying has taken on its current meaning.

Although the custom was purely Roman, it soon spread to other cities, including Florence. Here the tour of the seven churches should not fail to include those of greatest historical and artistic importance. We therefore recommend Santa Maria Maggiore, Santa Maria Novella, Santa Croce, Santa Felicita, Santo Lorenzo, Santissima Annunziata and Santi Apostoli, but you can customize this "pilgrimage" as you prefer. It will also be an excellent opportunity to admire the artistic masterpieces contained in these churches!