Built on the remains of a Roman villa, it was the place – according to tradition – where a Christian community founded by the Apostle Peter gathered . The church is also called “of Charity” after the name of the Confraternity that officiated there.
Of Romanesque architecture, but deeply renovated after World War II, it has a brick facade with three doors, the central one of which is flanked by two broken columns. In the modern restoration all the Baroque elements that had altered the original structure were removed.
The square bell tower retains the basement and second floor of the 12th cent. , while the two shelves above are from the 14th century.
The interior has three naves closed at the end by the apse and marked by two rows of columns, 11 of which are of cipollino marble, presumably recovered from a Roman building in the area. Light came from the outer side walls through single-lancet windows.
A well-preserved cosmatesque floor of polychrome marble remains in the nave, referable to the original church. The restored crypt preserves remains of frescoes.
Originally the church was frescoed on the walls, in the apse and also in the crypt, with an important pictorial cycle referable to 12th-13th century Latian painting. Today only two frescoes remain on the walls: a Crucifixion scene and a Madonna and Child between Saints Peter and Paul.
