n ancient times, the temple of Juno Menta stood here, which gave us the modern word Mint, the source of money. It was also the home of the famous Roman geese, that raised the alarm and saved Rome on the night the Gauls attacked.
Juno was asked for help with all sorts of feminine trouble: cradle to grave goddessing. The function hasn't changed that much, with the active worship of the Virgin consistently entreated for all sorts of favours. The marble steps used to be climbed by women on their knees seeking intercession. The day we were visited we were lucky to see a forces wedding - Navy we think. The groom wore a light blue sash over his uniform, and many of the guests sported swords in exquisitely shiny scabbards, alongside their gold braid and peaked caps.
The church itself is rather like a market place, with its huge marble-floored nave and elegant columns and balconies rising around you. There is a very ornate altar, and this day it was decorated with lots of flowers. There are (at least) two other important sites in this church. One is unknown, but this is the church in which Gibbon sat as he resolved to write the history of the Rome: the books became The Decline and Fall. The other is the little statue known at Il Bambino, a jewel encrusted copy of a small olivewood carving of the Christ-child. The original, burnt in 1994, was said to have been carved by an angel from the wood of a tree from Gethsemane, and was credited with miraculous powers of healing. It was regularly taken out to visit people who were terminally ill. We couldn't discover if the new copy is believed to have the same effect.