Lentorama 2026: Hic es: aedificia Vaticani

Day 11: Church of San Pellegrino in the Vatican, Via dei Pellegrini

Built around 800 by Pope Leo III, it is named for St. Peregrine of Auxerre, who was martyred while serving as that city's first bishop in the third century AD. It was originally San Pellegrino in Naumachia, referencing  nearby facility for staging mock naval battles.

After a couple of stints assigned to a Vatican monastery, Clement X gave the church to the Swiss Guard in the 17th century, and for a time it would be the national church of Switzerland in Rome. Today it's the home church of the Vatican's gendarmerie and fire fighters.