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The Basilica San Clemente is one of the oldest churches in Rome, and commemorates St. Clement who was the fourth Pope and lived in the 1st century AD. The 12th-century basilica is built on top of a well-preserved 4th-century church (with many frescoes), which was built next to a 3rd-century Mithraic Temple. The upper church, a long rectangular nave with a luminous 12th century Byzantine mosaic at the far end of the basilica, was constructed over the ruins of an earlier basilica dating back to the 4th century. The 4th century church was built over a small temple to Mithras (2nd century), the Mithraeum adjoins a 1st century Roman apartment house (or building).

The basilica stands on two lower buildings, separated by a narrow alley wide ca. 70 cm, today passable thanks to the excavations: a large warehouse building (horreum) and a residential building (insula), better known among scholars as the Mithreus building. Below this have been found traces of previous buildings, which have not been excavated and studied well to get to know them in depth. Not long after Christian persecution ended under Constantine (313 AD), Christianity became the official religion of the empire (380s AD) and the hall became a full-fledged church. In 867 AD, the relics of St. Clement were retrieved and laid to rest here in the lower basilica. When the upper church was built in the 12th century, the reliquary of St. Clement was buried under the high altar. The Basilica of St. Clement hosted two papal councils in the 5th century. It was restored in the 6th, 8th, and 9th centuries; frescoes were added during each restoration. The upper church of San Clemente was given to the Irish Dominicans, who were expelled from Britain, in 1677. It was restored in the 18th century.

This ancient church was transformed over the centuries from a private home and site of clandestine Christian worship in the first century to a grand public basilica by the 6th century, reflecting the emerging Roman Catholic Church's growing legitimacy and power. In the late 1st century AD, an “insula” (apartment building) and mansion were built here, separated by a narrow Roman street. These were built on top of earlier structures that were destroyed in the great fire of 64 AD under Nero. A Christian community is believed to have met in the mansion by the 2nd century. The community was known as the titulus Clementis, which, according to custom, was probably named like that after the owner of the mansion. Some believe this was the Roman consul and Christian martyr Titus Flavius Clemens (d. 215). In the early 3rd century, the inner courtyard of the insula was made into a Mithraeum, or Temple of Mithras. Mithras was a sun god of Persian origin whose cult was for men only and involved secret initiation rituals in small, cave-like structures. Mitra is a very important deity of Hinduism and Persian religion and also a Hellenistic and Roman god, who was worshipped in the mystery religions from the first century BC. to the 5th century AD.

According to the stories of the life of St. Clement, he was thrown by the Romans in the Black Sea with an iron anchor to his neck for having preached Christianity. Around 868 St. Cyril, who was in Crimea to evangelize the Slavic peoples, came to a tumulus of bones and an anchor. Immediately it was believed that these were the relics of Clement. Transported to Rome by Cirillo, they were deposed by Pope Adrian II, under the high altar of the lower Basilica of San Clemente. The Basilica of San Clemente in Rome is dedicated to Pope Clement I, 4th Pope of Christianity, revered by the Catholic Church and the Orthodox Church. It is currently governed by the Irish Province of the Dominicans. It has the dignity of a minor basilica.

As to use :
The story of Pope Clement I, also known as Clement Romano, to whom the basilica is dedicated because his probable remains are buried there, is very fascinating and lends itself to a didactic activity of hagiographic and historical research on the life of the Saint, 4th Pope of Christianity, revered by the Catholic Church and the Orthodox Church.
Equally fascinating is the research around the Mithraic religion, of oriental origin, which, during the 4th century, had also taken root in Rome, as the architectural remains tell us.
The activity could be introduced with the suggested video in Italian. Subsequently the class can be divided into two groups, one that can research and narrate the history of Clement Romano and the other can work on the religion of Mithras, listing all the signs that can be found in the basilica (frescoes, inscriptions, remains of architecture).