As we announced Michelangelo’s Last Judgment in the Sistine Chapel is under maintenance, so getting to see it in all its glory may be tricky if you’re visiting before Easter. No worries, though! Rome is packed with masterpieces that deserve just as much attention, without the crushing crowds (but yes, the silence rule still applies… these are holy places, after all).

In this new post, we want to point you toward seven churches where you’ll find extraordinary ceiling art while the Sistine Chapel work wraps up!

Most tourists visiting the area between Termini Station and the Monti neighborhood check out the Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore – especially after Pope Francis’s death – then turn around and head elsewhere. What a mistake! Just a few steps from its golden ceilings, you’ll find a treasure that 99% of Rome visitors completely miss. The Chapel of San Zenone inside the Basilica of Santa Prassede is a golden jewel box, a tiny 9th-century chapel completely covered in Byzantine mosaics. OK, they’re not frescoes like in the Sistine Chapel, but they are thousands of tiny tiles placed with a patience that would drive anyone crazy today. Pope Paschal I had it built as a mausoleum for his mother Theodora, and he spared no expense!

Our tip: Double check the Basilica’s opening hours, and maybe consider a guided tour .

One of Rome’s four papal basilicas, yet surprisingly peaceful. once again, you’ll find mosaics, and Byzantine ones at that: those on the triumphal arch and apse are spectacular. The basilica was rebuilt after a devastating fire, but the mosaics (from the 13th century!) were miraculously spared.

Our tip: Entry to the church is always free, but consider paying to visit the extraordinary medieval cloister or the archaeological excavations below the basilica.

Just steps from the Vatican but completely off the tourist track, this neighborhood church holds what we might call a “fresco-that’s-not-a-fresco”: an aluminum dome pierced with 160 colored crystal stars that create breathtaking plays of light. An extraordinary example of how sacred art can completely reinvent itself, far from traditional conventions. It was built for Pope Leo XIII in the late 1800s with contributions from 27 Catholic nations. A peaceful, beautiful corner right in the heart of Prati that proves “looking up” in a Roman church can surprise you even outside the realm of classical frescoes.

Our tip: Prati is a neighborhood dotted with interesting but not-famous churches: explore them all!

In this section, you’ll find two churches instead of one (actually, it’s technically three!). If the Sistine has its restorers and the now-internet-famous Church of Sant’Ignazio di Loyola scares you off with its extremely long lines, nearby you have two other choices for majestic frescoes. Closer is the Church of the Gesù, with frescoes by Giovanni Battista Gaulli, nicknamed “Baciccio.” Perspective tricks like at Sant’Ignazio are also a thing here, with some of the figures breaking out of the fresco surface, almost “escaping” from the ceiling!

Further away but still in the same area, at the end of Corso Vittorio Emanuele II, there’s Santa Maria in Vallicella, AKA the Chiesa Nuova. Pietro da Cortona decorated this church with a monumental cycle that’s an explosion of colors and possesses that typically Baroque drama that makes the ceiling seem about to open up toward Paradise.

Our tip: Halfway between the two churches is the tiny church of San Girolamo della Carità, steps from Piazza Farnese – spectacular and richly decorated, but with tricky opening hours – check it out if you can!

In a small square between Piazza Navona and Piazza del Fico, this little church with a concave facade by (him again!) Pietro da Cortona holds a gem: Raphael’s Sibyls, in the Chigi Chapel. The 1514 fresco shows four sibyls, pagan prophetesses announcing Christ’s coming. The composition is ‘s balance, with clear Michelangelesque influences reworked with that grace only Raphael could infuse.

Our tip: The famous Chiostro del Bramante museum is right next door, perfect for coffee (in a spectacular setting!) after your visit.

We’ll close by returning to mosaics, this time by Pietro Cavallini (13th century again) in the Basilica of Santa Maria in Trastevere, created in a style that marks the transition from Byzantine to Gothic. Cavallini was one of the first artists to attempt giving his art three-dimensionality, anticipating Giotto’s innovations by decades.

Our tip: If you’re crossing the Tiber to reach the Basilica, come early morning or late afternoon and you’ll have the church almost to yourself.