San Paolo alle Tre Fontane

San Paolo alle Tre Fontane (Italian), in English, St Paul at the Three Fountains is a church dedicated to St Paul the Apostle, at the presumed site of his martyrdom in Rome. In Latin it is known as Sancti Pauli ad Aquas Salvias (St Paul at Aquae Salviae).

Since 2010 the church is a cardinalitial diaconia, with Mauro Piacenza as its cardinal deacon.

Legend relates that, when St Paul was decapitated, his head bounced three times and fountains miraculously sprang up at each place where it touched the ground. However, the springs, called the Aquae Salviae, as in the Latin name for the church, were known in pre-Christian times, and excavations have revealed ancient mosaic pavements.

The first church here was built in the 5th century. It was rebuilt in 1599 by Giacomo della Porta for Cardinal Pietro Aldobrandini. The church belongs to the Trappist Tre Fontane Abbey.

There are three symbolic monumental covers to the fountains said to have sprung up at St Paul's death. The fountains were sealed in 1950 because pollution made it dangerous to drink the water.

A column in the church is said to be the one to which St Paul was bound when he was beheaded, but this seems to be a late story and it is probably just a column from Roman ruins nearby. A Crucifixion canvas by Guido Reni was previously found in the church, it is now located in the Vatican. A chapel on the right has a Decapitation of St Paul by Bartolomeo Passerotti.

Remains of a late Roman mosaic floor are preserved in the nave. It was donated to the church by Pope Pius IX and is said to have been brought here from Ostia, Rome's port in the imperial period.

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