Church of Saints Ciro and Giovanni
Santa Passera

The church of Santa Passera is a Roman church dating back to the early 5th century, restructured and enlarged in the 14th century, built on the remains of a Roman mausoleum and a crypt dating back to the second half of the 2nd century. The origin of the name of the church, located in the Portuense district of Rome, is uncertain since a saint named "Passera" has never existed.
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According to tradition, it was built on the banks of the Tiber in the place where, at the beginning of the 5th century, the remains of two Alexandrian saints, Ciro and Giovanni, were landed from Egypt to be transferred to the city of Rome. From the 11th century onwards it belonged to the monastery of Santa Maria in Via Lata, and in documents from the 11th-13th century it is called Sancti Abbacyri or Sancti Cyri et Iohannis, in memory of the two saints for whom the church was built. In the 14th century the name of Abbaciro was replaced by that of Santa Pacera or Passera: thus a document from 1317 speaks of a plot posita extra portam Portuensem in loco qui dicitur S. Pacera. This appellation will then be prevalent in the following centuries.

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​On the origin of the name "Passera", a saint who has never existed in the history of Christianity, the hypothesis is that it derives from the title Abbàs Cyrus ("father Ciro"), from which the name Abbaciro: Appaciro, Appàcero, Pàcero, Pàcera and finally Passera would derive from the popular distortion of this term.

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To further confuse the onomastics of the church there is also the popular error that arbitrarily wanted to assimilate the phantom "Santa Passera" with Santa Prassede and celebrate its anniversary in this place on July 21 in conjunction with the celebrations of the latter martyr. In the 14th century the ancient church was completely restructured and elevated.