Cecilia was a Roman noblewoman who lived between the 2nd and 3rd centuries, founder of one of the first churches in Rome. She married the noble Valeriano, and confided in him her vow of chastity and so her husband also converted to Christianity: in fact the woman managed to be so convincing as to provoke conversion in many. The Roman authorities decided to torture and behead Valerian, while the woman was to be burned, but after a day and a night the fire did not touch her: so it was decided to behead her, but after being hit she did not die immediately but agonized for three days. When the woman died, her body was recovered by Pope Urban I, who made Cecilia’s house a church.

Tales of the statue in Dome’s building site:

The original statue of Saint Cecilia still dominates Spire G79 today. The work was carried out between 1953 and 1956 by Aldo Andreani, a sculptor worker at the Veneranda Fabbrica, but nothing is yet known about the actual author of the model. Saint Cecilia was represented together with the iconographic symbols that most characterize her: with her left hand she brings the pan flute to her lips, while in her right she holds a palm leaf, symbol of martyrdom.