The Basilica of Santa Sabina is an early Christian basilica built on the Aventine Hill in the 5th century by the Greek monk Peter of Illyria.

It was built on the ruins of the house of the Roman matron Sabina, later declared a saint after converting to Christianity and being beheaded. The columns of the nearby Temple of Juno Regina were reused for the construction. Few remains of the original church remain, including the mosaic on the counterfaçade bearing the church's dedication in Latin and the wooden door dating back to the 5th century, which is the oldest example of early Christian wooden sculpture.

Originally it consisted of 28 panels, but 18 remain. They depict scenes from the Old and New Testaments, including the Crucifixion, which is the most famous. The oldest known depiction of this event, a practice previously prohibited in Christian churches.

In 1219, the pontiff granted the church and part of the palace to Saint Dominic de Guzmán, founder of the Dominican Order, who lived and worked there.

Two legends are linked to Saint Dominic. In the cloister there is a bitter orange tree that, according to Dominican tradition, was planted in 1220 by Dominic himself. It is said that Dominic brought a branch with him from Spain, his homeland, and that this fruit species was the first to be transplanted to Italy.

The story of the round black stone placed on a twisted column to the left of the entrance door is also linked to Dominic: it is called Lapis Diaboli, or "devil's stone." because, according to legend, it was thrown by the devil at Dominic while he was praying on the marble slab that covered the bones of some martyrs, shattering it.

In reality, the tombstone was broken by the architect Domenico Fontana during the 1527 restoration to move the tomb of the martyrs. The tombstone was originally the standardized weight placed in temples to prevent commercial fraud.

In 1587, the basilica was completely transformed by Domenico Fontana on behalf of Sixtus V, and the fresco by Taddeo Zuccari in the apse, depicting Jesus, the Apostles, and the Saints buried in the basilica, dates back to this period. Other significant interventions were carried out in 1643 by Francesco Borromini, but nothing of these remains today since the restoration by Antonio Muñoz, conducted in the early 20th century, eliminated the Baroque superstructures and returned the church to its original, older structure.