There is a tiny and very ancient side chapel in the Church of Santa Prassede all’Esquilino that is a wonderful and truly powerful place.

It dates back to the 9th century and is totally covered in archaic Byzantine mosaics.
Set in a niche is a piece of a column sculpted in white-veined red marble, just over half a meter high, which tradition says was the pillar upon which Jesus was scourged. The column is inside a bronze reliquary, made in 1898 to a design by Duilio Cambellotti.

This small, hidden place emanates a powerful primordial energy to anyone who enters, thanks to the archaic workmanship of the mosaics and the many references to founding elements of Western culture, all concentrated in a very limited space.