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Abstract: The basilica of San Paolo fuori le Mura, one of the most celebrated monuments of late antiquity, was also one of the best preserved until the fire of 1823, following which it was completely rebuilt. This study traces the historical, architectural and artistic evolution of the two basilicas, the ‘Theodoran’ and the ‘Constantinian’, which were built one over the other in the 4th century on the site of the Apostle’s tomb, marked by the ‘Tropeion’ of Gaius, along the ancient via Ostiense, focal point of the architecture and orientation of the building from it’s origins until the fire. A reconstruction of the earlier phases (1st to 9th centuries) is supported by those historical, iconographical and archival sources which have come down to us, reinterpreted in the light of the archaeological discoveries that since 1998 have revealed new information not only about the tomb of the Apostle and the cemetery below the basilica, but also regarding the residential structures which existed prior to the burial of Saint Paul, and the medieval monastic structures discovered in the area of the present monastery gardens on the southern side of the basilica. Beginning with illustrated reconstructions of the ‘archaeological landscape’ (1st century ad), the paper follows successive transformations, reconstructions and additions which over the years have been carried out on the basilica and the adjacent monastery.