In 1116 Pope Paschal II founded the monastery in the Basilica of Santi Quattro Coronati, which in 1138 was controlled by one of the most powerful Italian Benedictine abbeys: Santa Croce di Sassovivo at Foligno in Umbria. The monastic buildings were located on the left side of the Basilica and underwent an intense phase of development during the 13th. century. The cloister also dates from the first half of the 13th. century. It is a splendid example of what can be defined as 'cosmatesque' architecture, the name coming from one of the principal sculptor-architect families, the Cosmati, who worked in Rome during the 12th. and 13th. centuries.
The cloister is made up of four corridors supported on the inner side by arches resting on 96 coupled columns and 10 marble pilasters. The corridors were originally covered by a roof. A splendid brick cornice with marble corbels and mosaic intarsia runs the whole length of the four sides. Traditional medieval figurative elements are harmoniously fused with direct references to classical antiquity, such as the fluted pilaster strips.
Between 1912 and 1916 the Fine Arts Superintendent Antonio Muñoz adorned the perimeter walls with notable stone inscriptions and pieces of sculpture, dating from Roman times up to the Middle Ages, which had been found inside the complex.