Externally the Basilica is covered with white travertine of Tivoli. On the upper part of the front, above the cross supported by six angels, is sculptured in latin letters A.D. MCMXLIII (1943), the year when the construction was achieved. On the architrave above the main entrance, there is the salute to the Saint "Salve Rita vas amoris, sponsa Christi dolorosa / tu de spinis Salvatoris pulchra nasceris ut rosa"- Salute Rita vessel of love sorrowful spouse of Christ / from the thorns of the Saviour beautiful you are born as a rose.
At the sides of the portal Eros Pellini has sculptured 10 episods of the Saint's life; from upwards on the left:

1. Rita with the bees
2. Rita teaches her children to pray
3. Death of her husband
4. Admittance into the monastery
5. Trial of obedience
6. Rita as nun gives bread to the poor
7. Rita receives the stigma
8. The pilgrimage to Rome
9. The roses and the figs in wintertime
10. Death of Rita