Italy Travel And Hotel Guide

Bus #218 from Piazza San Giovanni in Laterano. During classical times the Via Appia was the most important of all the Roman trade routes, the so-called “Queen of Roads”, carrying supplies right down through Campania to the port of Brindisi. It’s no longer the main route south out of the city - that’s Via Appia Nuova from Porta San Giovanni - but it remains an important part of primeval Christian Rome, its verges lined with the underground burial cemeteries or catacombs of the first Christians.

Laws in ancient Rome forbade burial within the city walls - most Romans were cremated - and there are catacombs in other parts of the city. But this is by far the largest concentration, around five complexes in all, dating from the first century to the fourth century, almost entirely emptied of bodies now but still decorated with the primitive signs and frescoes that were the hallmark of the then-burgeoning Christian movement. Despite much speculation, no one really knows why the Christians decided to bury their dead in these tunnels: the rock here, tufa, is soft and cushy to hollow out, but the digging involved must still have been phenomenal, and there is no real reason to suppose that the burial places had to be secret - they continued to bury their dead like this long after Christianity became the established religion. Whatever the reasons, they make intriguing viewing now. The three principal complexes are within travel distance of apiece other, though it’s not really worth trying to see them all - the layers of shelves and drawers aren’t particularly gripping after a while

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