Catacombe di Priscilla

Entrance to Catacomb of Priscilla

Mounted Police near Ponte Milvio

My head cold has gone from bad to worse with the result that we spent a very quiet day today and chicken soup for lunch. Yesterday I soldiered on and we did visit one of the Roman catacombs.


Somewhere I picked up a box of cards labeled “City Walks Rome-50 Adventures on Foot.” Each card (about 3x5 inches) has a map of a section of Rome on one side and a description of a short walk on the other. Number 42 is “S. Agnese Fuori Le Mura” and Number 43 is “Catacombe di Priscilla.” The two of them combined were our guides yesterday.

Our first adventure was finding the bus to take us to the Nomentana area. The cards specify bus routes but they assume one is starting from the Centro Storico. As we were starting from Ponte Milvio we used our transit map to figure out another bus route that bypassed the Centro. Unfortunately, finding the actual bus stop was a little difficult. After some wandering around we finally found the right spot, the bus came and we were on our way.

The bus route took us past several parks and an extensive sports complex before reaching the Nomentana neighborhood northeast of central Rome. It is rather modern and quite prosperous. We found ourselves at S. Agnese Fuori le Mura where the original church was built in the 300s. Unfortunately our late start (we had some errands to run first) meant we arrived just after 12 when the church closed for the afternoon. It has a peaceful courtyard outside and nearby is the Basilica of S. Costanza. The latter, built as a tomb by the Emperor Constantine’s daughter or granddaughter for herself, is a lovely little rotunda with beautiful mosaics. Card Number 42 noted that the mosaics have an unusual white background and pagan images such as fauns and peacocks, not Christian imagery, dominate the designs.

We arrived at the Basilica to find a wedding in progress. Slipping inside we sat for a while watching the proceedings. In the middle is a white marble altar and about halfway between it and the outer wall is a circle of delicate marble columns. Gold chairs with green velvet seats were set all around between the columns. The beautiful flowers and colorful dresses were the perfect compliments to the bright mosaics and classical architecture.

Back outside we began the walk that took us from S. Agnese through the neighborhood to the catacomb. About halfway we stopped at a small piazza and lunched on delicious roast chicken and asparagus. The weather has continued warm and sunny so we sat there for a quite a while people watching and just enjoying being outside. There was a small market in the center of the piazza and the usual cross section of people coming and going. In addition there were busses, motorcycles and cars zipping through.

The catacombs were about a 15 minute walk from our lunch spot but we arrived to find that we were still about 30 minutes early. We backtracked to a spot that sold gelato and cremolato. The latter is crushed fresh fruit that is frozen somewhat harder than granita. Dom had gelato but I tried a mix of lemon and raspberry cremolato. The raspberry in particular was fabulous—like bursts of fresh berries in the mouth.

At the Catacombe di Priscilla we paid our entry fee to a tiny nun (about 4’ 6”) in an old fashioned black habit and were soon led down into the catacombs by our guide, a young woman. Our guide explained that the Christians and Jews had both used catacombs for burial and that the complexes were never used for hiding from the authorities. This one was used from the middle of the 1st Century until into the 4th Century. The soft tufa stone made it easy to dig in and by tunneling underground they were able to use a much larger area than an above ground cemetery would have required. The entire complex is now three levels deep and has something like 13 km. of tunnels.

After burials in the catacomb were discontinued, it was walled up and left undisturbed until the 1600s. At that time it was rediscovered and excavation began. Over the past few centuries most of the bones have been removed (many sold as saints relics). There are still some closed graves but most of the terracotta stones covering them had fallen away over the years. It has all now been cleaned up and is dry and well lit.

Just like in large churches, wealthy families paid to have “chapels” dug out and decorated. We saw some lovely frescoes as well as many marble plaques with information about who was buried there. At one time there would also have been marble sarcophagi (coffins) to hold the bodies.

It was all quite fascinating but also a little spooky—unlit halls going off on all sides and deep, dark niches made one think of creepy horror films. However, it is a place well worth visiting. Unfortunately no pictures were allowed inside the catacomb. So, the only pictures I took yesterday were of mounted police near Ponte Milvio and one of the lovely entrance cloisters at the catacomb.

Our next excursion will probably result in lots of pictures.