Saturday 22nd March 2008

The weather forecast for today was poor and so we decided to opt for inside sights. We met at Termini station and took the Metro and then the bus to the area of catacombs near the Roman road of Via Appia Antica.
We walked along the very wide Via Appia Antica from the 660 bus terminus and were impressed to see that the many remains of the original road were still there. Stones bare the ruts created by the Roman carts and repairs have been made by inserting pieces of marble columns in the holes! The road is not in as good a state as it was in Roman times and it was very uneven with large depressions filled with water. The road is one way in the direction that we were walking but we are in Italy and the locals simply ignored that. However, as I said, the road was very rough and to protect their precious cars they had adopted a novel method of driving. They drove on the wrong side of the road (if there is one given that it is a one-way road) with one wheel on the narrow pavement that ran down that side. This meant that as pedestrians, we were forced to abandon the pavement and move to the safety offered by the middle of the road. We actually saw more cars going the wrong way than the correct way down the road but occasionally two would approach each other and, given that they were both adopting the same driving technique, it was a battle of wills to see who gave way. This provided some entertainment on the wet and longer than expected walk to the catacombs. It was getting very was close to 12:00 when we arrived and it was at that hour that they closed for a two hour lunch break. Fortunately, we were able to tack on to an English guided tour that had just started.
There are more than 300km of tunnels in the area housing Christian burials and these are spread over a few large catacombs and a large number of small catacombs. We visited the largest of the catacombs, San Callisto, that has 20km of tunnels with 500,000 (yes, half a million) burials including seven popes martyred in the 3rd century. The catacombs were used only for burial and worship and not, as many people believed, to hide from the Roman authorities. Indeed the Roman authorities knew that they existed but Roman law said that burial sites had to be respected and so they only rarely entered the catacombs. However, up to the 4th century the Christians were persecuted by the Roman authorities and openly expressing their Christian beliefs was dangerous.
From the start of Christianity, Roman Christians buried their dead outside the city walls in these catacombs. The stone in this area is tufa, a soft volcanic rock that can be easily dug into and after exposure to the air it becomes very hard. This makes it ideal for creating tunnels and as the number of burials increased, they created four levels of catacombs, equivalent to a modern 12-storey building but underground. Up to the 4th century all Christian burials were made in catacombs, which was a very cheap method of burial but when Christianity was adopted as the official Roman religion, Roman Christians became wealthy enough to afford to bury their dead above ground. However, even after this, many Christians wanted to be buried along with the early Christians and the martyred popes, so they continued to use and expand the catacombs until the 8th century. It was at this time that Rome was overrun by the Barbarians and the Goths proceeded to plunder the catacombs looking for valuable goods in the graves.
We were lead around the maze of tunnels by the guide with warnings that “the tour takes about 30 minutes but if you don't keep up with the party, you could be there for eternity!”. The organisation of the tunnels was impressive with many vertical shafts used to take out the excavated soil during construction and then used to ventilate the complex. Shallow slots were dug for the burials, starting at ceiling level and working down the walls to floor level. The slots were sealed with marble, stone or terracotta bearing inscriptions detailing the person who had been buried.
We thoroughly enjoyed our visit and the knowledgeable and amusing guide made all the difference.
Lunch was taken at a small Trattoria back at the 660 bus terminus. We liked the look of it when we had passed it earlier – no great boards outside, homely and with a wood fire (we saw the logs being delivered). It was an excellent choice. There were plenty of locals there, the staff were friendly and the food was simple, good and had that wonderful flavour given by cooking over wood.
Photos: The wet and rough Roman road - Via Appia Antica; Our chicken cooking on the wood fire in the Trattoria.