The Catacombs of Saint Callixtus

The Catacombs of St. Callixtus are among the greatest and most important of Rome. They originated about the middle of the second century and are part of a cemeterial complex which occupies an area of 90 acres, with a network of galleries about 12 miles long, in four levels, more than twenty meters deep.
In it where buried tens of martyrs, 16 popes and more than half a million Christians...half a million! 

Rania and I took our time this morning and made our way by foot to the bus stop where we had to catch the #128 bus to the Catacombs. The great thing about taking buses and trains is that you get to see areas of the city/country that you normally wouldn't see. We bused for about 15 minutes outside of the city and drove through small towns and villages that were so contradictory to the Rome we had experienced in the past week. We made it to the catacombs and took a half hour tour with an English speaking guide around the top two levels (there are four in total). We weren't allowed to take any pictures but the inside was a cold and dark labyrinth like you would expect. The tombs were all along the walls and were of all different sizes for adults, children and even animals. On the tour, we were able to ogle some of the earliest Christian art—frescoes, carvings, and drawings scratched into the rock depicting ancient Christian symbols like the fish, the anchor, the dove, and images that tell some of the earliest popular Bible stories. Very cool. 

We made our way back into the city after taking some pictures in the sun of the surrounding fields and then headed back to our pizzeria for our final meal in Rome (of course we were going to go there for our FINAL meal!) A pizza, two pastas, a melon and prosciutto, two desserts and a litre of wine later we were ready for bed and excited for our trip to Florence tomorrow! 


xoxo
Alexis