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The Christian catacombs of the Appian Way
Rome's Via Appia Antica is lined by vast systems of underground tunnels where ancient Christians would bury their dead
www.turismoroma.it
www.catacombe.roma.it
www.domitilla.info
www.catacombe.org
Viator.com tours of the catacombs:
• Catacombs and Roman Countryside Half-Day Walking Tour
• Skip the Line: Crypts and Roman Catacombs Small Group Walking Tour
• Christian Rome Afternoon Tour
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Spooky halls of shelf-like graves line the Catacomb San Callisto in Rome, Italy.
Burials were forbidden within the city walls of ancient Rome as early as the 5th century BC. The Romans—pagan and, later, Christian, began a habit of burying their dead along and around the Via Appia Antica, the Ancient Appian Way, one of the major consular roads connecting Rome with the Adriatic seaports of the south.
Though most patrician Romans built their tombs aboveground, the early Christians hewed miles of tunnels—or catacombs—out of the soft tufa stone beneath the surface to bury their dead and, during the worst times of persecution, hold church services discreetly out of the public eye.
The Best Catacombs
San Callisto - The most crowded, but most impressive.
San Domitilla - Small but with intimate tours; my favorite.
San Sebastiano - The largest, but least rewarding.
A few of the catacombs are now open to the general public (see sidebar), so you can wander through mile after mile of musty-smelling tunnels whose soft walls are gouged out with tens of thousands of burial niches—long shelves made for two or three each.
The requisite guided tours, hosted mainly by priests or monks, feature a smidgen of extremely biased history and a large helping of sermonizing.
For directions on how to get to the catacombs, see the main Appian Way page.
Picking the right catacomb to visit
Catacombs of San Callisto - The catacombs of St. Callixtus has the biggest parking lot, and hence the largest crowds of tour bus groups—and the cheesiest, most Disneyesque tour, full of canned commentary and stilted jokes. On the other hand, some of the tunnels are phenomenal: 70 feet high and less than six feet wide, pigeon-holed by elongated tomb niches all the way up to the ceiling. Cool... 
Catacombs of San Domitilla - This is the oldest of the catacombs. It's also hands-down the winner for most enjoyable catacomb experience. Groups are small, and most guides are genuinely entertaining and personable. There are fewer "sights" than in the other catacombs—although the 2nd-century fresco of the Last Supper is impressive—but some of the guides actually hand you a few bones out of a tomb niche so you can rearticulate an ancient Christian hip...
Catacombs of San Sebastiano - Though the tunnels run for seven miles and the venerable bones of Sts. Peter and Paul were once hidden here for safekeeping, the St. Sebastian tour is one of shortest and least satisfying of all the catacomb visits. The highlight is a chance to see a few well-preserved Roman (non-Christian) tombs from what used to be an aboveground necropolis adjacent to the catacombs...
Tips
- Planning your day: Even if you're just riding a bus out here to explore one set of catacombs, figure on it taking half the day. If you want to see all of the catacombs plus the tomb and other sights, give it a full day—and have lunch at Hostaria L'Archeologia.
- Book a tour: If you prefer a private guided tour that visit to one of the catacombs, book one via our partner site Viator.com.
• Catacombs and Roman Countryside Half-Day Walking Tour
• Skip the Line: Crypts and Roman Catacombs Small Group Walking Tour (visits catacomb of S. Domitilla)
• Christian Rome Afternoon Tour (visits one of the three catacombs, based on seasonal availability) - Pick your day wisely: Although each of the three major catacombs keeps the same open hours (9am–noon and 2–5pm) and charges the same admission (€8 each), they all close on a different day of the week: Tuesday for San Domitilla, Wednesday for San Callisto, and Sunday for San Sebastiano. So if you are gung-ho about it and want to hit all three, make sure you visit on a day when all three are open. (This, actually, is quite wise of them; that way, no matter which day you visit, at last two will be open.)
- How to get to the catacombs:
- Best strategy: If you're aiming to hit the highlights (the catacombs and Tomb of Cecilia Metella), either use the Archeobus (below) or do this: Take bus 218 to hit San Callisto and San Domitilla; walk to San Sebastiano and then on to Cecilia Metella; then catch the 660 back to the Metro.
- Bus 218: Leaves from the San Giovanni Metro stop (line B). It follows the Via Appia Antica for a bit, then veers right onto Via Ardeatina at Domine Quo Vadis? church. After another long block, the 218 stops at the square Largo M.F. Ardeatine, near the gate on the west side of San Callisto catacombs. From here, you can walk right on Via d. Sette Chiese to the San Domitilla catacombs; or walk left down Via d. Sette Chiese to San Sebastiano catacombs.
- Bus 118: Leaves from in front of the Piramide Metro stop (line B). It follows the Via Appia Antica all the way past Domine Quo Vadis? and the east side of the San Callisto catacombs to the San Sebastiano catacombs. The bus then doglegs left to continue down Via Appia Pignatelli (an eastern parallel to the Via Appia Antica).
- Bus 660: Leaves from Colli Albani Metro stop. it heads toward the Via Appia Antica, where it turns around just south of the Tomb of Cecilia Metella.
- Archeobus: This open-top tourist bus (www.trambusopen.com) leaves from Piazza del Cinquecento (in front of Termini train station), drives past many ancient sights in the historic center, and eventually makes it way out to the Via Appia Antica. It's a hop-on/hop-off deal, passing every 30 minutes from 9am to 4:30pm. Tickets cost €10 and are good for 24 hours; you can buy them on board.
- Best strategy: If you're aiming to hit the highlights (the catacombs and Tomb of Cecilia Metella), either use the Archeobus (below) or do this: Take bus 218 to hit San Callisto and San Domitilla; walk to San Sebastiano and then on to Cecilia Metella; then catch the 660 back to the Metro.
Related pages
- The major catacombs: San Callisto, San Domitilla, San Sebastiano
- Other Appian Way sights: Domine, Quo Vadis, Tomb of Cecilia Metella
- More sights outside the walls
- More ancient sights and ruins in Rome
- Churches in Rome
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This material was last updated February 2011. All information was accurate at the time.
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