Christian Catacombs guided tour
See the best of underground Rome with this Christian Catacombs guided tour: explore the Catacombs of Priscilla and Domitilla, then visit the Capuchin Crypt with an expert local guide.
The main attraction of this tour will be definitely the crypt - charnel house decorated with around 4,000 Capuchin friars' bones, collected between 1528 and 1870 from the old cemetery of the order of Capuchins; the crypt is divided into five small chapels, where there are the mummies of some Capuchin friars.
Catacombs are underground burial areas used in ancient times. The Catacombs of Domitilla are placed in the ancient praedium Domitillae. Archaeological excavations conducted in the 20th century allowed researchers to discover burial grounds dated back to the 1st century B.C. The cemetery kept expanding until the end of the Roman Empire.
The Catacombs of Priscilla offer the chance of discovering the ancient Christian funeral tradition: these Catacombs are some of the most important in Rome. More than 40,000 people were buried here, in around 13 km of tunnels; different cubicula, little rooms with frescos representing Old and New Testament scenes, are still visible. In particular, it is possible to admire the "Madonna and Child" fresco, perhaps the world's oldest-known image of Mary, dated back to the 3rd century.
