8
Italian Land and Nature :
Subterranean Rome
Among the millions of visitors to the center of Christianity, there is certainly no dearth of those that make their way to the Eternal City's Catacombs, the final resting places of the first followers of Christ. The most-preferred and most-visited itinerary of the hypogeums are those of San Callisto.
The Catacombs of San Callisto are located in Rome, amidst the splendid and bucolic scenery of the AppiaAntica (Ancient Appian Way).
Built sometime between 250 and 300 A.D., the Catacombs of San Callisto (St. Callixtus) hold the graves of 500,000 Christians, including dozens of martyrs and 16 pontiffs.
These galleries occupy a total of 15 hectares and count almost 20 km (12.4 mi) of underground passageways 20 m (66 ft) deep. At times, they branch out into five levels, lined with dug-out niches two or three rows high.
Built sometime between 250 and 300 A.D., the Catacombs of San Callisto (St. Callixtus) hold the graves of 500,000 Christians, including dozens of martyrs and 16 pontiffs.
These galleries occupy a total of 15 hectares and count almost 20 km (12.4 mi) of underground passageways 20 m (66 ft) deep. At times, they branch out into five levels, lined with dug-out niches two or three rows high.
HISTORY
In the 1st Century A.D. several poor Roman families (both Christian and Pagan) began to bury their dead in these caves of lava rock on the AppiaAntica. At the end of the 2nd Century, the Emperor Commodus, tolerant of the Christians and influenced by the requests of his Christian lover Marcia, freed members of the Church who had been condemned to forced labor in the mines. Among these Christians was Callisto (Callixtus), a slave accused of both fraud and fighting inside a synagogue. In 199, Pope Zeffirino, finding Callisto to be a man of great talent, named him deacon and guardian of the Roman Church.
In the 3rd Century, he became Pope and was then proclaimed saint upon his death (although his martyrhood is not officially documented).