Journey with Jeff and Deb

Today we had breakfast at the rooftop restaurant of our hotel. The view of the city was fantastic and the food was fabulous. Breakfast is included with our room – we are looking forward to the next 3 mornings! Then we waited out a storm and listened to some Italian thunder before beginning today’s tour of the city.

Near Piazza Barberini

We took a guided tour today called Crypts, Bones, and Catacombs. Our guide was Mike, who was born in Oregon, then moved to Rome at age 6.. He spoke fluent Italian and English. His father is American and his mother is from Rome.
We do not have any exciting pictures because we could not take any inside the sites that we visited today.

The first stop was the best: the Catacombs di Priscilla. The catacombs are burial places for (mostly) Christians who died in ancient Roman times. By law, no one was allowed to be buried within the walls of Rome. Roman pagans were happy to be cremated, but Christians preferred to be buried. But land was expensive and most Christians were poor.

The Catacombs di Priscilla originated as underground tombs for Christians who met to worship at the home of wealthy Priscilla. Over a 250 year period, more than 40,000 niches were hand-dug in the “tufo”, soft volcanic stone which was easily dug, but hardened on exposure to air.

Contrary to popular lore, Christians never used the catacombs as a hiding place from persecution – the Roman soldiers were well aware of the catacombs and the stench was would have been awful – they simply buried their dead here.

There are 65 catacombs in Rome and only 7 are open to the public. This one has 4 layers and only the first layer has been excavated and opened.

This catacomb contained crypts from the 1st to 3rd centuries. It was a sobering and moving experience to stand where the bones of some of the first persecuted Christians remain to this day.

The Capuchin Crypt – The Skull Room

Next stop was the Capuchin Crypt, a small space under the church of the Santa Maria della Concezione del Cappuccini. The order of the Capuchin friars was given this church in 1631 after years of being outcasts. They brought with them the remains of 4000 deceased friars (in 300 wagon loads) from their previous monastery. The bones were nailed to the walls in intricate patterns to create and decorate several small chapels beneath the church. The display is meant to be a silent reminder of the swift passage of our time on earth and our own mortality.
We saw 4 chapel full of bones, each with a different theme. We thought it was kind of creepy.

San Clemente Courtyard

Last stop was the Basilica di San Clemente. Absolutley beautiful!

The structure is a 3-tiered complex: the current church was built during the height of the Middle Ages, around 1100 AD.

Current Basilica di San Clemente

Discovered under this structure was a basilica built in the 4th century – a full 2 stories under the ground. Less than 100 years ago, a third level was discovered under the basement of the second level. Excavations revealed an industrial buidling thought to be a mint where Roman coins were produced. This was believed to be destroyed by the great fire of 64 AD. At some time during the 4th century the lower level was filled in with dirt and rubble and ,at some point, the small basilica was built over it. Amazingly, there is still running water to the lowest level. Archaeologists believe that there are more layers still remaining under the lowest level, but are unable to do further excavations due to lack of funding.

Of course, a day of exploring is not complete without at least one gelati (and we did only have one today, if you’re counting).
After dinner at Cafe Veneto, we retired for the evening. It is now midnight, and the post is finished.

Buona notte!

Rome – Day 2