Loading place...
Loading place...
Sunk deep beneath the Appian Way, the Catacombs of San Callisto form the most massive, important, and sprawling ancient Christian underground burial complex in Rome. It is a hauntingly silent, atmospheric labyrinth stretching for over 20 kilometres underground.
Beginning in the 2nd century, early Christians rejected the Roman pagan practice of cremation. Because Roman law forbade burials inside the city walls, the Christians excavated massive, deep networks into the soft volcanic stone lining the Appian Way. At its peak, this massive complex housed over half a million bodies before the Church moved the bones to safe basilicas inside the city to protect them from invading barbarians.