As you well know in Italy there are many interesting historical places to see. One of these places are Italian catacombs.
Catacombs are ancient underground burial places.
Originally the term referred only to Roman catacombs but in the XIX century it was estended to any underground burial palce with similar features.
The most famous Italian catacombs are defintely the ones in Rome.
Let’s see them.
ITALIAN CATACOMBS IN ROME
As previously mentioned, Italian catacombs in Rome are the oldest and most famous catacombs you’ll find in Italy.
The most ancient burial places in the area of Rome started in the 2nd century AD. And although catacombs are particularly famous to be a burial place for Christians, in Roman catacombs you can find people of different religions.
Roman catacombs were excavated outside the city walls because at the time Roman law forbade burial places within the city.
When people buried bodies in the catacombs, the bodies were dressed, bound in linen and placed in a chamber. The chamber was then sealed with a slab where there was engraved the name, the age and the date of death.
U
p till now, there are fourty known burial chambers underneath Rome. They extend over an area of more than 150km and on more levels.
The religious practice of catacombs started to decline in 380, and the dead started to be buried in church cemeteries.
By the 10th century catacombs were totally abandoned and the relics in them were moved to
different basilicas in Rome.
As time went by, people started to forget about catacombs. They were discovered again only in 1578, and then they were explored and studied.
Italian catacombs in Rome are also very important for ancient art. Indeed, in them archeologists found many examples of early Christian frescoes, sculptures, medallions, etc.
However, since not only Christsians were buried there, in Roman catacombs archeologists found also some examples of Jewish culture and art such as frescoes.
Italian catacombs in Rome have different names such as Generosa, San Lorenzo, Sant’Agnese, Priscilla, and so on.
However, perhaps the most famous ones are the catacombs of Domitilla, and Commodilla.
Catacombs of Domitilla are the oldest caves of Roman catacombs. They are long 17km and are the only caves that still have some bones. They are also the best preserved caves among all the Roman catacombs with many frescoes and different ancient artifacts.
In addition, they are the only caves that have a subterranean basilica.
Catacombs of Commodilla, instead, are famous because they have one of the most ancient images of a bearded Christ.
Have you already been in Rome? Did you visit Roman catacombs? What did you think about them?
Credits
Original image by patrizio1948
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