The new Christian ideas begin to spread around the Capital and the Christians feel like leaving an evidence. From the secret to the acknowledgment: to understand the core of the new faith.

3 hours - walking tour / by taxi

Around the half of the III century AD, Christians felt the need to be buried all together in separated, underground cemeteries. Some of those outdoor spots were topped by large churches which became a sort of landmarks in the countryside. The iconography used to decorate the interiors was conceived to outline the increasing power of the Church.

The Catacomb of Domitilla along Via Ardeatina is one of the largest Roman catacombs set in the SW suburb of Rome. A network of galleries, extended on two (but in some areas up to four) levels, spreads its tomb-lined tunnels underground, showing different kinds of burials, some decorated with frescoes.

The area around St Agnes along Via Nomentana is the best preserved early Christian architectural complex in Rome and it consists of a catacomb where the martyr Agnes was buried, a basilica built right on top of the tomb of Agnes in the VII cent AD, a Constantinian basilica, built as a Christian indoor graveyard in the early IV cent AD by Costanza the daughter of the emperor Constantine and the mausoleum, featuring some beautiful mosaics, built to house the relics of the empress.