The Catacombs of Calictus

When in Rome the trip would not be complete without visiting some catacombs.
Tours like this are cool to get a small glimpse of what is under Rome among the cities of the dead.
Most of the various catacombs here are off limits to visitors but there are also places you can sometimes take the unapproved tour. I do not recommend this to people unfamiliar with spelunking or other such adventures as the average person may very well find injury, disorientation or even death from a lack of preparedness and sense.
Remember to leave places better than when you left… See some trash, pick it up… Pack yours out with you too…

Though 500.000 are buried here (including 200.000 children) the tour is done in about 20 – 30 minutes. It’s a bit of a trip to way out to these catacombs but I must admit that it is fascinating to take a tour down under and thinking about the history of the place. Its a shame that you can only go to 1 out of 4 levels, but restaurations are going on, so maybe they will open more levels to the public later on.
The guide we had was very professional, but a bit hasty. Prepare questions if possible, cause it seemed that they actually know a lot more than they tell by them selves.

It wasn’t very interesting although they say it’s twelve miles you only walk around for ten minutes and even then there is no information along the way plus they’ve taken out all the bodies so I wasn’t even able to look at skeletons while I walked there. There are large queues and I couldn’t really explore anything when I was inside. It takes a long time to get there don’t travel by foot.

Si se tiene claustrofobia mejor no visitarlas, y en caso contrario dependo de el estómago de cada uno, a mí particularmente me impresionaron mucho y entristecieron Si vuelvo a Roma no regresaré allí tengo suficiente con una vez

Wir sind vom Circo Massimo mit dem Bus zu den Katakomben gerattert. Man sollte nicht in der Mittagszeit ankommen, da die Führungen zwischen 12 und 14 Uhr pausieren. Man folgt nach Sprachen gruppiert einem Führer in die Unterwelt. Der Ausflug dauert 30 – 40 Minuten. Es werden leere Gräber und einige Fresken gezeigt. Insgesamt eher nicht so spannend, aber im Sommer sicher eine nette Erfrischung.

these christian catacombs were only discovered in 1844 on the appian way — rome’s ancient road into the city — where the early christians lived, worshipped, died and were buried
— there are 60+ catacombs in total in subterranean areas on the outskirts of rome with thousands of tombs (no burials were allowed inside the city walls at this time)
— in the 4c these became shrines to the christian martyrs and centres for devotion and pilgrimage
— there is a labyrinth of tunnels covering many miles — like corridors with shelving running along either side having a niche cut into the stonework — each just big enough to take a corpse wrapped simply in a shroud
… it reminded me of being in a submarine with bunk beds along each wall and a narrow walkway inbetween
— sometimes they are carved with names or initials of the occupant/​family and sometimes with a drawing of a fish which was the early christian symbol
— closed wednesdays (plus couple of weeks in winter for restoration)
— opening hours 9:00 — 12:00 & 14:00 — 17.00
(not recommended for the claustrophobic — but nice and cool in hot summer)