Travels with Alyx: Catacombs and Crypts

July 11

Tried again- unsuccessfully still- to figure out the bus stops so that we could take the bus to the Fontana de Tritone (Fountain of Triton) and meet our tour group for the crypts and catacombs guided tour. We ended up taking an Uber— a Tesla of all things. Ubers are expensive here. Taxis are cheaper. Public transportation is definitely the way to go if you can figure out the schedules and the metro stops. We were a few minutes late getting there, but thankfully our tour had not started. Our guide from City Wonders was Heather. She tells us that Rome was the largest city in the world in the 2nd century, with over a million residents. She also talks about the founding of the Capuchin order and St. Francis of Assisi as we walk to our first stop.

Fontana del Tritone

The crypts are located at In Convento dei Cappuccini and were built in the 1600s. Unfortunately we were not allowed to take pictures. Also, shoulders and knees must be covered in order to enter the church.

There are a series of six crypts that tell the story of life, death, judgement and resurrection. The bones are arranged in patterns so intricate that I cannot even describe them all. Some are organized into recognizable shapes such as flowers or hourglasses representing the passage of time. I even fancied that I saw an arrangement in one of the crypts that was designed to look like the Eye of Horus. The crypt of the pelvises was the oddest, and the crypt of the skulls was the most interesting. Lindsay was most taken aback by the inclusion of the full skeleton of the young Barberini princess on the ceiling of the second crypt. The bones of over 3700 Capuchin monks are included in the crypts. A lot of the bones were acquired via grave robbing. Grave robbing has been illegal for years now and there is a law that makes it illegal to make art from bones. Which means that, now, if a bone falls, they have to bury it. They are not allowed to repair any damage that happens to the bones in the crypt. We saw several small crosses marking spots where bones are buried inside the crypts.

The second part of our tour took us to the catacombs, which are located outside of the city walls. During ancient Roman times there was a law against burying bodies inside the city walls, and the newly Christian Roman Empire didn't believe in burning the bodies apparently. Therefore the catacombs were created. There are approximately 18 kilometers of tunnels and chambers down here. Once again photos were not allowed. (But I might have snuck a few.) catacombs means “into the hollow”, because the Christians buried the bodies in these small compartments. Bodies were wrapped in linen, with two coins placed over the eyes. There are no bodies left in the catacombs because of plunder by German barbarians centuries ago. They were looking for precious metals but didn’t find any and took the bones instead. It was these same barbarians that damaged the Colosseum, leaving huge holes in the columns, while looking for precious metals. The catacombs are the definition of “dark and dank”. The tunnels are narrow, and it has a musty smell. The burial compartments are SMALL. The Romans have to have been smaller in stature than current people.

Ceiling detail inside one of the catacombs.

Into the hollow

The tour was due to conclude at Basilica of St. Peter’s of the Vincoli (chains), but we arrived at 1pm to find the church closed from 12:20-3pm. We asked our tour guide for directions to the Spanish steps, and took the Metro there for a photo op before going to lunch on one of the many charming side streets in Rome. We ate at a restaurant called Numbs where Lindsay had spaghetti carbonara and I had penne all’ arrabbiata which is a pasta dish in a spicy marinara sauce.

This dish had been suggested to me by our tour guide once she found out I was vegan and was struggling to eat correctly here. We made our way back to the Airbnb after being halfway successful using public transportation. (We have the metro part figured out, but not the buses.) Dinner was at Cantina e Cucina, a restaurant Lindsay found on TikTok that we said we’d try while we were here. The line to get in was long, but the food was good.