Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Events Calendar
In spring, Holy Week is the official opening of tourist season in Rome.
The week preceding Easter is a religious celebration for pilgrims, but it
also marks the changing to summer hours for most stores and sites.
Culture Week, whose dates are found at www.beniculturali.it ( % 800-
991199 ) is when most of the major museums and paid exhibits like the
Colosseum and Palatine Hill are free and offer extended hours.
In summer, jazz and outdoor cinema take over. At Villa Celimontana
(www.villacelimontanajazz.com), the lush park of Celimontana hosts a
nightly jazz festival from July to early September with food and wine
booths. At Estate Romana (www.estateromana.it), each night from late
June, the city of Rome sponsors a “Roman Summer” event that ranges from
opera in the Baths of Caracalla and chamber concerts in the churchyards
to rock concerts and outdoor festivals. At Isola del Cinema (www.isoladel
cinema.com) throughout the summer, international movies are screened
on the banks of the Tiber Island. This is becoming a showcase for avant-
garde films and a launching pad for new directors' works.
In autumn, for one Saturday in September, La Notte Bianca ( % 06-
0606; www.lanottebianca.it) means that the city of Rome stays up all
night. Museums, libraries, churches, stores, and restaurants stay open
around the clock on that exciting occasion.
This lane meets up with the Appia Antica near the Catacombs of San
Callisto
(Via Appia Antica, 136; % 06-5130151; www.catacombe.roma.it;
guided tours 5 adults, 3 seniors and students; Thurs-Tues 8:30am-noon and
2:30-5pm). These are the largest of the entire network of underground tombs of
Christians, extending 20km (13 miles). There are nine popes and thousands of
Christians buried here, as well as the tomb of St. Cecilia (p. 65). Down the Appia
Antica from these catacombs are the Catacombs of San Sebastiano
55
5
(Via Appia
Antica, 136; % 06-7850350; entrance only with a guided tour, 5 adults, 3
seniors and students; Mon-Sat 8:30am-noon and 2:30-5pm), which are very differ-
ent from those of San Callisto. Here you'll visit the site of previously pagan mau-
soleums that have been converted into Christian tombs, and you will enter the
tomb of St. Sebastian, for whom these catacombs are named. The word “catacomb”
comes from this site, which means “near the quarry” or kata kymbas in Latin.
After visiting the catacombs, it is a short walk down what's left of the original
Appian Way, which is lined with above-ground tombs of ancient Romans, who
were not allowed to bury their dead within the city walls. The largest of these is
the Tomba di Cecilia Metella (Via Appia Antica, 161; % 06-7800093; 6 adults,
3 seniors and students; Tues-Sun 9am-4pm), which is a castle built on the site
of the tomb of a woman who married into the Metella family in the 1st century
B . C . The complex now serves as an example of the ritual of ancient Roman buri-
als, and many of the funerary urns which once lined the Appian way are now
housed here.
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