Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
exhumed, identified and reburied in a mass grave, now marked by a huge concrete slab
and sculptures.
The site also has a tiny museum dedicated to the Italian Resistance (doors close 15
minutes before the rest of the site).
CATACOMBE DI SANTA DOMITILLA
CATACOMBS
( 06 511 03 42;
www.domitilla.info
; Via delle Sette Chiese 283; adult/reduced €8/5; 9am-noon & 2-5pm Wed-
Mon, closed Jan; Via Appia Antica)
Among Rome's largest and oldest, these wonderful cata-
combs stretch for about 18km. They were established on the private burial ground of
Flavia Domitilla, niece of the emperor Domitian and a member of the wealthy Flavian
family. They contain Christian wall paintings and the haunting underground
Chiesa di SS
Nereus e Achilleus
, a 4th-century church dedicated to two Roman soldiers martyred by
Diocletian.
CHIESA DEL DOMINE QUO VADIS?
CHURCH
(Via Appia Antica 51; 8am-6.30pm Mon-Fri, 8.15am-6.45pm Sat & Sun winter, to 7.30pm summer; Via Appia
Antica)
This pint-sized church marks the spot where St Peter, fleeing Rome, met a vision of
Jesus going the other way. When Peter asked: '
Domine, quo vadis?'
(Lord, where are you
going?), Jesus replied, '
Venio Roman iterum crucifigi'
(I am coming to Rome to be cruci-
fied again). Reluctantly deciding to join him, Peter tramped back into town where he was
arrested and executed.
In the aisle are copies of Christ's footprints; the originals are in the Basilica di San Se-
bastiano.
PORTA SAN SEBASTIANO
MUSEUM
( 06 7047 5284;
www.museodellemuraroma.it
; Via di Porta San Sebastiano 18; adult/reduced €5/4; 9am-2pm
Tue-Sun; Porta San Sebastiano)
Marking the start of Via Appia Antica, the 5th-century Porta
San Sebastiano is the largest of the gates in the Aurelian Wall. During WWII, the Fascist
Party secretary Ettore Muti lived here; today it houses the modest Museo delle Mure,
which offers the chance to walk along the top of the walls for around 50m as well as dis-
playing their history.
The gate was originally known as Porta Appia but took on its current name in honour of
the thousands of pilgrims who passed under it on their way to the Catacombe di San Se-
bastiano.
