Heavy rain is on the horizon for next week so we decided to take this beautiful, warm, sunny day and visit Via Appia Antica. The Appian Way was built in 312 BC and was the widest and fastest road of its time - and it stretched almost all the way to Naples. Sections of the road are still paved with the original basalt stones which look like they will destroy the shocks of any car that drives down it. You'd better bring a pillow cushion if you plan on taking a bike down this road.
Along the road there are some interesting things to see - our first stop was the Catacombs of San Callisto. The Appian Way was a popular place for Christians to bury their dead during ancient Roman times when they weren't allowed to do so within the city walls. In fact, there are 60 catacombs in Rome, all underneath the city. The Catacombs of San Callisto are famous because 16 popes were buried here. For those interested, here are some of the facts we found interesting:
- Rich land owners donated the land to be used for the catacombs, so those who were digging the catacombs out of the lava rock dug deeper over time in order to fit more people in the space that was provided. This means that the oldest tombs are nearest to the top, since they were dug out first. The Catacombs of San Callisto go four levels deep, 75' underground.
- The catacombs were built from the second to fourth centuries. Until the eighth century, they were considered sanctuaries. Then the barbarians came and ransacked the tombs (its always the barbarians, isn't it)- this is why the Christians moved the bones (relics) of the saints and martyrs to the churches. Until the 1850's, the catacombs were completely forgotten about.
- The catacombs are a huge maze of pathways underground. After a 30-minute tour, we had seen only two percent of just the San Callisto Catacombs - that works out to seeing about 400 meters of a total 20 kilometers (almost 12.5 miles of tombs undergound).
After our tour, we walked over to the adjacent Catacombs of San Sebastiano. We didn't go in for another tour, but instead stopped in the basicila of San Sebastian where they have one of the arrows the saint was shot with. We walked further down the road stopping to see some of the other ruins - primarily towers and other monumental tombs. Then we grabbed a sandwich to fuel up for our long walk.We deviated away from the Via Appia Antica, down to a parallel street -Via Appia Nuova (they're a creative bunch, here). Via Appia Nuova must be like what the Via Appia Antica was in its heyday. Basically, we were walking along the highway. After 2.5 miles, we reached a large park full of remnants of the ancient aqueduct, which was great to see up close. We walked all the way back to the Appian Way and then for the hell of it, walked all the way home.
Along the way we saw a church with a stone marked with Jesus' footprints and then the ruins of a ridiculously large Roman bath-house - it could accomodate 1,600 visitors. The Baths of Caracalla are not much more than the shell of the former building, but its still quite a sight to see. We saw most of it from the road, so we'll see if we decide to go back to actually tour the site from the inside. Based on the handy Gmaps Pedometer tool I estimate we walked almost 15 miles today. Which might explain why our feet feel broken and we can't walk anymore. We relaxed at home for a little bit then went out for beer and pizza before calling it a night.
Gelato Gusti per il Giorno:
Mike - Creme Caramel e Cioccolato
Aviva - none
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