The Appian Way & the Catacombs

Of all the roads that led to Rome, Via Appia Antica (built in 312 B.C.) was the most famous. It eventually stretched all the way from Rome to the seaport of Brindisi, through which trade with the colonies in Greece and the East was funneled. (According to Christian tradition, it was along the Appian Way that an escaping Peter encountered the vision of Christ, causing him to go back to the city to face subsequent martyrdom.) The road's initial stretch in Rome is lined with the great monuments and ancient tombs of patrician Roman families -- burials were forbidden within the city walls as early as the 5th century B.C. -- and, beneath the surface, miles of tunnels hewn from tufa stone.

These tunnels, or catacombs, were where early Christians buried their dead and, during the worst times of persecution, held church services discreetly out of the public eye. A few of them are open to the public, so you can wander through mile after mile of musty-smelling tunnels whose soft walls are gouged out with tens of thousands of burial niches (long shelves made for 2-3 bodies each). In some dank, dark grottoes, you can still discover the remains of early Christian art. The requisite guided tours feature a smidgen of extremely biased history and a large helping of sermonizing.

The Appia Antica has long been a popular Sunday lunch picnic site for Roman families (following the half-forgotten pagan tradition of dining in the presence of one's ancestors on holy days). A 1990s initiative that closed the Via Appia Antica to cars on Sundays brings out the picnickers and bicyclists -- along with in-line skaters and a new Sunday-only bus route to get out here.

You can take bus no. 218 from the San Giovanni Metro stop, which follows the Appia Antica for a bit and then veers right on Via Ardeatina at Domine Quo Vadis Church. After another long block, the bus stops at the square Largo M.F. Via d. Sette Chiese. From here, you can follow the signs to the San Domitilla catacombs; or, walk left down Via d. Sette Chiese to the San Sebastiano catacombs.

An alternative is to ride the Metro to the Colli Albani stop and catch bus no. 660, which wraps up the Appia Antica from the south, veering off it at the San Sebastiano catacombs (if you're visiting all three, you can take bus no. 218 to the first two, walk to San Sebastiano, and then catch bus no. 660 back to the Metro). On Sundays, the road is closed to traffic, but bus no. 118 trundles from the Circo Massimo Metro stop down the Via Appia Antica, turning around after it passes the Tomb of Cecilia Metella.

Of the monuments on the Appian Way, the most impressive is the Tomb of Cecilia Metella, within walking distance of the catacombs. The tomb honors the wife of one of Julius Caesar's military commanders from the Republican era. Why such an elaborate tomb for such a minor person in history? Cecilia Metella was singled out for enduring fame because her tomb has remained while others have decayed.