Every time you turn a corner in Rome you stumble upon another ancient temple or Renaissance masterpiece but have you ever wondered what lies beneath your feet? Acres and acres of tombs! Rome is home to a vast underground maze of catacombs carved out of the soft, volcanic tufa stone that surrounds the city.

There’s a myth that during their persecution, Christians used the catacombs as a secret place to bury their dead but in reality the location of the catacombs was well known. Poor Christians simply couldn’t afford to be buried in their own private grave so they would arrange to have their bodies carried down into these tunnels, laid out in a sarcophagus or shelf in the wall and sealed over to await the Last Judgment…or the inquisitive eyes of archeologists.