Scavi closed - Which catacombs?
 

Dearest Fodorites,

You got me all syched up about the Scavi Tour and I sent a request for a reservation. But...unless something changes, it appears from the response I received acknowledging my request, that the tour will not take place on the days I will be in Rome. They have not updated the Vatican website with 2007 closures, but I would imagine that the info on the email is accurate due to the proximity to Easter.

With all of that said...I'm not good at short and to the point like so many of you are...Ira comes to mind with his light bulb...which catacombs would you recommend. I caught a portion of a Rick Steves TV segment discussing Rome and he mentioned that there was at least one catacomb in particular that was the most famous.

Please help me out here.

The Scavi are in Pompeii, Herculenum (not correct spelling). The Rome catacumbs are in the Appian Way (near and around Circus Maximus), difficult to reach by bus, where persecuted Christians hid.

The Scavi (excavations) tour in Rome is of the tomb area beneath St. Peter's. Those are different from the large catacombs mentioned above.

The Vatican website list Easter and Easter Monday as closed. I don't know if these were the days you were trying to book the scavi tour.

Here's a link about the catacombs - location, hours (always subject to change), and admission prices.
http://www.santasusanna.org/popeVatican/catacombs.html

1. There is a cluster of several catacombs south of St. John Lateran. We went to these by car. I would think taking public bus would be a little slow; there is also the Archeo bus. I couldn't find the home page for it in a hurry -- check out this SlowTrav description from its mediator:
http://tinyurl.com/y76d

2. There are the Catacombs of Priscilla in North Rome. We reached these by taxi, and it was not a far taxi ride afterward to the Trevi Fountain area. Although not as big as the largest down south, it's still great to see, supposedly the oldest known images of Mary and also of the Wise Men.

Check out their locations on mappy or another engine. If they're open, I think you can find a way to get there. If it makes you feel better, I enjoyed the guides of both my catacomb tours better than my Scavi guide.

Rick Steves probably mentioned the catacomb of San Calisto on the Appian Way as the "most famous" as it is the largest. That is a good catacomb to visit but I prefer San Sebastiano, next to San Calisto, because of the beautiful funerary (sp?) architecture and graffiti wall. The catacombs of San Agnese Fuori la Mura are also very interesting.

Thanks to you all...

I sent a reservation request for the Scavi tour under St. Peters, and all I've received is a confirmation of the request. That email listed dates of April 5-10 as having no Scavi tours. The dates were still not listed on the website yesterday.

So if I am interested in the Appian Way catacombs would I need to take a taxi...and if so what would be the approximate cost. I guess I need to take some time to look at the various links included on this post and then ask more questions.

Deb - You can take the Archeobus(google it). It makes about 15 different stops for catacombs and other ruins along the via Appia. The cost is about $8.