UNDERGROUND ROME TOUR
Private Walking Tour (4 hours)
This private tour is recommended to whom wants make a journey back in time to discover an humble and silent Rome...
You have probably seen the Vatican Museums, the Roman Forum, the Colosseum, numerous Baroque and Renaissance churches but maybe you don't know that below the streets, the squares and the churches lies an hidden city. This unique tour is a sophisticated journey back in time to discover an humble and silent Rome and to experience the immense beauty hiding underneath Rome.
TOUR HIGHLIGHTS:
1 – The Basilica of St. Clement (with subterranean levels), a unique place for experiencing an archaeological time line from the Ancient Rome to the beginning of Christianity and the Middle Ages. Below the Basilica itself, we can visit the IV century early christian church and I century roman building and one of the most interesting underground sanctuary dedicated to the God Mithras brought to Rome in the 1C BC by the Roman legions posted in the Eastern provinces.
2- Roman Houses of the Caelian Hill: this archaeological complex below the Basilica of St. John and Paul cover many different layers of housing, from the 2nd to the 4th centuries AD, particularly interesting for the original pagan and christian frescoes (closed on Tuesdays and Thursday)
3 - The Basilica of Santa Cecilia in Trastevere - Today it's a beautiful baroque church sits atop a grand house that archeologists believe might have belonged to a branch of the Caecilii Metelli, one of the Rome's most famous senatorial families. Here many rooms and even the granary are preserved almost intact.
Note that if book this tour on Tuesdays or Thursdays, due to the closure of the Roman Houses of the Caelian Hill, upon request we can visit one of the two following beautiful sites:
a) Vicus Caprarius: The site, excavated between 1999 and 2001, contains two ancient Roman apartment buildings of a neighborhood of the imperial age, gradually abandoned as Rome lost population and contracted. The excavated ruins here show two houses which can be dated to the 12th and 13th centuries, and were built from discarded bricks and tufa blocks from prior buildings from this site or nearby that were subject to multiple renovations over the centuries. (Vicus Caprarius is closed on Mondays). One of the apartments’ ground-floor was turned into a water distribution tank, the only one preserved of the aqueduct, called “Virgo”, built in 19 BC. Twenty-five metres below the surface of the city of Rome, the Aqua Virgo has flowed almost continuously since 19BC. We will take a walk in the Emperor Augustus's miracle of hydraulic engineering.
b) Capuchin Crypt: a small space of six chamber like chapels containing nearly 4000 bodies belonging to the Capuchin Friars. The Capuchin Friars belong to a Roman Catholic religious order of brothers and priests, inspired by the ideals of St. Francis. Such ideals place emphasis on living as simply as possible whilst possessing a passion for peace, honesty and charity. This all seems normal enough, so that's why the existence of Capuchin Crypt - aka the Bone Cemetery - appears even more surprising and bizarre.
You have probably seen the Vatican Museums, the Roman Forum, the Colosseum, numerous Baroque and Renaissance churches but maybe you don't know that below the streets, the squares and the churches lies an hidden city. This unique tour is a sophisticated journey back in time to discover an humble and silent Rome and to experience the immense beauty hiding underneath Rome.
TOUR HIGHLIGHTS:
1 – The Basilica of St. Clement (with subterranean levels), a unique place for experiencing an archaeological time line from the Ancient Rome to the beginning of Christianity and the Middle Ages. Below the Basilica itself, we can visit the IV century early christian church and I century roman building and one of the most interesting underground sanctuary dedicated to the God Mithras brought to Rome in the 1C BC by the Roman legions posted in the Eastern provinces.
2- Roman Houses of the Caelian Hill: this archaeological complex below the Basilica of St. John and Paul cover many different layers of housing, from the 2nd to the 4th centuries AD, particularly interesting for the original pagan and christian frescoes (closed on Tuesdays and Thursday)
3 - The Basilica of Santa Cecilia in Trastevere - Today it's a beautiful baroque church sits atop a grand house that archeologists believe might have belonged to a branch of the Caecilii Metelli, one of the Rome's most famous senatorial families. Here many rooms and even the granary are preserved almost intact.
Note that if book this tour on Tuesdays or Thursdays, due to the closure of the Roman Houses of the Caelian Hill, upon request we can visit one of the two following beautiful sites:
a) Vicus Caprarius: The site, excavated between 1999 and 2001, contains two ancient Roman apartment buildings of a neighborhood of the imperial age, gradually abandoned as Rome lost population and contracted. The excavated ruins here show two houses which can be dated to the 12th and 13th centuries, and were built from discarded bricks and tufa blocks from prior buildings from this site or nearby that were subject to multiple renovations over the centuries. (Vicus Caprarius is closed on Mondays). One of the apartments’ ground-floor was turned into a water distribution tank, the only one preserved of the aqueduct, called “Virgo”, built in 19 BC. Twenty-five metres below the surface of the city of Rome, the Aqua Virgo has flowed almost continuously since 19BC. We will take a walk in the Emperor Augustus's miracle of hydraulic engineering.
b) Capuchin Crypt: a small space of six chamber like chapels containing nearly 4000 bodies belonging to the Capuchin Friars. The Capuchin Friars belong to a Roman Catholic religious order of brothers and priests, inspired by the ideals of St. Francis. Such ideals place emphasis on living as simply as possible whilst possessing a passion for peace, honesty and charity. This all seems normal enough, so that's why the existence of Capuchin Crypt - aka the Bone Cemetery - appears even more surprising and bizarre.
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USEFUL INFORMATIONS:
DEPARTURE TIME: -on demand AVAILABLE DAYS: -everyday except Sundays morning INCLUSIONS: - Guiding service (4 hours) - Pick up at your accomodation EXCLUSIONS: - Admission tickets - Meals and beverages - Taxi ride |
Read what my guests wrote about this tour
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