It has been a lifelong dream of mine to explore the catacombs of the world. Today, I took my first steps down into the earth and with them, down the path of that dream. Some fellow thrill-seekers and myself set our sights on the Catacombs of San Callisto as our destination for the day. After catching the metro to a less-than-stellar part of the city in terms of sketchy vibes, myself and some fellow adventurers packed into a van taxi, tipping the driver extra to get him to bend the rules to fit us all in one cab. As the cab made its way up the winding road, I knew we had made the right choice.

When we arrived, we bought our tickets and met our English-speaking guide for the last tour of the day (we had made it just in time). He was Australian and it was interesting communicating with someone who spoke English fluently after trying constantly for the past few days to speak Italian. He led us to a hole in the ground, and we descended.

Walking down into the earth, the smell hits you, not of death, but of earth and soil and a kind of musty life. There were many tunnels we traversed lined with shelves on either side that once held remains coated in lime and scented incense. You can just feel the heavy weight of the air and energy as you brush past these former resting places. Throughout the tour, our guide kept referring to the catacombs as a “place of dormition,” or rather a “sleeping place, like a dormitory.” He explained that the souls were simply “resting” as they “awaited eternal life.” He repeatedly described the tombs as a place of “life” rather than “doom and gloom.” Christian symbols dotted all of the crypt surfaces, most of them referring to resurrection rather than a state of decay or death: a Phoenix for rebirth, a dove of peace, and a woman with her arms raised in an “array” position of prayer, a “woman at peace.” We did not get to stay as long as I would have liked in this space of darkness, since we were kind of racing the clock so that the gatekeeper would not forget we were down in the underground and accidentally lock us in, which would have been a whole new level of adventure.

However, while I was down there, I realized this: the Catacombs, a place many people visit in search of death and morbidity, is actually a site celebrating life and rebirth. Within the darkness there is light, and the discovery of a City of the Dead awaiting their eternal rebirth. A place filled with death is surprisingly the place where eternal life and this message of rebirth blooms and can be found.

Pictured Below: Christian symbols covered the crypts. Here are some of them that I have recreated.