Rome Underground and Appian Way - private tour

Experience the ancient “freeway” that was the Appian Way, the starting point for Roman traders and warriors journeying to the far eastern reaches of the Empire. Dating from 312 BCE, it was flanked by mausoleums, such as Cecilia Metella tomb, and villas, like Villa dei Quintilii, many of them built by Rome's most wealthy and famous families. More than anything it is the unmissable Christian Catacombs, the burial grounds of the earliest Christians who were laid to rest after death deep below the earth in maze-like underground galleries. Today, when you visit these tombs, you witness a remarkable insight into the formative early Christian community and, with the help of your guide, get a sense of how Chirstianity was born and how it developed towards what it is today.