Vatican Necropolis (the Scavi) site features

The Vatican Necropolis is a buried Roman cemetery under the floor of a church. The Fabbrica di San Pietro describes it as a site which remained inaccessible and untouched for sixteen centuries beneath the floor of the Constantinian basilica and the massive Renaissance structures — two churches deep, in other words, with the present basilica's foundations threaded through it.

What it holds is domestic, not monumental. It is a "city of the dead" that reveals itself as a place that leads us to rediscover a "world of the living", allowing glimpses into their daily lives and religious sentiments through archaeological, epigraphic and iconographic evidence — inscriptions, painted and mosaic decoration, the fittings of family tombs.

Its condition is the remarkable part. That evidence was unearthed from the ground in a nearly unchanged form after more than 1,600 years.

At the centre of it is a grave. Here, Saint Peter was crucified and buried, and it is upon the humble tomb of the Galilean Fisherman that the majestic basilica rises, serving both as a treasure chest that preserves it and as a home that gathers all believers.

Beyond that, this page does not describe the interior, because the operator does not: the Fabbrica's public pages carry two paragraphs and a booking form, and no account of the route, the rooms or the conditions underground.

The necropolis itself

A "necropolis", meaning "city of the dead", which reveals itself as a place that leads us to rediscover a "world of the living".

The evidence

Archaeological, epigraphic and iconographic evidence, giving glimpses into their daily lives and religious sentiments.

Its state of preservation

Unearthed from the ground in a nearly unchanged form after more than 1,600 years.

Sixteen sealed centuries

It remained inaccessible and untouched for sixteen centuries beneath the floor of the Constantinian basilica and the massive Renaissance structures.

The tomb of Saint Peter

Here, Saint Peter was crucified and buried — the humble tomb of the Galilean Fisherman.

The basilica as container

The majestic basilica rises upon that tomb, serving both as a treasure chest that preserves it and as a home that gathers all believers.

The roots of the Roman Church

In this site we also rediscover the roots of the Roman Church, which sprang from this land watered by the blood of the Holy Protomartyrs, and here the Pope still resides today, continuing his mission as shepherd of the universal Church.