Vatican Scavi

I got super exciting news on Tuesday regarding Rome. We're going to the Vatican Scavi!!

The Vatican was built on one of the seven hills of Rome - Vatican hill. During Roman times, the hill was the sight of a necropolis, or 'city of the dead'. Romans did not bury the dead inside the city walls so there are many tombs lining the roads leaving Rome and across the Tiber, on the Vatican hill. During Nero's reign, the emperor built a circus there, a place for races and spectacles. Then, a few hundred years later, in the fourth century A.D., an emperor named Constantine commissioned a Church to be built over the Necropolis. Why? Because St. Peter was buried on the Vatican hill. A thousand years later, another church was built on top of the old one, the present-day Basilica.

When inside the Basilica today, you can go down some stairs near the altar and see the original columns of Constantine's church, amid the tombs of various popes. But there's another layer to be seen...the Necropolis layer.

That's where we're going. You have to write to the Vatican Scavi ("Excavation") office months in advance and pray vehemently for a response. I got a response, long before I expected one. We're going on July 4 to see this underground city, filled with tombs. How awesome is that?! It's similar to the catacombs, containing tombs of both pagans and a few Christians...including the shrine built for Peter. This is where Constantine came after the battle of the Milvian bridge, when he converted to Christianity upon his victory. There is controversy over this shrine and the bones found under it but there is no doubt that it is in honor of Peter - either the place of his crucifixion or the place of his burial.

I don't know if we'll actually get to see that, but it'll be amazing no matter what. My excitement is very hard to contain!

**Pic above is of the Papal Palace at the Vatican, now the Vatican Museums. The Sistine Chapel is in the bottom right of the pic.