Photo: LigaDue · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons

Catacomba di Villa San Faustino

The only Christian catacomb in Umbria, in the hamlet of Villa San Faustino in Massa Martana, with a corridor of about 22 metres and over 300 burials.

Opening hours unknownAdmission €5

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About the museum

The catacomb lies in the hamlet of Villa San Faustino, in the municipality of Massa Martana, not far from the ancient route of the Via Flaminia and the Ponte Fonnaia. It is the only evidence of an underground Christian cemetery in Umbria and documents, between the 4th and 5th centuries AD, the spread of Christianity along the Flaminia and the burial practices of rural communities.

Already known to local scholars of the 17th century as the “Grotte di Traiano” (Caves of Trajan), it was officially discovered in 1900 and explored at the beginning of the 20th century by the archaeologist Giuseppe Sordini. In the 1940s two intensive excavation campaigns freed most of the galleries from the earth; during the Second World War they served as an air-raid shelter. Between 1996 and 1997 new works made the hypogeum visitable and brought to light rooms connected with a small funerary basilica.

The complex develops along a straight corridor of about 22 metres that penetrates the hill to a depth of about 7 metres; from it four side galleries, about 1.50 metres wide and with a flattened vault, branch off. Along the walls are superimposed rows of niches (loculi), often closed with large tiles, without decoration or inscriptions. Outside, traces of a single-nave building have been identified, with numerous burials and a monumental tomb in an apse.

Highlights

The only Christian catacomb in Umbria
Corridor of about 22 metres with four side galleries
Over 300 niche burials (loculi)
Traces of a small funerary basilica
Oil lamps and materials from the 4th–5th century