Underground Rome Tour

Visit to the Roman houses of Caelian Hill and the subterranean of the Basilica of San Clemente.

Visit time: 3 hours

Tickets not included

The Roman houses of Caelian Hill are an incredible testimony of the ancient Roman structures to survive. They are so well preserved thanks to the church of Saints John and Paul, which was built right on top of the place of martyrdom of the two saints. The houses were brought back to light again only in 1887.

A few blocks from the Colosseum is the best place in Rome to see the layer-cake effect of its history in action: church piled atop church piled atop pagan temple. The Basilica of San Clemente is a rich testimony of this stratigraphic archaeology.

From the level of the XII century Basilica, we will descend to visit the medieval church underneath and then, still further down, 6 meters below the modern street level, we will visit the ruins of a Roman house and of a Mithraic temple. The subterranean area brought to light thanks to the excavation of father Mullooly, a Dominican priest, in the second half of 1800s. Since the end of 1600s until today the church and the connected monastery have been managed by Irish Dominican fathers.