Rome Jewish Catacombs Open to Public for First Time

Vigna Randanini Jewish catacombs, located outside Rome. Image by YouTube

By Josefin Dolsten April 26, 2016

Rome’s Jewish catacombs will open to the public for the first time on Sunday as part of a campaign to highlight diverse cultural sites throughout Italy.

While Rome’s many Christian underground burial grounds are a tourist highlight, drawing hundreds of thousands of visitors each year, Jewish catacombs have only up to now been open only to small groups and private tours, the Catholic Register reported.

The Jewish burial site at Vigna Randanini, which was built between the second and fourth centuries, lies outside Rome’s old city walls and is made up of a network of underground tunnels. The tombs contain inscriptions in Hebrew, Greek and Latin about the lives of the deceased.

Giorgia Calo, cultural councillor for the Jewish Community of Rome, praised the move, highlighting that Jews “have always been a part of the history of the capital.”

The catacombs are included in a series of sites that Italy’s cultural ministry is promoting in honor of Pope Francis’ Jubilee Year of Mercy. Other Jewish-themed locations include the remains of an ancient port city synagogue and the Arch of Titus, which portrays the Roman destruction of Jerusalem in 70 CE.

“We have tried to create a suitable itinerary to help people understand how much the Jewish people have been part of Rome,” Calo said.

The Vigna Randanini catacombs will be open through June 5.

Watch a tour of the catacombs here (skip to 0:23):

Josefin Dolsten is a New York-based writer who has reported for the Forward, Jewish Telegraphic Agency, The Times of Israel and other Jewish publications. She currently works as an account director at Fenton Communications, supporting organizations that work to advance racial justice, LGBTQ+ equality, reproductive rights and more. Dolsten earned her B.A. in government from Cornell University and her M.A. in comparative religion and Jewish studies from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.

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