Danie's Italy: My time underground

Ciao,
Yesterday I went to the City of the Dead, also known as the necropolis, underneath the Vatican( Scarrrrrrry Right?????? ). I also visited the chambers under the Colosseum. Both of these places were appropriate to visit yesterday because it was dark, overcast, and misty. OK, the first adventure... The City of the Dead was actually an area in Rome where, instead of cemeteries, people were buried in Mausoleums, some of which were as big as houses. This area was partially torn down and then filled in to become the foundation of the first Basillica of St. Peter, which was built during Constantines reign about 320AD. Now its time for some little known facts about the City of the dead and Saint Peter's tomb. Saint Peter's tomb is near the west end of the complex of Mausoleums that date between AD 130-300. The place was torn down and filled with dirt to build the foundation of the 1st Saint Peters Basilica, during the rein of Constiane the 1st. Pope Pius XII said in december 1950 that " that none of the bones could be comfirmed that they were really Saint Peters bones " and still today no one really knows. ( even though there was some really old grafitti near the tomb stating that " Peter is here. " ) Now, more of my visit.. The first basillica, which is now known as the crypts, was torn down in 1506AD and then the present Basillica was built. It was really amazing to see how well preserved the "necropolis" is. Starting in 1953, Archeologists were able to clean out and restore the actual streets. When I was there I could look all the way down a street and see the windows, doors, and actual cobbles to walk on. It really was a small village of dead people's houses. Now another fun fact. When people were buried in the mausoleums, a small hole was drilled through the tops of the crypts. These holes were for the family of the dead to feed their deceased ones twice a year. Basically, everyone who was alive met in the mausoleum to celebrate those who had died. All the food was placed on the tombs and then some of it was pushed down into the tombs so that the dead could eat with them. I know, a bit creepy huh? So I bet some of you were wondering why all these people were buried here, the answer is simple. The Catholic church says that the bones of St. Peter are here and obviously, the closer to St. Peter that you are buried, well the closer to God you get. I can say that I was within 10 feet of his bones, St. Peter's that is, and it was pretty cool. Oh...Who is St. Peter? Well to put it bluntly, he was one of the 12 apostles, then known as Simon, he was on the boat when Jesus preformed his "fishing" miracle. People needed to be fed but there were no fish. Jesus was on Simon's boat and he told Simon and his brother Andrew to lower their nets, when they did, the nets were over full with fish. This was when Simon decided to follow Jesus. Simon, after Jesus was killed, went on to preach and lead the church but was eventually put to death by Emperor Nero in 67ad. Why? Well, christians were pretty much always put to death because they were breaking emperial law by worshiping "God". You see, Nero was to be worshipped, not God, it was the law. Romans believed that christians couldn't worship both nero and God so all christians were killed. So, now you know a bit about christains, St. Peter, and why people are buried under the vatican. Tourists are allowed to view the crypts in the old basillica but only about 100 people a year are allowed into the necropolis. My friend Dario is into everything Roman and he knows alot of important people so he arranged for my family to go down and see this most awesome site. I wasn't allowed to take pictures but I will try to find some links so that you can see what I saw when I was down there. This was a long entry so I am going to tell you all about the chambers under the Colloseum (which just opened 2 months ago and again thanks to Dario, I was able to see) tomorrow.
Ciao