Catacombs of St. John

Culture, Monuments
Via San Giovanni alle Catacombe, 1 - 96100 Siracusa

Every day from 9.30 to 12.30 and from 14.30 to 17.30 (winter time from 14.30 to 16.30)

Guided tours

Full € 8,00
Reduced (under 15 and over 65) € 5.00
Reduced for groups and pilgrimages € 5.00
Free entry for accompanying teachers

The Catacombs of St. John were built in the fourth century, following the route of a former Greek aqueduct (with its tanks), and enlarged until the fifth century.

The structure consists of a central gallery from which branch out ten secondary ones, leading to four “round” (former water cisterns): the “Round of Antioch”, the “Round Marina”, the “Round of Adelphia “and the” Round of the sarcophagi”. The walls of these galleries and of the rounds were used as niches and as family’ graves.

On the walls, particularly along the corridor leading to the “Round Marina”, it is possible to admire a graffito depicting a monogram and two boats stylized as fishes, evident Christian symbols.

Over the centuries, the catacombs suffered depredation and desecration by invaders from Syracuse and were completely abandoned in the late sixth century. Unknown until the sixteenth century, it was only at the end of the last century that the archaeological excavations began. They were conducted by Paolo Orsi who, in 1872, found in the “Round of Adelphia” a marble sarcophagus with 62 Bible characters of the Old and New Testament and in the center, a shell with two busts. Today the sarcophagus can be admired in the Regional Museum “Paolo Orsi”.