Scavi Day

Monday started late in the morning with one of our last language classes. I can’t believe how fast this program is going! After a quick lunch we all crowded onto the number 64 bus to make our scavi tour appointment at the Vatican. At the gates, we passed the colorful Vatican guards in their purple and yellow (and probably made it into a lot of pictures other tourists were taking of the guards). Breaking into two smaller groups, we waited for our tour guides then descended into the necropolis below the Vatican. Our guide led us through layers of burial grounds; at the bottom lie the mausoleums of rich families from the 2nd and 3rd centuries. Later this was covered in dirt to build a church which preceded the modern St. Peter’s, and after that, the modern St. Peter’s was built up even higher.

St. Peter’s grave makes this a very holy location, and on the tour we got to see his tomb. Did you know there are bones in his tomb that might not be Peter’s? When the excavators discovered his burial place, they found no bones. Some hypothesize that the bones disintegrated since he was buried right in the ground. Another scholar found some bones that had been removed from the general site. She believes these are actually St. Peter’s bones, and thus these have been returned to the tomb. I guess we’ll never know for sure.
--Elizabeth

View of the Vatican