SCAVI TOUR

After being crucified, Peter was buried in a hillside necropolis, a city of the dead. It was a place, fashioned to look like a city in miniature, where wealthy pagan families entombed their dead in houses where they could continue their new lives. Emperor Constantine eventually became a Christian and, in the 4th century, ordered the construction of a church over the tomb of St. Peter. The church also covered the other mausoleums in the ancient cemetery. Centuries passed and so did the memory of the necropolis. In 1939 workers digging a tomb for the deceased Pope Pius XI, broke through a wall beneath the church and rediscovered the necropolis. Pope Pius XII ordered the excavation of the necropolis, but kept the work secret in case Peter's tomb was not found. The tomb was found and the excavated area is now open to pilgrims on tour, the Scavi Tour.

The highlight of the tour is a small hole in a wall 33 feet below of floor of St. Peter's Basilica, directly beneath Michelangelo's dome. Through the hole visitors can see two plastic boxes holding 18 small bones of a man somewhere between 60 and 80 years old. The feet are missing, having been broken off at the ankles. St. Peter was crucified upside down and missing feet are typical having been broken off at the ankles. Many other clues support the authenticity of these holy relics of St. Peter. Our tour guide presenting a very convincing case.