Catacomba di San Valentino

The Catacombs of San Valentino (Italian: Catacombe di San Valentino) is one of the catacombs of Rome (Italy), placed at the 2nd mile of the via Flaminia, now in Viale Maresciallo Pilsudski, in the modern Pinciano neighbourhood.

Italian archaeologist Antonio Bosio was the first to enter the catacomb, into the upper level (no longer visible today). The first archaeologist to excavate the remains of the catacomb was Orazio Marucchi (1852–1931): in 1878, while searching for the cemetery, he casually entered a cellar, at the foot of the Parioli hills, and he realized that it actually was a grave covered with pictures, though very ruined because of its change into a room for agricultural use. Marucchi himself also discovered the remains of the outer basilica, dedicated to Saint Valentine. New archaeological investigations were carried out in 1949 by Bruno Maria Apollonj Ghetti.

These excavations permitted to ascertain that the martyr Valentine was not buried into the catacomb, but directly into a pit outside it; on this subdial grave, Pope Jiulius I (336–352) built a former basilical structure, which was modified and enlarged by popes Honorius I (625–638) and Theodore I (642–649) and further restored in the following centuries until the last works carried out by Pope Nicholas II in mid-11th century. To this century dates back the testimony of a cloister close to the basilica. The basilica was still existing in the 13th century and some remains were visible in the time of Bosio (1594).

It has also been ascertained that, during the 6th century, between the basilica and the catacomb an open-air necropolis rose, with mausoleums, tombs and sarcophaguses.

Nowadays hardly anything remains of the catacomb, especially due to the flood and the landslip that involved the area in 1986 and that made most of the galleries inaccessible. The only significant artifacts are the outer basilica and the ambulatory discovered by Marucchi in 1878 and placed at the entrance of the catacomb.

A controversial debate arose between academics and archaeologists during 20th century about the figure of Saint Valentine: in fact, the date of February, 14 is consecrated to two martyr saints with the same name, the priest Valentine from Rome and the bishop Valentine from Terni. The theories can be summed up as follows.

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Wikipedia