Piazza Santa Lucia is one of the most cherished places for the people of Syracuse, as in the city where she was born, the Patron Saint suffered martyrdom in the year 304, becoming an example of virtue and courage for everyone. The area where the monumental complex of Santa Lucia Extra Moenia stands had already acquired symbolic value for followers of the Christian religion before the 3rd century AD, as evidenced by the presence of catacomb clusters where Christians celebrated their rites and buried their dead. According to hagiographic tradition, the body of the Syracusan martyr was buried precisely in an arcosolium within the catacomb group, which from that moment became a designated place for the religious celebrations held in the city. The Catacomb, located beneath the current Piazza Santa Lucia, is characterized by a rather complex morphology. Indeed, it consists of a community cemetery and some private hypogea attributable to the 3rd, 4th, and 5th centuries and preserves archaeological evidence dating back to the Byzantine and Norman ages. Archaeology thus attests to the continuity of the Saint’s cult in the underground cemetery and in the upper Basilica.
Information about Catacombs of Saint Lucia
Piazza Santa Lucia, snc
96100 Syracuse (Syracuse)
(+39) 0931.67946
pcas@catacombesiracusa.it
https://www.catacombesiracusa.it
Source: MIBACT
