Catacombs of Vigna Cassia in Syracuse
The Catacombs of Vigna Cassia are the largest discovered up to now of all the sepulchral hypogea located in Sicily and are located in an old cemetery area near the Church of Santa Maria di Gesù .
The catacombs are so called because a vineyard stood above them. Only a part of these catacombs has been cleared and opened to the public, some of them are still totally unexplored. These Catacombs are divided into three sectors connected to each other by a long internal tunnel: the Catacombs of Santa Maria di Gesù, the Catacombs of San Diego, and the Catacombs of the March; the first two dating back to the III century, the last instead only to the IV. The catacombs present various traces of ancient frescoes, salvation and resurrection of the soul are the concepts symbolically expressed by the scenes that decorate two arcosoles of the hypogeum.
Of considerable value are the images of a figurative cycle with a Christian subject, one of the most precious documents of the underground patrimony of Syracuse, returned following the restoration carried out in 1997.
In Syracuse there there are two other groups of catacombs: the catacomb of Santa Lucia from the 2nd century AD. and the 4th century Catacomb of San Giovanni .
