Catacomb of Pontian, Underground Christian burial site along Via Portuensis in Rome, Italy

The Catacomb of Pontian is an underground burial site with multiple levels of chambers connected by narrow corridors. The spaces were carved from soft tufa rock beneath Rome's surface.

Antonio Bosio discovered this site in 1618 while exploring underground Christian burial places. It served as a resting place for early popes and believers during the first centuries of Christianity.

The wall paintings from the 5th and 6th centuries show Christian figures and scenes of faith from the early church. These artworks reveal how the earliest Christians expressed their beliefs through images in underground spaces.

Access requires advance booking, and visitors should bring warm clothing since underground temperatures stay constant year-round. The narrow corridors are straightforward to walk through, but sturdy shoes are recommended.

The submerged baptistery, reached by a double monumental staircase, is a near-square room with a pool fed by natural water; its plastered walls cover earlier loculi, showing a funerary chapel later converted into a baptistery in memory of Abdon and Sennen. On the back wall is a Baptism of Christ with John the Baptist, a dove, a drinking deer and an angel, and below it a jewelled cross sprouting roses.