Catacomb rediscoveries in Malta and Italy: an overview

Lecture by Dr Chiara Cecalupo

The presence of large underground Christian cemeteries in various places in the Mediterranean has attracted the attention of many scholars, travellers, curious people and researchers for many centuries, from the modern age until today. The catacomb complexes of the central Mediterranean (i.e. Italy, Malta and North Africa) present archaeological and architectural features of great interest, with common elements as much as singular regional peculiarities.

Regardless of the specific archaeological features, however, the rediscovery and investigation of catacombs in Italy and Malta has always been strongly linked since its inception in the mid-17th century. The incredible interconnection between the rediscovery phenomena underlies a rich common literary, scientific and graphic production that has been little studied as a unitary phenomenon, and that instead presents rich insights from a historiographical and cultural point of view.

The talk will then explore some of this historiographic heritage through archival documents, rare books, old catacomb plans and image, in order to present some of the most interesting results of this human and cultural connections between Malta and Italy.