Could this be the apartment of St. Paul in Rome?
Beneath the Santa Maria Invia Lata Church on the Via Del Corso in Rome, there are remains of a 1st century living quarters, complete with courtyard, well for water and rooms with fresco filled walls of early Christian art. This site, when first discovered, was filled with many feet of silt from flooding of the Tiber river over the centuries. As excavations proceeded, evidence suggested that these were the apartments St Paul stayed in during his two year house arrest in Rome. Some traditions hold that St Peter and Luke also stayed here at various times.
Since the 6th century thru today there has been a church over this site. The artwork on the walls (most of it since moved to a museum) suggests this has been a place of veneration for centuries. A column with chain marks is inscribed with the words from 2 Timothy 2:9 the word of God is not chained. There would have been room here for gatherings of Christians.
I haven’t been able to find a scholarly publication about the findings at the site (would love to know if anyone has seen anything on this site), but we had a wonderful tour from a Vatican guide. She met us at the Mamertine prison and walked us to the site. From street level, you descend a dark stairwell into this 1st century apartment area that would have been at street level in Paul’s day.
The church itself, Santa Maria Invia Lata, was founded in the 4th century. The current structure was completed in 1662 in the Baroque style. Originally the Via Lata, or broad road, ran in front of the church.
Below is a link to an article on this site:
