Data Mining: David Noy on the location of the Monteverde Catacomb

David Noy, Jewish Inscriptions of Western Europe: The City of Rome (1995).

1. A catacomb on the Via Portuense was discovered by the 'Columbus of the catacombs', Antonio Bosio, and two friends on 14th Dec. 1602, on a vineyard on the Colle Rosaro, i.e. Monteverde (between the modern Via Vincenza Monti and Circonvallazione Gianicolense, about 400m. west of Trastavere station). This site may be referred to in the writings of Benjamin of Tudela (tr. M.N. Adler, London, 1907), who visited Rome in the 1160s. He wrote (p. 10): ‘There is also a cave in a hill on one bank of the Tiber where are the graves of the Ten Martyrs.’ The catacomb was reached through an opening in a cliff overlooking a quarry (1).

2. [Late 1904 rediscovered and identified by N. Muller]: The excavations were hampered by the perilous condition of the catacomb (much of which had already been destroyed by quarrying and landslides)… The only available [plan] is in Muller (1915), reproduced with slight alterations reproduced with slight alterations as Plan 2 in this book; it suggests that the excavated area may have been less than a quarter of the original catacomb (2). Vismara (1986) p. 362, observes that nothing in it matches Bosio's description, which is likely to refer to a different part of the catacomb.

3. The remains of the catacomb were largely destroyed by a landslide on 14 Oct. 1928, and blocks of flats were later built on the site (Leon [1960]), figs.6-7). (3).

Important tidbits gleaned elsewhere:

• The quarry in Muller’s time was known as cava Brunori
• The property owner was Marchesi (the Marquis) Pellegrini Quarantotti (Fortyeight)
• The property address was via di Monteverde no. 5

Here is a notice in Italian that appeared in Notizie Degli Scavi di Antichità v.8 (1911):


TRANSLATION:

Region XIV. Following the renovation of the extension of viale del Re, about m. 400 from the Trastevere station, and m. 11.50 above modern street level, were discovered some tombs built in coffered masonry in different orders. Each of them was divided by bricks or tiles which rested on a small side door which hung from the walls. The tombs were long m. 1.70, m. And 1.85 m. 2 m wide and 0.45, and were constructed above the virgin soil of alluvial formation. Some of the tiles used there had stamps C. I. L. XV, 282.764.

By the via di Monteverde, near the railway bridge, the cable made for the construction of a sewer, were found: a marble base, tall m. 0.20, diameter M 0.50, and clay amphora, tall m. 1 X 0.30.

In the Brunori quarry, owned by the Marquis Pellegrini-forty-eight, where Jewish catacombs were, removing the stone, were found two pieces of sheet marble (0.32 m X0, 18), which together have the rest of the entry: