Beneath St Peter’s Basilica lies an extensive Roman burial area that developed near the Circus of Nero. The mausoleums, built and progressively transformed between the 1st and 4th centuries AD, still preserve a significant part of their original structures and decorative schemes, including wall paintings, stuccoes and mosaics that testify to the richness of the visual culture and funerary practices of Imperial Rome.

The history of the Necropolis is closely intertwined with that of St Peter’s Basilica. In the 4th century, the construction of the first Constantinian basilica on the site traditionally identified as the burial place of the Apostle Peter profoundly transformed the area. To create the level platform on which the new basilica was built, part of the necropolis was buried and filled in, thereby preserving numerous spaces and their decorative schemes beneath the ground.

Excavations carried out in the 20th century brought to light a complex of exceptional interest, in which the funerary spaces still preserve a significant part of their original decoration. The presence of both pagan and Christian evidence, the quality of the painted, stucco and mosaic decoration, and the complex stratification of the site make the Vatican Necropolis a place of particular importance for archaeological research and conservation.