Necropoli e basilica di Pianabella

Pianabella preserves a Roman necropolis and the remains of an early Christian basilica in the suburb of Ostia. The cemetery was used for centuries; a basilica was built among its burial grounds in the fourth or fifth century and excavated in 1976 before being reburied for protection.

Why it matters

Pianabella documents the changing burial practices of Ostia and the growth of Christian worship in its suburbium. The necropolis remained in use into the ninth century, when worship shifted to the fortified borgo around Sant'Aurea. Finds from the site, including a second-century sarcophagus carved with a battle between Lapiths and centaurs, are held in the Museo Ostiense.

What to notice

Five parallel mounds mark the cemetery's layout. One contains an early imperial columbarium, later reused for inhumation burials in sarcophagi, trenches and tile-roofed graves known as tombe alla cappuccina. The basilica stood between the fourth and fifth mounds. It had a single nave ending in an apse, a fortified forebody and a paved road alongside it. Within the church, a funerary enclosure contained about a hundred graves arranged in layers.

Context and history

The necropolis was used from the Roman period into the fourth century AD, with a Christian basilica added in late antiquity. Burial continued in the area until the ninth century, after which the focus of worship moved to Sant'Aurea in the borgo. The basilica was excavated in 1976 and then deliberately reburied to protect its remains, leaving the mounds as the most visible traces of the cemetery's arrangement.