Vasili Timonen

Visited late morning on a Monday, and found it locked. This is a very bog-standard off-the-shelf Victorian Gothic job, although the east window is impressive. Rebuilt on a different site, don't miss the tower of the old church which is rather hidden away to the south.

Run by the Sant'Egidio community, who are known for their good works and for not advertising their liturgical activities. There has been a 10:00 Sunday Mass in recent years, but the church is otherwise closed.

There are two places to visit here, the church and the much more famous cloisters. The latter are open on Tuesdays and Thursdays, 14:00 to 16:00 in winter and 15:00 to 18:00 in summer.
The church, however, is only open for liturgical events. There is a regular Mass on Sundays at 11:00.

This set of catacombs is historically associated with the martyrs SS Simplicius, Faustinus and Beatrice -the "Portuensian Martyrs". A 4th century church dedicated to them stood here, and scanty ruins of it survive.

Mass is celebrated on the altar in the basilica ruins on 29 July, which is the feast-day of the martyrs. It is also occasionally celebrated for pilgrim groups.

When suburban development began of the area in the Fifties, a group of parishioners of what is now "Santa Maria del Rosario ai Martiri Portuensi" took an interest. This group became the present "Comitato di Catacombe Generosa". They were able to protest against any development threatening the site, and in 1965 were able to conduct their first guided tour of the catacombs. These continue to the present day, about once a month.

The entrance to the catacombs is towards the end of the Via delle Catacombe di Generosa, which is a dead-end street. If you are visiting privately, drive down this until you see a car park on your left. You should be able to find a space here. Just before the car park is a free-standing two-storey house with its frontage very near the street, and next to this is a derelict little building. In between the two is a narrow footpath without a sign, which leads to the grassed area containing the catacomb site.

The car park concerned is for the local residents, so it is requested that not more than one vehicle come here at any one time -and no coaches.

This private palazzo contains a church, declared to be one and not a chapel by papal decree in 1839. It's dedicated to St Philip Neri, and is open to the public on only one day a year -on 16 March. Allegedly the saint had a brief conversation with a dead son of the family, whose body had been laid out in this room on this date in 1583.