The "necropolis", meaning "city of the dead", reveals itself as a place that leads us to rediscover a "world of the living", allowing glimpses into their daily lives and religious sentiments through archaeological, epigraphic, and iconographic evidence unearthed from the ground in a nearly unchanged form after more than 1,600 years.

In this site, which remained inaccessible and untouched for sixteen centuries beneath the floor of the Constantinian basilica and the massive Renaissance structures, we also rediscover the roots of the Roman Church, which sprang from this land watered by the blood of the Holy Protomartyrs. Here, Saint Peter was crucified and buried, and here the Pope still resides today, continuing his mission as shepherd of the universal Church. This is where we return to the dawn of Christianity in the West: it is upon the humble tomb of the Galilean Fisherman that the majestic basilica rises, serving both as a treasure chest that preserves it and as a home that gathers all believers.