Santa Maria in Palmis

Santa Maria in Palmis tickets: which one to buy

The church stands where the Appian Way proper begins, about eight hundred metres beyond the old gate in the Aurelian walls, and it is free to enter. Getting there is the planning problem, because the first stretch of the road has narrow pavements and fast traffic. The sensible approaches are the bus that runs down the Appia from the city centre, a taxi to the church and a walk onward, or a bicycle hired at the park office.

Tours of the catacombs almost always pass the door and many stop for five minutes; the two great catacomb complexes are ten and fifteen minutes further along and each is entered only with a guide, on a ticket bought at the site. Sunday is the day to walk, because the road beyond the church is closed to cars. Guided walks of the whole Appian park run in the morning and are the best introduction to a landscape that is otherwise hard to read.

Visiting Santa Maria in Palmis: what to see

The church is small, plain and much later than its story. According to the apocryphal Acts of Peter, the apostle was fleeing persecution in Rome along this road when he met the risen Christ walking towards the city and asked where he was going; the answer, that he was going to Rome to be crucified again, sent Peter back to his own death. A sanctuary has stood on the spot since the ninth century, and the present building dates from 1637 with a front added in the same century.

Set into the floor of the nave is a marble slab bearing two footprints, said to be those of Christ; it is a copy, and the original is kept in the basilica of San Sebastiano further along the road. The site may be older still, since a Roman sanctuary to the god of the safe return stood opposite, where travellers prayed before and after long journeys. The nave is a single space with a flat ceiling and holds perhaps forty people, which is part of its appeal after the basilicas of the centre.

Santa Maria in Palmis opening hours and the best time to go

Sunday morning is the best time by a wide margin, because the Appian Way is closed to traffic and the road fills with walkers, runners and cyclists instead of cars. On weekdays the first kilometre is unpleasant and the church is a refuge rather than a destination. The building closes over lunch. Spring and autumn are ideal for the walk; the road has long stretches without shade and August is punishing.

The catacombs keep different closing days from each other, which is deliberate, so one of the main two is always open. Beyond them the old road runs out into open country with tombs, umbrella pines and the aqueduct park beyond, and that is the reason to come this far out of Rome. Fifteen minutes is enough inside the church, and a half-day is right for the road. A small cafe at the park office near the church rents bicycles and sells maps of the road and its tombs.