Rome

Rome was the capital of the empire and the destination of Paul's final recorded journey: Acts 28 describes him arriving as a prisoner and spending two years under guard, preaching freely in his own rented lodging. Christian tradition holds that both Paul and Peter were martyred in Rome, and the city preserves an extraordinary wealth of documented first-century remains — the Forum, the streets and monuments Paul would have known, and later the catacombs used by the early Christian community. Two sites carry strong tradition but weaker proof. The Mamertine Prison is venerated as the place Peter and Paul were held, though there is no evidence either apostle was actually imprisoned there. Beneath St. Peter's Basilica, the 1940s Vatican excavations uncovered a genuine Roman necropolis and a small second-century shrine with graffiti, which the Church has identified as the tomb of Peter. That Rome had a real, early Christian presence is richly attested; the specific identification of Peter's bones and the Mamertine imprisonment remain traditions supported by early testimony rather than settled fact.

Where it is

Italy

Scripture

Acts 28:14-31 · Romans 1:7 · 2 Timothy 1:16-17