When recounting the history of the first explorers of the Roman catacombs at the end of the 16th century, the first names that come to mind are those of the great scholars whose discoveries initiated the exploration of Christian antiquities in the first place, for example Alonso Chacòn, Philip van Winghe and, above all, Antonio Bosio, the founder of Christian archaeology and discoverer of the majority of Roman Christian cemeteries. One can assume that in addition to the famous figures, there were others who moved in the same historical-social environment. About these men little is known and many of them have been almost completely forgotten.
There are some sources that provide us with information about these unknown explorers. We have, for example, literary and archival sources, in particular great works such as Antonio Bosio’s Roma Sotterranea, that inform us about the explorations of people about whom we know nothing else.
Primary and direct sources, however, are the signatures left by these explorers on the walls of the catacomb galleries.
A special personality in this is Giovanni Andrea Rossi, described by Bosio as his colleague in the underground researches.
Brother of the very well-known scholar Giano Nicio Eritreo, Giovanni Andrea was born in Rome around 1578. He was a friend of Antonio Bosio and often accompanied him on his catacomb explorations. However, we know with certainty that Giovanni Andrea also explored the catacombs of Rome on his own.
There are valuable proofs of his catacomb visits, and probably many others are to be discovered. These are the signatures (with the latinised version of his name Io. Andreas Rubeus) he left on the walls of the galleries of Priscilla and Domitilla Catacombs.
Many of these signatures bear the date 1596, written directly by Giovanni Andrea under his own name. This allows us to date his explorations precisely to a fairly early period. Moreover, some of his signatures are found in areas that were probably not known nor explored by Bosio (such as the cubicle of Lazarus in the catacomb of Priscilla).
This shows us how independent Giovanni Andrea was in his explorations. And without these signatures, we would know almost nothing about him and his activities.
For more information: C. Cecalupo on Römische Quartalschrift
Catacombs rediscovery 