In contrada Canale, near Naro, there is a vast early Christian necropolis dating from the fifth to fifth centuries AD. Set today in a luxuriant citrus garden, the necropolis consists of four hypogea, all of which have similar characteristics: they are all organised around a long central corridor with a north-south orientation and a southern entrance preceded by a sort of vestibule. On either side of the corridor are deep niches, occupied by tombs. The largest is Hypogeum A, known by the name of Grotta delle MeraviglieAfrican oil lamps come from Hypogeum B, decorated on the disc with symbols of the Christian cult: the lamb, the tree of life, the darting fish.
It is precisely the ceramic finds in the hypogea that provide the clues on the basis of which the dating of the necropolis was determined, testifying to the importance of the Naro area in late antiquity. Because of the regularity and organicity of the plans of the individual hypogea, it is believed that the entire cemetery was the result of a single project.
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