Antonio Bosio (c. 1575 or 1576 – 1629) was a Maltese scholar, the first systematic explorer of subterranean Rome (the "Columbus of the Catacombs"), author of Roma Sotterranea and first urban spelunker.
Few, however, realized the importance of the discovery, and with the exception of three foreign scholars, Alfonso Chacon,[1] the antiquarian Philips van Winghe (1560–1592) from Leuven[2] and Jean L'Heureux (alias Macarius),[3] no one seriously thought of pursuing further investigations.
Bosio began the systematic exploration of subterranean Rome and thus became a precursor of the science of Christian archaeology, an inspiration to Giovanni Battista de Rossi.
The young explorer realized that early Christian literature such as acta of the martyrs and accounts of the councils would offer clues to the locations of the catacombs; an idea of the vast scope of his reading is in two great folio volumes of his manuscript notes in the Vallicelliana library at Rome, each of which contains about a thousand pages.
This book must have been rated highly by the English physician and philosopher Sir Thomas Browne, for copies in both Italian and Latin can be found in his library.