The monumental cemetery of Rome, the Verano, lays on a vast underground catacomb on the via Tiburtina and its architectures recall deeply the catacomb art, strengthening the never-ending relation between new cemeteries and the catacombs. One of the most interesting cases of catacomb inspiration for contemporary Roman burials at the Verano cemetery are the burial sectors 166, 80 and 81. 
In 1926, the construction of sector 166 in the new area of the cemetery began to increase the availability of burials. The area is laid out as a three-sided enclosure. Each side houses three large levels filled with burial niches, each of them surmounted by a lunette. The construction of the burial niches is contracted to the Della Valle company and then to the Bonanni company. The decoration of the lunettes is in glass mosaic, using different iconographic models from the art of the catacombs (inscribed tabulae ansate, gemmed crosses, lanterns, phytomorphic elements), reworked with fantasy.
Sector 80 was completed in 1933. It is a structure very similar to that of 166, but the walls are divided into four rows of niches, each surmounted by a mosaic lunette. The architectural work was entrusted to the Consorzio Produzione e Lavoro dell'Urbe, while the decorations to the Sindacato Industrie Artistiche anonymous company. In 1934, sector 81 was added, completely identical to sector 80, but entrusted to the engineer Attilio Serafini. The mosaic decorations of both sectors have a single type of decoration for the lunettes. The mosaic repeats on a gold background the same image of an orange Latin cross, with an alpha and an omega at the sides and, at the base of the cross, two green racemes with ivy leaves and, at times, two doves.
The author of the design of these sections was architect Vincenzo Fasolo, at the time head of the Office for Architecture and Buildings of the Governorate of Rome. In all his work, he used Roman styles and architecture in many projects in the city, including of course the commissions for the Verano Cemetery.