The crypt of Santa Restituta is a partly natural and partly rock-cut hypogeum used in late Punic, Roman and probably early Christian times. After a long period of neglect, the crypt was given new life in the 13th century and was decorated with frescoes in the late Byzantine style of which a shred depicting St. John the Baptist remains. The cult of Saint Restituta of African origin was also implanted there, whose relics, which arrived on the island as early as the 5th century, were collected in an earthenware olla, found in the 1600s during excavations in search of the Holy Bodies. In the early 17th century, when excavation work was completed, a sacred brick aedicule was built to house the marble simulacrum of the saint, to whom local origins were attributed (Restituta from Cagliari, mother of St. Eusebius), and a small crypt intended to house the so-called martyrdom column. Other rudimentary altars were built a short distance away: they were made of rubble and mortar and decorated in the stone frontispiece. During World War II, the crypt was used as an air raid shelter, and right in front of its entrance, bombs claimed many lives on February 17, 1943, including artist Tarquinio Sini, who lived in the Stampace neighborhood.