Arrival at Rome
11 After three months we sailed in an Alexandrian ship whose figurehead was the [a]Twin Brothers, which had wintered at the island. 12 And landing at Syracuse, we stayed three days. 13 From there we circled round and reached Rhegium. And after one day the south wind blew; and the next day we came to Puteoli, 14 where we found brethren, and were invited to stay with them seven days. And so we went toward Rome. 15 And from there, when the brethren heard about us, they came to meet us as far as Appii Forum and Three Inns. When Paul saw them, he thanked God and took courage.
Paul had spent three months on the Mediterranean island of Malta after having been shipwrecked there. He then made his way toward Rome.
In the passage above, Syracuse refers to Siracusa in Sicily. It is maintained that Paul established a church there at a site where a Roman Catholic church still stands.
Rhegium refers to Reggio di Calabria in the Italian region of Calabria.
And Puteoli refers to Pozzuoli on the northern rim of the Bay of Naples in the Italian region of Campania. Pozzuoli was a major port at that time. Paul apparently found some fellow Christians there because previous efforts to evangelize had already brought Christianity to the Italian peninsula.
These areas in southern Italy were under the control of the Roman Empire at the time Paul visited. But these small cities had also previously been part of Magna Graecia— or Greater Greece.
Interesting history which brought of my visit to Sicily. I believe I have a picture of the church Paul established in Syracuse..
These are all obviously going to be coastal towns, Fred, that Paul visited. But he visited some wide geographic areas overall, and cast a pretty wide net. A huge influence. And these towns, of course, go back thousands of years.