Acts 28:11-16
…and on the second day we came to Puteoli. There we found brothers and were invited to stay with them for seven days. (vv. 13b-14a) Puteoli was on the Bay of Naples on the mainland of Italy and (according to my Study Bible) the chief port for Rome, some 75 miles to the north. From Puteoli Paul and his companions and guards could walk to Rome – no more sailing!
That’s why we have these other two stops on the way to Rome: And the brothers there, when they heard about us, came as far as the Forum of Appius and Three Taverns to meet us. (v. 15a) In our chronological study the only epistle that we have read since Romans was Philippians. Presumably there may have been others, but none have surfaced. For today’s reading, it has been almost three years (or more) since Paul wrote Romans, possibly from Corinth on his third missionary journey. So there has been plenty of time for the Romans epistle to have circulated through the entire area around Rome and the believers in that area have come to know one another. So for Paul, coming to Rome is like a homecoming; he has many friends there even though he’s never been there himself!
Slava Bohu!