Italian catacombs at a glance
Catacombs of San Callisto Rome: The largest; 20km galleries; 500,000 burials; 9 popes' papal crypt; €10 | Catacombs of San Gennaro Naples: €9. Finest early Christian frescoes. Rione Sanità | Capuchin Catacombs Palermo: €3; 8,000 mummies; 17th-19th century. Via Cappuccini 1 | Priscilla Rome: The 'Queen of Catacombs'. Earliest images of the Madonna; €10
How do you want to see it?
Lazio, ItalyCompare the same experience on GetYourGuide and Viator, save what you like to My Trip, share it, and book when you’re sure. Nearest to this page first.
The Rome Catacombs of San Callisto, the largest and most important
The Catacombs of San Callisto (Via Appia Antica 110, Rome. €10. Open Tuesday-Sunday 9am-12pm and 2pm-5pm. Closed December-January. Guided tour mandatory, approximately 45 minutes. The most visited of the Rome catacombs, 3 km south of the Circo Massimo by bus or by Via Appia Antica cycle route): the largest single catacomb complex in Rome, covering approximately 20 km of underground galleries on 4 levels (the highest level at approximately 5 metres below street level, the lowest at approximately 16 metres) and containing approximately 500,000 burials. The specific San Callisto historical importance: the catacomb was administered by the deacon Callisto (later Pope Callixtus I, 217-222 AD) and became the official burial place of the Bishops of Rome, the Papal Crypt within the San Callisto complex (the Cripta dei Papi) contains the sarcophagi of 9 popes of the 3rd century AD (Pontianus, Anterus, Fabian, Lucius, Stephen I, Sixtus II, Dionysius, Felix I, and Eutychian) with their original Greek epitaphs. The Greek language: the early Roman Christian community used Greek as its primary liturgical and administrative language, the papal epitaphs in the San Callisto crypt are all in Greek, not Latin. The specific catacomb burial form: the loculi (the rectangular niches cut horizontally into the gallery walls, sealed with terracotta tiles or marble slabs after the body was placed inside). The arcosolium (the arched niche, larger, typically reserved for more affluent burials). And the cubiculum (the small burial chamber used for family groups). The frescoes in the San Callisto catacombs (approximately 50 painted spaces) include the earliest surviving representations of specific Christian iconographic subjects: the Baptism of Christ (late 2nd century), the Agape (the early Christian communal meal), and the Orante (the specific early Christian figure with arms raised in prayer, the most common single figure in catacomb iconography). Rome guide
Italian Catacombs: tours & tickets
Compare guided tours, skip-the-line tickets and day trips for Italian Catacombs.
See availability & prices →Compare tours on Viator →We may earn a commission, at no extra cost to you.Naples catacombs and the Palermo Capuchin mummies
The Catacombs of San Gennaro (the San Gennaro Catacombs, Rione Sanità, Naples. Via Capodimonte 13; €9. Open daily 10am-5pm. Guided tours mandatory. Accessible from the Naples centro storico (historic center) in approximately 15 minutes by bus or 30 minutes walk up the Via di Mater Dei hill): the most elaborately decorated early Christian catacombs in Italy, with fresco programs that span from the 2nd to the 5th century AD, the specific San Gennaro frescoes include the largest catacomb mosaic in the world (the 5th-century apse mosaic of the bishop's tomb), the earliest surviving portrait of San Gennaro (the patron saint of Naples, martyred 305 AD. His remains are the origin of the specific Naples liquefaction miracle, the blood miracle of San Gennaro's blood, kept in an ampoule in the Naples Cathedral, which liquefies 3 times per year and whose failure to liquefy is considered an omen of disaster for Naples), and the specific 4th-5th century portrait gallery of bishops and holy figures that gives the Neapolitan catacombs their unique character as a civic-religious identity document of early Christian Naples. The Palermo Capuchin Catacombs (Catacombe dei Cappuccini, Via Cappuccini 1, Palermo. €3. Open daily 9am-1pm and 3pm-6pm. Located behind the Palazzo dei Normanni, 10 minutes walk from the Mercato Ballarò): a completely different phenomenon from the ancient Roman catacombs, not an ancient burial complex but a 17th-19th century Sicilian mummification tradition. The specific Capuchin mummy program: from 1599, when the Palermo Capuchin friars began mummifying the bodies of deceased friars in a specific dehydration and arsenic treatment process, and then progressively accepting wealthy Palermitans who paid for the privilege of being preserved and displayed, the current catacombs contain approximately 8,000 mummified bodies arranged in corridors by profession and status: priests, nobles, professionals, women, children, and the celebrated 'sleeping beauty' Rosalia Lombardo (mummified in 1920 at the age of 2, preserved so completely that she appears to be sleeping, still in the original dress).
What are the Rome catacombs?
The Rome catacombs (approximately 55 catacomb systems along Via Appia Antica and other consular roads outside the ancient city walls. The most visited: San Callisto €10, San Sebastiano €10, Priscilla €10) are underground early Christian burial complexes carved from the tufa rock beneath Rome, dating from the 2nd-5th centuries AD. The largest (San Callisto): 20 km of galleries, 4 underground levels, approximately 500,000 burials, the Papal Crypt with 9 popes' 3rd-century sarcophagi. All catacombs require guided tours. Closed on several days, check individual catacomb websites.
What is the Papal Crypt in the San Callisto catacombs?
The Cripta dei Papi (Papal Crypt) in the Catacombs of San Callisto is the burial chamber of 9 popes of the 3rd century AD: Pontianus, Anterus, Fabian, Lucius, Stephen I, Sixtus II, Dionysius, Felix I, and Eutychian. The Greek epitaphs on the sarcophagi (the early Roman Christian community used Greek, not Latin, as its primary language) include the specific abbreviated Greek title 'episkopos' (bishop, from which the English 'bishop' derives) and the martyrdom notations for the popes who died under Roman persecution.
What are the Naples Catacombs of San Gennaro?
The Catacombs of San Gennaro (Rione Sanità, Naples. Via Capodimonte 13; €9. Open daily 10am-5pm. Guided tour mandatory) are the most elaborately decorated early Christian catacombs in Italy: fresco programs spanning 2nd-5th century AD, the largest catacomb mosaic in the world (5th-century bishop's tomb apse), and the earliest surviving portrait of San Gennaro. The San Gennaro liquefaction miracle: the blood of the martyred bishop (305 AD) kept in an ampoule at Naples Cathedral liquefies 3 times per year (the first Saturday of May, September 19, and December 16). The Neapolitans regard failure to liquefy as an omen of catastrophe, eruptions, earthquakes, and epidemics have coincided historically with failed liquefactions.
What are the Palermo Capuchin Catacombs?
The Catacombe dei Cappuccini (Via Cappuccini 1, Palermo. €3. Open daily 9am-1pm and 3pm-6pm. Adjacent to the Palazzo dei Normanni) contain approximately 8,000 mummified bodies from the 17th-19th centuries, arranged by profession in underground corridors: priests, nobles, professionals, virgins, children. The mummification process: a specific Capuchin technique using dehydration chambers (the corpi secchi) and arsenic treatment to preserve the bodies. The most famous mummy: Rosalia Lombardo (born 1918, died 1920, mummified by the embalmer Alfredo Salafia using a formula that included glycerine, formalin, salicylic acid, zinc salts, and alcohol. Photographed in 2009 with a timelapse camera that showed her eyelids moving, a natural phenomenon caused by light-related dehydration movement, not resuscitation).
Planning Italian catacombs visits?
Rome San Callisto Tuesday-Sunday €10 + Rome Priscilla 'Queen of Catacombs' + Naples San Gennaro Rione Sanità + Palermo Cappuccini 8,000 mummies.
Plan my trip →Catacombe Roma
Booking
Trenitalia
What are the Catacombs of Priscilla in Rome?
The Catacombs of Priscilla (Via Salaria 430, Rome. €10. Open Tuesday-Sunday 9am-12pm and 2pm-5pm. The 'Queen of Catacombs', the informal title given because of the specific quality of the early Christian art) are consistently cited as the most important of the lesser-visited Rome catacombs: the Cubiculum of the Veiled Woman (the specific painted chamber with the most complete 3rd-century AD fresco sequence in any catacomb, including the earliest surviving image of the Madonna and Child, the Virgin with the Child on her lap and the prophet Isaiah pointing to a star above, painted approximately 230-240 AD, 300 years before the Byzantine Madonna icon tradition codified the image). The Greek Chapel (a triclinium, dining room, decorated with New Testament narrative scenes, used for the refrigerium, the funerary meal eaten by the family at the grave of the deceased). And the Orant figure (the standing female figure with arms raised in the specific early Christian prayer position, the visual ancestor of the Madonna Orans).
What are the catacombs of San Sebastiano in Rome?
The Catacombs of San Sebastiano (Via Appia Antica 136, Rome. €10. Open Monday-Saturday 10am-5pm. The most accessible of the major Rome catacombs from the Quo Vadis church landmark): the catacombs are directly below the 4th-century Basilica of San Sebastiano, one of the seven pilgrim churches of Rome (the basilica where the bones of Saint Sebastian, martyr under Diocletian, are kept). The specific San Sebastiano catacomb feature: the trichilia (the three rooms above the catacombs used for the refrigerium meals in honour of Saints Peter and Paul, who were temporarily buried at this location after the first persecution of Christians in 258 AD, the specific graffiti on the trichilia walls, scratched by 3rd-century pilgrims invoking Peter and Paul, are the oldest documentary evidence of the specific Roman cult of the two apostles at this location).
What is the refrigerium tradition in the Roman catacombs?
The refrigerium (from the Latin 'refrigerare', to cool, to refresh): the specific early Christian funeral meal practice of sharing food and drink at the grave of the deceased, which the Roman catacomb architecture specifically accommodates. The specific catacomb spaces for refrigeria: the triclia (the room above the catacomb galleries used specifically for the communal meal at the grave of a martyr, the San Sebastiano triclia, where the 3rd-century graffiti invoke Saints Peter and Paul for their protection during the meal). The arcosolium (the arched niche large enough for the burial and for a table in front of the niche). And the cubiculum tricliniare (the large painted burial chamber with a stone table). The early Church gradually discouraged the refrigerium because of its similarity to pagan funeral banquet practice and because of the drunkenness that frequently accompanied the meals. Augustine of Hippo documents his mother Monica's refrigerium practice in Milan as something she gave up after Bishop Ambrose banned it.
What is the catacomb of Domitilla in Rome?
The Catacombs of Domitilla (Via delle Sette Chiese 282, Rome. €10. Open Wednesday-Monday 9am-12pm and 2pm-5pm. The largest catacomb complex in Rome in total area, at approximately 17 km of galleries): named for Flavia Domitilla (the niece of the Emperor Domitian, who converted to Christianity and donated land for the catacomb on her estate on Via Ardeatina). The specific Domitilla catacomb features: the only underground basilica in any Roman catacomb (the 4th-century underground church of Saints Nereus and Achilleus, the two soldiers who converted after witnessing a beheading of Christians, the basilica has nave columns, an apse, and the original altar over the martyrs' tomb. The most architecturally complete underground early Christian space). The 2nd-century fresco of Cupid and Psyche (the pagan Roman iconography appearing in a Christian catacomb context, the specific evidence that the earliest Christian burials coexisted with pagan iconography). And the 4th-century portrait gallery.
