Are there catacombs under the Vatican? What's below, and where Rome's are

‘Vatican catacombs’ is a very common search, and it rests on a misunderstanding. There are no catacombs under the Vatican. There’s something different and, to my mind, even more interesting, a Roman necropolis with Peter’s tomb and, above it, the crypts of the popes. The Christian catacombs are connected to the Holy See, but they’re in other parts of Rome. Here’s what’s under St Peter’s, where the catacombs are and which I’d visit.

What’s under the Vatican?

Two levels. The one nearest the basilica floor is the Vatican Grottoes, vaults built in 1590-1591 to carry the Renaissance floor, with chapels and papal tombs such as those of Benedict XVI and Pius XII. They’re free to visit from 09:00 to 18:00.

Below, between 3 and 11 metres under the central nave, is the necropolis. It isn’t a catacomb but an open-air Roman cemetery of 22 tomb buildings, meant for around a thousand burials, which Constantine filled with earth to build the first basilica around AD 324. Peter was buried here, on the hillside that faced the circus of Nero. It’s visited by compulsory booking with a guide, in groups of 12 at most, for €20 full price and €14 reduced, for ages 10 to 17. I explain it all on the page about the Vatican necropolis.

Necropolis versus catacomb

A catacomb is a cemetery dug underground, galleries cut into the tufa with thousands of niches. According to the Pontifical Commission for Sacred Archaeology, catacombs began in Rome between the late 2nd and early 3rd centuries, when Pope Zephyrinus put the deacon Callixtus in charge of the cemetery on the Via Appia. The ancient word was ‘coemeterium’, dormitory, and ‘catacomb’ at first meant only the St Sebastian complex, also on the Via Appia.

The Vatican necropolis, by contrast, was an open-air cemetery beside a road, with mausoleums, that ended up underground only because Constantine buried it. That’s why under St Peter’s you see streets of tombs rather than niche-lined galleries.

Rome’s catacombs do belong to the Holy See

This is where there’s a real link. On 6 January 1852 Pius IX created the Commission for Sacred Archaeology, on the idea of the archaeologist Giovanni Battista de Rossi, to protect and excavate the catacombs, and Pius XI made it pontifical in 1925. Under the 1929 Concordat, confirmed in 1984, the Holy See retains the Christian catacombs of Rome and the rest of Italy, with responsibility for their care and conservation. It’s exactly the case I use as an example in Holy See and Vatican City. They belong to the Holy See, but they aren’t in the state.

Rome has about sixty. The Commission lists seven open to the public, St Pancras, Priscilla, St Sebastian, Domitilla, St Agnes, St Callixtus and Sts Marcellinus and Peter. Hours and prices are handled by its own ticket office and I couldn’t verify them, so I won’t give them.

Which I’d choose

If you’re at the Vatican and what appeals is going underground, my answer is the necropolis, no question. Walking the street of tombs to the wall bearing Peter’s name is one of the most special things in Rome. But book well ahead, as there are only about 250 places a day.

If you also have half a day free and you’re drawn to galleries, early Christian paintings and symbols like the fish or the dove, I’d head to the Via Appia, to St Callixtus or St Sebastian. They’re a long way from the Vatican, so I wouldn’t do both on the same day. Why everything started on this particular hill is told in Vatican history.

How to pair the necropolis with the Grottoes

The necropolis is open Monday to Friday from 09:00 to 16:30, last visit 16:15, and on Saturdays from 09:00 to 13:00. It’s closed on Sundays and Vatican holidays. You must be at the Excavations Office ten minutes early, entering only from Via Paolo VI, by the left-hand colonnade. No photos or rucksacks are allowed inside, and only those aged 10 and over can go in.

My suggestion is to book the necropolis for the morning and, once done, go into the basilica and down to the Grottoes, which are free. That way you cover everything beneath St Peter’s in a couple of hours, from the apostle’s tomb to the popes’. If you want to know who lies on which level, it’s in where the popes are buried.