Booking choice: The Capuchin Crypt and catacombs tour with transfers, with free cancellation up to 24 hours before. Book this Compare the options below
The Museum and Crypt of the Capuchin Friars sits under the church of Santa Maria della Concezione at Via Vittorio Veneto 27, a short walk from Piazza Barberini. Its official site lists it as open every day. The catacombs are a ride away, mostly on and near the Via Appia Antica, and the main ones are visited with the site's own guide.
Below: what each one is, how they compare with a third underground site, San Clemente, and the tours that combine them.
The quick answer
See the Capuchin Crypt for the bones and a catacomb for ancient history; the combined tours make it easy to do both. The crypt, at Via Veneto 27 in the centre, holds the bones of about 3,700 to 4,000 friars arranged in chapels, with a museum that includes a St Francis attributed to Caravaggio. It is a crypt, not a catacomb. The day tour pairs it with a Roman catacomb by coach; the after-hours tour adds an evening visit to Priscilla. For layers of Rome under a church, San Clemente goes down to a Mithraic temple.
Capuchin Crypt or catacombs: which should you see?
Both, if you have half a day. The crypt is short and central; a catacomb takes longer to reach but shows Rome as it was in the first Christian centuries.
If you only have an hour in the centre, the Capuchin Crypt fits between other sights. If you care about early Christianity, ancient art or the popes, choose a catacomb such as San Callisto or Priscilla; the best catacombs in Rome compares the seven that are open. If you came hoping for walls of skulls, the crypt is the place for that in Rome.
| Feature | Capuchin Crypt | A catacomb | San Clemente |
|---|---|---|---|
| What it is | Friars' crypt decorated with bones | Early Christian cemetery | Basilica built over older churches and a Roman house |
| Date | Remains of friars who died roughly 1500 to 1870 | From the 2nd century | 12th-century basilica over a 4th-century church and a Mithraic temple |
| Where | Via Veneto 27, in the centre | Outside the ancient walls | Via San Giovanni in Laterano, per Turismo Roma |
| How you visit | On your own, or with a tour | With the site's own guide, about 40 to 45 minutes at the main sites | On your own, or with a tour |
| Best for | Bones and a striking chapel | History, frescoes, crypts of popes | Layers of Rome under one church |
What is the Capuchin Crypt?
A series of small chapels under the church of Santa Maria della Concezione, decorated with the bones of about 3,700 to 4,000 Capuchin friars.
Five chapels and a corridor are decorated with skulls and long bones arranged in patterns, using the remains of friars who died roughly between 1500 and 1870. The convent above was completed in 1631. The official site gives opening hours of 10:00 to 19:00 every day, with last admission at 18:30.
Guides to the site report that photos are not allowed in the crypt and that shoulders and knees should be covered. Follow the signs at the entrance.
Is the Capuchin Crypt a catacomb?
No. It is a crypt and ossuary from the 17th to 19th centuries, in the centre of Rome. The catacombs are much older underground cemeteries outside the city walls.
Roman law forbade burial inside the ancient city, so the catacombs were dug in tufa along roads such as the Via Appia, from the 2nd century onward. Their graves are mostly empty or sealed today. The Capuchin chapels were arranged more than a thousand years later, as a reminder of death for the friars and their visitors. The same mix-up happens with Paris, covered in Rome or Paris catacombs.
What is in the Capuchin museum?
Eight rooms on the history of the Capuchin order, including a St Francis in Meditation attributed to Caravaggio.
The museum and the crypt are visited together; the combined day and evening tours include a ticket with an audio guide for both. The Caravaggio attribution is the headline. The convent the friars built above the crypt was completed in 1631, and the museum sets out the order's story in Rome. Allow time for both parts rather than rushing to the chapels.
Skip the lines at the Capuchin Crypt, then ride by air-conditioned coach to a Roman catacomb with a guide.
Book thisHow does a combined crypt and catacomb tour work?
You meet in the centre, see the crypt and museum with an audio guide, then travel by coach to a catacomb outside the walls.
The Capuchin Crypt and catacombs tour lasts 2.5 hours to 3.5 hours depending on the option. It meets by the Triton fountain in Piazza Barberini, near the Barberini metro stop, and uses an air-conditioned coach. The listing names the stops as the Capuchin Crypt and Museum, a Roman catacomb that it does not name, and, on some options, the church of San Martino ai Monti.
The listing rules out shorts, short skirts and sleeveless tops, and strollers and wheelchairs cannot be accommodated.
Can you see the crypt and the catacombs at night?
Yes. The after-hours tour visits the Capuchin Crypt and Museum, then takes you to the Catacombs of Priscilla after normal hours.
The after-hours crypts and catacombs tour lasts 2.5 hours, leaves from Piazza Barberini by air-conditioned coach and runs in English. Priscilla, on the Via Salaria, holds the Greek Chapel and what the Vatican's commission calls the oldest image of the Mother of God in the West. Its normal last tour starts at 16:00, per its official site, so the evening slot is the operator's arrangement.
The listing warns of a strict dress code, knees and shoulders covered, and stairs underground. It is not suited to claustrophobia or limited mobility.
The Capuchin Crypt, then the Catacombs of Priscilla after closing, with a coach from Piazza Barberini.
Book thisWhat other underground sites are there in Rome?
San Clemente is the best known. Beneath a 12th-century basilica lie a 4th-century church, a Roman house with a Mithraic temple and the sound of an underground stream.
Turismo Roma describes the temple as a room of a late 1st to early 2nd-century house, turned into a sanctuary of Mithras in the late 2nd or early 3rd century and buried in the late 4th. The San Clemente and Domitilla tour visits all three levels, then drives you to the Catacombs of Domitilla, with entries and the van included. Groups are capped at 10, it lasts about 3 hours, and it meets at Via Francesco Giambullari 4.
Three levels under San Clemente and the Catacombs of Domitilla, with a van and ten guests at most.
Book thisHow do you fit them into one day?
Do the crypt in the centre and a catacomb in the afternoon, or let a combined tour handle the transfer.
- On your own: the Capuchin Crypt opens at 10:00, and San Callisto and Domitilla run afternoon visits until about 17:00, per their official sites.
- With a tour: the day tour from Piazza Barberini or the evening tour with Priscilla.
- With more underground: the San Clemente and Domitilla tour.
Dress for churches at both: shoulders and knees covered. The price is shown at checkout and moves with the date; what changes it is transport, what is bundled and group size. Practical rules for the catacombs are in the visiting tips guide.
Frequently asked questions
Are there real bones in the Capuchin Crypt?
Yes. The chapels are decorated with the bones of about 3,700 to 4,000 Capuchin friars.
Is the Capuchin Crypt open every day?
Its official site lists it as open daily from 10:00 to 19:00, with last admission at 18:30. Check before you go.
Which catacomb does the day tour visit?
The listing does not name it. Ask the operator, or choose the after-hours tour, which names Priscilla.
Can I cancel a tour?
The tours on this site offer free cancellation up to 24 hours before the start.
Ready to book
Choose your catacombs tour
Free cancellation on every option, per each listing. Booked on GetYourGuide.
Capuchin Crypt & Catacombs with Transfers
- Entry to the Capuchin Crypt and Museum, with an audio guide
- Entry to one of the Roman catacombs with a guided visit (the listing does not name which)
- The basilica of San Martino ai Monti and its underground rooms, except on the after-hours option
After Hours Crypt & Priscilla Catacombs
The Capuchin Crypt late in the day, then the Catacombs of Priscilla opened after hours for the group, with a coach between them
San Clemente Underground & Domitilla
Down through the three levels of San Clemente to a Mithraic temple and an underground stream, then by van to the Domitilla catacombs
