Catacombs of San Callisto Guide: Tickets, Tours & Visiting Tips

The Catacombs of San Callisto, on the Appian Way south of central Rome, are among the largest and most important Christian catacomb complexes in the city — an underground network of galleries used for burials from the late 2nd century AD, including the Crypt of the Popes, which once held the tombs of several 3rd-century pontiffs.

Standard admission is EUR 10.00, with a EUR 7.00 concession rate for children aged 7-16, school groups, eligible students, and clergy. Entry is only possible as part of a staff-led guided tour — there is no self-guided or walk-through access, and groups of at least two visitors depart roughly every 30 minutes.

The site is managed by the Pontificia Commissione di Archeologia Sacra, a Vatican-related body distinct from Rome's civic museums and from the Parco Archeologico del Colosseo — so it sits outside the Roma Pass and Omnia Card networks as a standalone free admission.

Photography is officially prohibited inside the catacombs, so the image on this page shows the above-ground Via Appia Antica setting under which the catacombs lie, rather than the ticketed underground galleries themselves.

Named after Pope Callixtus I, who administered the cemetery as a deacon before becoming pope, the catacombs became the official burial place of the early Church of Rome from the early 3rd century, including a dedicated crypt for several popes buried in succession.

The site was rediscovered and extensively explored in the 19th century by archaeologist Giovanni Battista de Rossi, whose work helped establish the Catacombs of San Callisto as one of the best-documented Christian underground burial complexes in Rome.