Rome or Paris catacombs: which to see?

Which catacombs are better, Paris or Rome?

Paris if you want the bones, Rome if you want history and early Christian art. Paris is an ossuary; Rome's catacombs are working cemeteries from antiquity.

In Paris, transfers of remains from the city's cemeteries began in 1788, and the walls of skulls and long bones are the whole point of the visit. In Rome, the galleries were dug as burial places from the 2nd century, and the visit shows niches, painted chambers, crypts of martyrs and popes, and carved slabs. Most graves are empty or sealed. The table sets the three cities side by side.

Which catacombs are better, Rome or Naples?

Rome for range and some of the earliest Christian painting, Naples for space. Naples' two catacombs feel more open, with broad chambers on two levels.

In Naples, the Catacombs of San Gennaro (Via Capodimonte 13) and San Gaudioso (Via Sanità 123, beside Santa Maria della Sanità) are run by La Paranza, a social cooperative from the Rione Sanità that began with San Gaudioso in 2006. Guided tours run every hour from 10:00 to 17:00, reservation is mandatory, and they close on Wednesdays, per their site. San Gaudioso is known for unusual burial customs that its site describes as “mysterious burials and macabre rituals”.

Rome offers seven open catacombs instead of two, crypts of popes, and some of the earliest Christian images in the West.

What did police discover in the catacombs in 2004?

A secret cinema, and it was in Paris, not Rome. Police found a fully equipped movie theatre in a cavern under the Trocadéro area, with a screen, seats, projection equipment and a bar.

A group of urban explorers called La Mexicaine de Perforation claimed it, and the story was reported in early September 2004. It sits in the unofficial quarry tunnels that run beyond the Paris visitor route.

Nothing like it applies in Rome. The Roman catacombs are sacred sites in the care of a Vatican commission, entered with the site's own guide on a fixed route, and closed ones open on request with a custodian.

Why is it illegal to go into the catacombs?

In Paris, a 1955 prefectural order bans entry to the old quarry tunnels beyond the official route without a special permit. The reasons are safety and conservation.

Those tunnels run for roughly 300 km under the city, with risks of collapse, flooding and getting lost, and offenders can be fined. In Rome nothing is illegal about a visit. The rules are simple: you go down with the site's guide, in a group, and you may not leave it. At San Callisto, no one can visit on their own. Closed Roman catacombs can be requested from the Commission for groups of up to 15. More practical rules are in the visiting tips guide.

How many have died in the catacombs?

In Paris, one death is officially confirmed: Philibert Aspairt, a hospital doorkeeper who got lost in 1793 and whose body was found in 1804. In Rome the question means burials, and there are hundreds of thousands.

Aspairt was a doorkeeper at the Val-de-Grâce hospital. For Rome, the Italian bishops' daily Avvenire estimates 500,000 to 750,000 tombs across the city's catacombs, with a little over 20,000 inscriptions found. Those were burials of the community, spread over centuries. The detail is in who is buried in the catacombs.

What do the catacombs smell like?

Mostly of cool, damp air. Rome's galleries stay at about 16 to 17 C with high humidity, per San Callisto and San Sebastiano.

Think of a cellar or a cave rather than anything unpleasant: still air, stone and earth. The tombs are ancient, and most are empty or sealed. Bring a light layer in summer, when the change from the street is sharp. Paris is a little cooler, at about 14 C.

Where can you see bones in Rome?

At the Capuchin Crypt on Via Veneto. Its chapels are decorated with the bones of about 3,700 to 4,000 Capuchin friars, and it is a crypt from the 17th to 19th centuries, not a catacomb.

The crypt lies under the church of Santa Maria della Concezione at Via Vittorio Veneto 27, in the centre, and its official site lists it as open every day. Its museum has a St Francis in Meditation attributed to Caravaggio. A combined Capuchin Crypt and catacomb tour pairs the bones with a Roman catacomb by coach. The differences are set out in Capuchin Crypt or catacombs.

The Capuchin bone chapels and museum, then a coach to a Roman catacomb, from Piazza Barberini.

Capuchin Crypt & Catacombs with Transfers · 2.5 to 3.5 hours · free cancellation

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Which should you choose on a Rome trip?

See a Roman catacomb for the history, and add the Capuchin Crypt if bones are what you came for.

• For history and early Christian art: San Callisto, Priscilla or Domitilla.
• For an easy half day with transport: a minibus or golf cart tour to the Appian Way catacombs.
• For bones: the Capuchin Crypt, alone or on a combined tour.
• For both in an evening: the after-hours tour of the Capuchin Crypt and Priscilla.

The price is shown at checkout and moves with the date; what changes it is transport, what is bundled and group size. Compare the options on the homepage.

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