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The Berger Bungalow

Atlanta-based Travel and Culinary Blog

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CRYPTS, BONES & CATACOMBS: AN UNDERGROUND TOUR OF ROME

This is a sponsored post, but all opinions are my own. We were not supposed to take pictures on this tour, so most pictures are from The Walks of Italy website!

walks of italy tour

I was not thrilled to go on a tour of the catacombs while in Rome. Honestly, I didn’t do much research on it. Ian’s mom picked out this tour for us and I was just going with the flow. I didn’t expect to like it, but I was wrong.

We met at Piazza Barberini, by the Triton Fountain. Our guide was bubbly and more talkative, compared to the guide we had for our tour of the Colosseum. The way that she talked about the tour got me excited – she said it was her favorite tour offered by Walks of Italy. By the time she finished talking, I was actually looking forward to day! 


Our first stop of the day was The Bone Chapel and it was out of this world amazing – so, so cool! The Capuchin Bone Crypt, or Chapel. This is basically a cemetery for 4,000 Capuchin monks. I don’t want to give away too much information about what you will learn in the chapel, but it was surprisingly really cool to me and very artistic. Everyone has a different reaction, though. There were some in our group that thought it was really bone chilling (ha, get it?!).

crypts, bones & catacombs italy

walks of italy rome
After The Bone Chapel, we hopped on a bus with AC (praise the lord!) and rode over to the underground catacombs. This was also extremely cool to me, plus, it was very cool underground which was amazing in the heat of Rome! 

The Catacombs of Santa Priscilla were dark and quiet with bones scattered throughout. I had never been to a catacomb before, so I had no idea what to expect. I know you may not here the word gorgeous thrown around very often when talking about death, but I really did think the catacombs were gorgeous. They contained amazing, well-preserved frescos that anyone would die to see and it even had the world’s single oldest depiction of the Virgin Mary. This catacomb dates back to 150 years before Christianity was legalized, so it was just full of so much history and information that was fascinating.

While the actual catacombs were really awesome to see, but what made our visit was our guide. She went above and beyond, making the tour interesting for us. She told us story after story about the catacombs, Rome, and the people of Rome. She gave us a lot of background information in order to make everything make sense and overall, she was the reason that the tour was so interesting and successful. If I ever go back to Rome, I will take that tour again and I will definitely request the same tour guide.

I may not have been excited before our tour, but by the end of it, I was already ready to do it again! Props to Walks of Italy and our tour guide for a fantastic day!

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