The Most Mystical Places in Lazio
6 places · updated 14 October 2026
In short: By our ranking, the most mystical places in Lazio are Catacomb of Priscilla, Necropolis of Monterozzi and Catacombs of Marcellinus and Peter. The list covers 6 mystical places. Last updated 14 October 2026.
Lazio is a land of the dead as much as of the living. The Etruscans who ruled its northern half before Rome built entire cities of tombs, and in Rome itself law forbade burial within the city walls, so the early Christians dug miles of galleries into the soft volcanic tuff beneath the consular roads. Painted chambers, underground corridors lined with niches and chapels decorated with bones give the region an atmosphere unlike any classical ruin.
On the Via Salaria, the Catacomb of Priscilla preserves what is often described as the earliest known image of the Virgin and Child, painted in the third century. The Catacombs of Marcellinus and Peter, on the road to the east of the city, are known for their lively frescoes of banquets and biblical scenes. Under the church of Santa Maria della Concezione near the Via Veneto, the Capuchin Crypt arranges the bones of thousands of friars into arches, rosettes and chandeliers across a sequence of small chapels.
North of Rome, two Etruscan cemeteries form a UNESCO World Heritage Site. At Cerveteri, the Banditaccia necropolis is a town of grass-covered round tumuli whose chambers are carved to imitate houses, with beds, chairs and doorways cut from the rock. At Tarquinia, the Monterozzi necropolis is famed for painted tombs where dancers, musicians, banquets and hunting scenes still glow on the walls.
In this list
| # | Place | Type | UNESCO |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Catacomb of Priscilla | Catacombs | |
| 2 | Necropolis of Monterozzi | Necropolis | ✓ |
| 3 | Catacombs of Marcellinus and Peter | Catacombs | |
| 4 | Catacombs of Domitilla | Catacombs | |
| 5 | Necropolis Banditaccia | Necropolis | |
| 6 | Capuchin Crypt | Catacombs |
01 Catacomb of Priscilla
Catacombe di Priscilla
Italy · 4.2 km from Rome41.930° N 12.509° E
Unknown author Unknown author · Public domain Beneath the Via Salaria, on the northern side of Rome, lies one of the richest of the city's early Christian cemeteries. The Catacomb of Priscilla was dug from an ancient quarry and grew into many kilometres of galleries on two levels, used for burials from the late second century into the fourth.
02 Necropolis of Monterozzi
Necropoli dei Monterozzi
Italy · 16.8 km from Civitavecchia42.250° N 11.770° E
- UNESCO World Heritage
Gsimonov · Public domain On a long limestone ridge east of Tarquinia, the Etruscans buried their dead for the better part of a thousand years. Around 6,000 graves have been identified on the Monterozzi hill, from Villanovan cremations of the Iron Age to burials of the Roman period, and in the nineteenth century some six hundred earth mounds still broke the skyline.
03 Catacombs of Marcellinus and Peter
Catacombe dei Santi Marcellino e Pietro
Italy · 6 km from Rome41.879° N 12.549° E
Unknown author Unknown author · Public domain The Catacombs of Saints Marcellinus and Peter lie beneath the Via Casilina, at the third mile of the ancient Via Labicana, and together with the imperial mausoleum above them form one of the richest ensembles of early Christian Rome. 5 km of passages on several levels.
04 Catacombs of Domitilla
Catacombe di Domitilla
Italy · 4.8 km from Rome41.859° N 12.506° E
Anonymous Unknown author · Public domain Beneath the fields and lanes south of Rome's ancient walls, the volcanic tuff is threaded with one of the largest underground cemeteries of the early Church.
Did you know? The Catacombs of Domitilla are among the largest underground cemeteries in Rome, with galleries on four levels.
05 Necropolis Banditaccia
Necropoli della Banditaccia
Italy · 26.9 km from Civitavecchia42.006° N 12.100° E
Sailko · CC BY 3.0 Outside the hill town of Cerveteri, the ancient Etruscan city of Caere laid out a second city for its dead, and the Banditaccia is what remains of it. Great round tumuli of tuff, capped with grass, sit along streets cut into the soft volcanic rock, with rows of smaller square tombs lined up between them like terraced houses.
Did you know? The Tomb of the Reliefs is unique among Etruscan tombs: instead of the usual wall paintings, its chamber is decorated with painted stucco reliefs.
06 Capuchin Crypt
Italy · 1 km from Rome41.905° N 12.489° E
Anil Öztas · CC BY 4.0 Beneath the church of Santa Maria della Concezione dei Cappuccini, a few steps from Piazza Barberini, a narrow corridor runs past a row of small chapels whose walls, vaults and lamps are made entirely of human bones. Skulls are stacked into arches and niches, while pelvises, leg bones and smaller bones are worked into patterns that cover the walls and ceilings.
Did you know? The bone decoration is credited to a friar, Father Michael of Bergamo, who arranged the remains in the crypt.
How this list is ranked
Places are chosen for how they look, not for how famous they are: each one has its own description and a photograph credited to its author. The order is a single world ranking that weighs the beauty of the place in curated photography together with how widely it is documented — the number of language editions of its encyclopedia article and how often that article is read in a year. The list is rebuilt as places are added, so the order and the counts on this page are always current.
Questions people ask
- What are the most mystical places in Lazio?
- On our list, Catacomb of Priscilla ranks first, followed by Necropolis of Monterozzi and Catacombs of Marcellinus and Peter.
- Why did early Christians bury their dead in catacombs?
- Roman law forbade burials inside the city walls, and Christians preferred burial to cremation. The soft tuff around Rome was easy to dig, so communities cut multi-level galleries beneath land along the roads outside the walls. They were cemeteries and places of commemoration, not hiding places.
- What is the Capuchin Crypt in Rome?
- It is a series of small chapels beneath the church of Santa Maria della Concezione dei Cappuccini, where the bones of Capuchin friars are arranged into decorative patterns. A plaque reminds visitors that what they are now, the friars once were, and what the friars are, visitors will be.
- What are the Etruscan necropolises of Cerveteri and Tarquinia?
- They are two large Etruscan cemeteries north of Rome, inscribed together by UNESCO in 2004. Cerveteri is known for its tumulus tombs carved like houses, Tarquinia for its painted burial chambers.
- How many mystical places are on this list in Lazio?
- The list covers 6 mystical places.