Catacombe di Santa Domitilla, Rome

Fascinating. We went on a Sunday afternoon and were able to reserve on the spot as part of an English-language tour. Our family went with our 3 children (ages 2, 5, 7) and, thanks to their 'job' of holding the tour guide's torch and to her acknowledging the children and including them in the explanations, and thanks to the fascination of being underground in an old cemetery, they loved it. We adults did, too. Interesting was that, since the year 2000, the chapel where starts the tour has officially been able to hold both Catholic and Protestant offices / services, given the catacombs' historic significance. While waiting for the tour, there's a little museum that presents additional information on the site, its history, its archaeological significance.

This is one of the sets of Roman catacombs routinely open to the public -you just turn up, buy a ticket and wait for a (compulsory) tour in your language of choice. In my opinion, if you are on your own or with a private party instead of a package tour then these catacombs are better to visit than those of "San Callisto" nearby. It has fewer large groups, is less busy and has the added attraction of an ancient basilical church. This is exclusively used for liturgical celebrations by pilgrims. There does not seem to be a fixed timetable of Masses, as there is no other pastoral responsibility. If your pilgrimage group wishes to celebrate Mass in the basilica and you have your own priest, you need to contact the "Divine Word Missionaries", who run the complex for the Vatican, in good time beforehand. Unfortunately, if they are busy then you might get the "bijou tour" which misses out quite a bit and means that you might only be twenty minutes between seeing-daylight and seeing-daylight. This is noisome, but seems to happen less often than at San Callisto.

Really interesting place. Super friendly English speaking guide. Go in summer if you are feeling hot as it is cool all year round in the catacombs.

Awesome experience. We only barely scraped the surface of touring the many kilometres of tunnels. There are even ancient preserved paintings down there. Got eerie. You could even scratch the surface with your nail and it'll come apart. You see little tombs or dig outs for the younger members of the family. Our guide was awesome. Explained everything. Be careful of people on your trip who like to scare others because this is a haven for them lol We weren't allowed to take much photos. Even so - it is hard because it's so dark down there. And cold!

It was a very nice tour but it's so rushed and you don't get time to really take it all in. They won't allow you to go without a guide. The facility is very clean and the restrooms are nice. Don't need more than a hour here.