The Vatican Necropolis and St Peter's tomb

Under St Peter’s Basilica runs a Roman street of tombs that Constantine buried to make room for his church, and at the far end of it is the grave the Church identifies as the apostle’s. You can walk it, but on strict terms. Around 250 people a day, in groups of twelve, with a guide and a booking made in advance. It is the one Vatican visit worth arranging before anything else on your trip.

How booking works now

The booking process has changed, and plenty of guides still describe the old one. Today you apply through a form on the basilica’s official tours website. You enter the number of people, the language and your preferred date and time, but the site itself warns that the date and time are purely indicative and not guaranteed. The office allocates a slot based on availability and then emails you a link to pay by card.

The old website of the Excavations Office (the Ufficio Scavi) still describes the previous method, by email, fax or in person. It isn’t confirmed that requests sent that way are still handled, and that site’s home page now returns an error, so I would use the new form only. If you need to correct something after booking, the Fabbrica’s guided tours address is visiteguidate@fsp.va.

There is no minimum notice period. The official wording is simply that booking in advance is compulsory because daily availability is limited. With around 250 places a day for the whole world, the earlier you ask, the better your chances of a date that fits.

Price, age limit and group size

In 2026 a ticket costs €20, or €14 for 10- to 17-year-olds. Both include an authorised guide, because there is no independent entry and no audio guide. Payment is by credit card only. The €13 flat price still quoted on older pages is out of date.

The minimum age is 10, with no exceptions. Groups hold up to 12 people and leave every 15 minutes, from 9am to 4.30pm on weekdays and on Saturday mornings. The necropolis is closed on Sundays and Vatican holidays. Tours run in Italian, English, Spanish, French, German, Portuguese, Dutch, Polish, Hungarian and Japanese, and the form also lists Italian Sign Language and Ukrainian.

On the day

Be at the Excavations Office 10 minutes before your slot. The only way in is the Via Paolo VI entrance, on the left-hand side of the colonnade, through the entrance to the Audience Hall. It is not the security check in St Peter’s Square that everyone else uses for the basilica. Latecomers can lose their place.

The rules are strict. No photos or video, no rucksacks or large bags, and no food, though a small bottle of water is allowed in summer. Shoulders and knees must be covered. Down below the humidity is around 98 %, there are steps and the ancient floor is uneven, so the official site advises against the tour for anyone with claustrophobia or physical difficulties and states that it is not accessible to visitors with disabilities. Tickets are non-refundable.

What you see below the basilica

The necropolis lies beneath the Vatican Grottoes, between 3 and 11 metres below the floor of the nave. It was uncovered by excavations ordered by Pius XII, which the official site dates to 1939 to 1949.

The route follows an old beaten-earth path lined by 22 funerary buildings designed for around a thousand burials. To build his basilica, Constantine filled in the whole area by moving more than 40,000 cubic metres of earth, and the necropolis ended up under that infill.

The tour finishes at Peter’s tomb. According to the Fabbrica di San Pietro it was a simple grave on the southern slope of the Vatican hill, facing Nero’s circus. In the second century a small shrine, known as the Trophy of Gaius, was built above it against a wall called the red wall. On a nearby wall, wall G, Latin graffiti carry the names of Christ and Peter.

‘Peter is here’

The most quoted find is a fragment of plaster from the red wall measuring just 3.2 by 5.8 centimetres. Scratched into it are the incomplete letters PETR and ENI. They are read either as ‘Pétros enì’, Peter is here, or ‘Pétros en irène’, Peter in peace. The official site gives both readings.

The immersive exhibition that the basilica opened in its Octagonal Rooms borrows the same name. It also helps to picture how the building is stacked above this spot. Over the tomb is the Niche of the Pallia, which corresponds to the second-century shrine, and above that the papal altar under Bernini’s baldacchino. I go through what to see up there in my guide to St Peter’s Basilica.

No place? Try the Grottoes

The Vatican Grottoes sit between the necropolis and the basilica, and they are a different kind of visit. Entry is free, with no booking, every day from 9am to 6pm, though guided tours and photography are not allowed. Pius XII and Benedict XVI are buried here, and since 1979 a central arch has given a view of the front of the Confession.

They are no substitute for the necropolis, but they are the best fallback. To plan the rest of your day around a fixed Scavi slot, my Vatican tickets guide compares the ways in, and the practical guide to visiting the Vatican covers the rest.