Rome

Christianity in the Ancient Rome Private Tour

Badge of ExcellenceRome, Italy

7 hours
Pickup offered
Mobile ticket
Offered in: English

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Overview

Explore some of the history of Christianity in Ancient Rome on this private tour to some of the city’s many churches. Learn about the time that St Peter and St Paul spent in Rome, including their imprisonment during the reign of Roman Emperor Nero; visit the Basilica of St Sabina, an early Christian landmark; and see the Basilica of St Paul Outside the Walls, a UNESCO World Heritage site.

Historical Roman churches tour
Discover sites related to the first Christians in Ancient Rome
Hear about events surrounding St Peter and St Paul in Rome, and see churches dedicated to them
Enjoy a personalized experience with a private guide
Great tour for religious history buffs

What's Included

Hotel pickup and drop-off
Private tour
Live commentary on board
Driver

Entrance fees 6 euro per person for the visit to the Mamertine Prison and 8 euro per person for the Catacombs
Lunch
Gratuities
Guide

Meeting and Pickup

Pickup points

Select a pickup point

Start time

08:30 AM

Pickup details

Pick up and drop off directly from your accommodation in Rome or airport on arrival

What To Expect

Your morning starts with pickup from your Rome accommodations or the airport on arrival.

Head to the Abbey of St. Paul Outside the Walls, founded by the Roman emperor Constantine I in the 4th century AD. Spend about 30 minutes here, enough time to tour the interiors.

Next, visit the Catacombs of Saint Callixtus. Your guide helps purchase admission tickets (own expense) and takes you on a 45-minute tour of the crypts, former burial sites of popes.

Your next stop is the Basilica of Saint Sabina in Aventine Hill. You have about 15 minutes here, enough time to see the wooden doors carved with Biblical scenes and the interiors.

Continue with 15–30-minute stops at the Church of Domine Quo Vadis and Mamertine Prison, where Peter and Paul the Apostles were kept.

End the day with drop-off at your Rome accommodations or the airport.

Abbazia di San Paolo Fuori Le Mura

30 minutes • Admission Ticket Free

Catacombs of Saint Callixtus

45 minutes • Admission Ticket Not Included

Basilica di Santa Sabina

15 minutes • Admission Ticket Free

Chiesa del Domine Quo Vadis

15 minutes • Admission Ticket Free

Carcer Tullianum

30 minutes • Admission Ticket Not Included

Additional Info

Confirmation will be received at time of booking
A dress code is required to enter places of worship and selected museums. No shorts or sleeveless tops allowed. Knees and shoulders MUST be covered for both men and women. You may risk refused entry if you fail to comply with these dress requirements
Entrance fee to the Mamertine Prison if you choose to visit it from the inside 6 euro per person. Free for kids up to 6 years old
Wheelchair accessible
Entrance fee to the Catacombs 8 euro per person and reduced 5 euro per person

Stroller accessible
Infant seats available
Transportation is wheelchair accessible
Travelers should have a moderate physical fitness level
This is a private tour/activity. Only your group will participate

Cancellation Policy

You can cancel up to 24 hours in advance of the experience for a full refund.

For a full refund, you must cancel at least 24 hours before the experience’s start time.
If you cancel less than 24 hours before the experience’s start time, the amount you paid will not be refunded.

Any changes made less than 24 hours before the experience’s start time will not be accepted.
Cut-off times are based on the experience’s local time.

Traveler Photos

Reviews

5.0

30 reviews

Total review count and overall rating based on Viator and Tripadvisor reviews

Reviews by Viator travelers.

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Showing 1-10 of 30 reviews

Excellent!

Laceye_W, Mar 2024

Our guide was extremely knowledgeable and responsive to our interests. We visited well known and important sites as well as lesser known compelling sites that would have been difficult to navigate on our own. The visit far exceeded our expectations. Highly recommend!

Visiting the Church of...

Megan_G, Feb 2024

Visiting the Church of Domine Quo Vadis was so sobering! According to the story, Peter walked the Appian Way, fleeing persecution, where he had a vision of Jesus Christ. In this vision Peter asked Jesus "Quo vadis?" to which He replied, "Romam vado iterum crucifigi" ("I am going to Rome to be crucified again"). According to tradition, Peter returned to Rome after this vision and was crucified upside down, a manner that would have been reverential but not taking meaning away from what our savior did.

Amazing historical experience

Kaitlyn_P, Sep 2023

This was a highlight of our trip to Rome. Highly recommend for anyone looking for an in-depth tour with an extremely knowledgeable historian as your guide. The tour is Christian centric but I think anyone interested in history would enjoy. Max was so knowledgeable but also explained things to us at our level and showed us out of the way places that no travel guides featured. Wonderful tour!

Fabulous Tour

Linda_P, Jul 2023

Tour was fabulous. So much history! Guide was extremely knowledgeable, very friendly, and absolutely great!

Best tour in italy

MICHAEL_M, Jun 2023

The whole tour was amazing. We have done several tours but this tour with Max was by far the best. Max was absolutely awesome, personable, and knowledgeable. He even stopped and showed us some of the plants-capers, bay leaf bushes etc…. I would suggest if you do this tour buying the book Rome reconstructed. It’s a visual flip book that shows the ruins today compared to what they were back- he showed it to us and it really help out it into reality. It’s a little expensive but worth every penny.

Best for in Rome

Jimmy_H, May 2023

This was a great tour. Our tour guide Manny is about the most professional guide you'll meet. You'll see Christian artifacts that are quite interesting and can only be seen here in Rome. Be prepared to be blown away with this private tour!

A must do tour

Brad_H, Nov 2022

Our guide and driver The Professor was very knowledgeable and personable. We also enjoyed the benefits of a ver smallTour group. He tools to many off the beaten path sight each one was marvelous. We enjoyed a fabulous lunch as well!!

Great experience!

Quincy_A, Nov 2022

We had a lovely day with Antonio. He met us at our door for pick up and did an amazing job of taking care of us all day long. He was knowledgeable and clearly loves Rome. He tailored the day to what we desired to see. Would highly recommend.

Roman /Christian History

Margaret_H, Jul 2022

The guide was amazing. He was very knowledgeable. He was super nice. He took us to a bunch of sites.

Awesome!

Carissa_G, May 2022

The tour was terrific. Our guide (Manny) tailored to tour to what we wanted to see! He was extremely knowledgeable and friendly and he spoke great English!

Informative, interesting tour

Melissa_M, Apr 2022

We had an outstanding tour. The places were all very memorable and our guide Iovanni was very knowledgable and made the tour very interesting for everyone.

Christianity in the Ancient Rome Private Tour

PeterB9277, Jul 2019

Excellent guide and very knowledgeable of his home, Rome. It was my first time in Rome, my partner's 12th time and we both saw things we had never seen and likely wouldn't have on our own. Fantastic introduction to Rome filled with profound insight. Great way to see the city as well as we covered a very large area by car. And to top it off, we were brought to maybe the best Gelataria in the city!!!

Great Tour!

Tracey_E, Jul 2019

This was one of the best tours we’ve ever done. Our guide, John, was both personable and knowledgeable. We saw and learned so much and are grateful to him for his service. (Please note that the visit was a mother daughter trip, both adults, but that was not an option for selecting the type of visit.)

Best way to see Rome quickly

Nicholas_E, Jul 2019

Our guide, John, was great, and let us personalize what we would like to see. We were only in Rome for 24 hours so he made sure to take us to any important spots we had missed, even if they were not a part of the original tour. On an extremely hot day, I can't think of a better way to see Rome than in an air conditioned, private van (getting out as we wanted.) As may be expected, this tour did have a Catholic emphasis.

Absolutely perfect tour for just us 4!

TrishaO730, Jun 2019

Our tour guide was John. We communicated by text and moved our pickup time to 9am without any trouble. (Nice being picked up at your hotel). Huge comfortable/nice vehicle. He tailored our day to what we were most interested in (seeing exact location of where apostle Peter and Paul were crucified/beheaded, etc.) He would take us to unique locations that other tourists weren't always visiting b/c they didn't know the history... but John DID and he blew our minds away with all of his knowledge. He wouldn't own up to being a historian, but as Bible School professors/ministers, we felt he was amazing! He took us to a local/private restaurant for lunch that we all LOVED! We were never rushed and actually encouraged to see more even when our time was up because he was such a nice guy. We are already recommending this tour to dear friends. I normally don't leave reviews, but this one was worth the time.

Amazing Day of Roman / Christian History

Thomas_N, May 2019

We have been on many European vacations with various tour guides. MAX set a new excellence standard of tour guides. We started at our hotel and were whisked back in time to experience the life of Peter and Paul in chains while in Rome. We spent over 7 hours learning of the core of Christian beginnnings and ended with a trip to the Cattacombs to experience the persecution of the church and early Christians. The prior reviews of Max’s expertise were unstated. He personality and knowledge satisfied our curiosity and quest for history in a manner that we had never experienced before on any of our prior vacations/trips. Highly recommended....

A spiritual time of discovery

Self_S, Oct 2018

We were extremely pleased with the personalized and detailed day. Our guide, Max, was very prepared and gave us so much history as we moved from place to place. We highly recommend this tour.

The Apostle Paul in Rome

Daniel_M, Oct 2018

You know about St Peter's Basilica, but did you know St Paul was also executed and buried in Rome? Many who visit the eternal city may never visit Paul's Basilica, and if you're a historian or student of the Bible, you won't want to miss this tour!

My wife said it was the best tour...

jim, Nov 2017

My wife said it was the best tour she has ever taken and our guide was the best. I would recommend this tour to anyone that goes to Rome. I would say to ask for our guide but I cannot remember his name.

I have always had a passion for...

Lance K, Mar 2017

I have always had a passion for reading and learning about religious history and what it teaches us about human nature. When I read about this tour and its focus on looking at early Christianity from a historical perspective, I was cautiously excited. Having been on the tour of the Vatican and taken other tours of religious sites in Rome, I find they focus way to much on reciting church doctrine and fail to give an accurate picture of early Christianity. This tour, by comparison, was led by an anthropologist and historian that is well-read and can help you better understand the context of what was going on in Rome during the early beginnings of Christianity and the conditions that led to the success of Christianity despite fluctuating tolerance and persecution from the Roman emperors at the time. Luca, my tour guide, helped separate historical facts from unprovable church legends. During the tour, you will visit multiple sites that teach about early Christianity including the Roman Forum and Mamertine Prison, Aventine Hill, the Basilica of St. Peter in Chains, the Christian Catacombs of St. Callixtus, the Appian Way, and St. Johns Ouside the Walls. Before visiting each location, you will get a briefing on each location and the context of the location to early Christianity which helps you put the official tours at each location into perspective since the guide cannot lead you at some of the locations due to local laws. In the end, I found the tour very enjoyable and my tour guide Luca was extremely smart about the topic. My one caution is that if you are looking for him to stricly align with your particular Christian church's teachings, this is probably the wrong tour for you. If you want to learn about the historical context of the rise of Christianity though, you will love it.