Halloween in Rome: the ten creepiest places to visit during spooky season
Last Updated on October 13, 2025 by admin
The popularity of celebrating Halloween in Rome has grown in recent years, with events, parties and trick-or-treating happening much more frequently now than when I first moved here in 2005.
That said, Halloween in Italy as a whole is still not quite as big of a deal here as it is in other countries like the US, Canada, and Ireland. Don’t worry, though – there are still plenty of places in Rome to give you the shivers!
In fact, the Eternal City is full of sights to visit during spooky season if you’re craving some creepiness, and because they’re all permanent, you can actually visit them at any time of the year, although Halloween is the perfect time to do so.
There are lots of ghost stories in Rome, too – headless women haunting bridges and whatnot – and I’ll get to those, but I’ve decided to focus on the top ten spookiest spots in the Eternal City so you can fully freak yourself out at Halloween, if you dare!
The ten creepiest places to visit for Halloween in Rome
Profondo Rosso
Via dei Gracchi 260 – Instagram
Owned by famous Italian horror film director and screenwriter Dario Argento, Profondo Rosso, named for his film of the same name, is part spooky shop that sells Halloween-y items, books, DVDs and magazines, and part horror-movie memorabilia museum.
You can enter the store and browse, or pay a fiver and ask the shopkeeper to let you into the dungeon where you’ll meet some of Argento’s most well known props. More on Profondo Rosso here.
L’Ospedale delle Bambole – The Doll Hospital
Via di Ripetta 29
Is there anything more unsettling than a doll? To me, they’re second only to clowns on the children-are-supposed-to-like-these-but-they’re-actually-deeply-creepy list.
Certainly worse than a single doll is a clinic full of broken ones, and Rome has its very own doll hospital.
I’m not sure if I could bring myself to enter – the front window looks like enough nightmare fuel for days. If you’re like me and not a doll fan, just walk by for a good case of the heebie-jeebies.
Al Sogno
Piazza Navona 53
If you want more scary-doll vibes, stop by Al Sogno in Piazza Navona. It’s a beautiful toy store that also happens to have a an un-beautiful little doll hospital as well.
Il Museo delle Anime del Purgatorio – The Museum of the Holy Souls in Purgatory
Lungotevere Prati 12, within la Chiesa del Sacro Cuore del Suffragio
My husband is a massive fan of Catholic horror. Any show or movie with a demon, a scary nun or a possessed person is right up his alley (and while he watches those, I am in the other room watching Gilmore Girls).
This hundred year-old museum is small but has a series of bone-chilling artifacts, especially for the faithful: The museum’s collection consists of items that are believed to have been imprinted with the hands of people who are trapped in Purgatory, the otherworldly realm between heaven and hell. Perfect Halloween-in-Rome vibes if you ask me.
Museo Storico Nazionale Dell’Arte Sanitaria – National Historic Museum of Sanitary Art
Lungotevere in Sassia 3
This little museum is found within the Ospedale Santo Spirito in Sassia and documents the transition from alchemy to medicine.
There are cases of gory models of body parts and one of some pretty haunting-looking skeletons for anyone seeking to get their spine a-tingling.
La Porta Alchemica – The Alchemy Door
Piazza Vittorio Emanuele
Speaking of Alchemy – Rome has a door from the 1600s dedicated to the practice. Located in Piazza Vittorio Emanuele, it was built by a marquis named Massimiliano Palombara, a member of the group called the Alchemists of Palazzo Riario. The group was a part of the Roman court of Queen Christina of Sweden, who was a strong supporter of alchemy and science.
The Alchemy Door is the only remaining door of Palombara’s villa. As the story goes, during a dinner party, he met an alchemist who told him that he could transform metal to gold using a kind of herb. In the morning, the alchemist had disappeared, but he left a trace of his presence in the form of a few gold flakes and a sort of recipe for how to carry out the metal-to-gold transformation.
Unfortunately, Palombara was unable to understand the recipe, so he had the symbols from it carved into the door of his villa, hoping that a passerby might be able to understand what they meant.
Check it out for some mysterious vibes, and if you can figure out the recipe, let me know in the comments and we’ll split the gold 50/50.
The Catacombs
Under the streets of Rome lie sixty catacombs, a series of tunnels housing thousands of tombs. That’s not creepy at all, is it?
Beginning in the second century, these underground cemeteries were constructed to house the dead coming from religious traditions who did not burn their dead, but buried them instead. That means that there are pagan catacombs, Jewish catacombs and Christian catacombs.
Five of Rome’s catacombs are open to the public:
The Catacombs of San Sebastiano – Via Appia Antica, 136
The Catacombs of San Callixtus – Via Appia Antica, 110/126
The Catacombs of Priscilla are located in Via Salaria, 430. These are home to frescoes containing the first depictions of the Virgin Mary.
The Catacombs of Domitilla – Via delle Sette Chiese, 280.
The Catacombs of Saint Agnes – Via Nomentana, 349.
If you’re visiting the catacombs, expect cool dampness and tight spaces. Give these a miss if you’re claustrophobic.
Note that the catacombs are generally closed on major holidays and that some also shut down for long periods during the winter.
Museo e Cripta dei Cappuccini – The Capuchin Museum and Crypt
Via Vittorio Veneto 27
Beneath the church of Santa Maria della Concezione dei Cappuccini lies the Capuchin Crypt. Catholic horror fans, this is another one for you.
In the crypt, you’ll find the bones of an estimated 4,000 friars that have been used to create patterns and decorations to line the walls of several small chapels. This website describes the crypt as “far from a macabre spectacle,” which is funny, because that’s exactly how I’d describe it.
Like the Stoics, the Cappuccini were big fans of the concept of “memento mori” – essentially a reminder that you will die. Thanks to their – ahem – unique interior design tastes, we reeeeeeally get the message.
Santa Maria dell’Orazione e Morte – St. Mary of Eulogies and the Dead
Lungotevere Tebaldi 12
I have found yet another place that my husband is going to drag me to during Halloween – why have I done this to myself? Please send help.
Anyway, here’s another one for lovers of the macabre and all things death. According to Atlas Obscura, a nun will unlock the crypt of the church of St. Mary of Eulogies and the Dead for you, and then leave you alone down there with a bunch of skeletons and a scythe just casually resting in the corner.
I am unwell.
And get this – this crypt originated so that ABANDONED CORPSES could receive a proper burial.
If there’s anything that screams “Halloween in Rome” more than mysterious deaths and nuns leaving you alone in a locked room full of skeletons, then I don’t know what does, and what’s more, I DO NOT WANT TO KNOW.
Basilica di San Nicola in Carcere – the Basilica of Saint Nicholas in Prison
Via del Teatro di Marcello 46
Built upon the ruins of three Roman temples, the basilica of Saint Nicholas in Prison houses one of the the city’s creepiest crypts. Pay €3 to head underground and explore the ruins of an earlier church, a Byzantine jail, and – for that Halloween vibe – piles of bones of unknown Christians who were buried there.
The Sator Square in Santa Maria Maggiore
Piazza di Santa Maria Maggiore
Fans of magic and mysticism might enjoy a visit to the Sator Square in Santa Maria Maggiore church.
The square contains five words: Sator, Arepo, Tenet, Opera, and Rotas, which, as you may have noticed, form a palindrome. What makes the square even more mysterious is that it has been found all over Europe and beyond, with the oldest discovery in Pompeii.
The sentence has been translated in multiple ways over the years, but is believed by many to hold mystical powers. The only constant is that no one actually knows exactly where it came from or exactly what it means.
More Roman ghost stories
Like I said above, there are lots of ghost stories in Rome – haunted bridges and buildings and stuff. If you want to learn about Rome’s most famous phantoms, you can hunt them down thanks to this list compiled by the city.
Other ways to celebrate Halloween in Rome
The city’s amusement parks – Cinecittà World, MagicLand and Zoomarine – all have Halloween events, and there’s even a pumpkin patch outside the city center!
If you’re interested in adults-only Halloween celebrations, check out this website. And here’s more on celebrating Halloween in Rome.
Celebrate Halloween in Rome with a guided ghost tour!
This Ghostly nighttime walking tour is super highly rated and sounds really fun.
Want more Rome?
Curious about how other holidays are celebrated in Rome? Check out my month-by-month guide to visiting the Eternal City.
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