Start at a Cemetery Gate Before the Light Goes
On the morning of 1 November, Rome runs on a Sunday schedule and much of the city is closed, but the roads out to the cemeteries are the busiest they will be all year. Extra buses run toward the three main burial grounds — Verano, Laurentino and Prima Porta — all open from 07:30 to 18:00 on both 1 and 2 November. Go early. By mid-morning the flower stalls outside the gates are doing steady business in chrysanthemums, the one bloom that means the dead in Italy, and families are moving along the rows with watering cans and secateurs. This is not a sombre, private occasion; it is a collective one, and you are welcome to walk quietly through it.
If you want the day's most affecting stop, make it the Non-Catholic Cemetery in Testaccio, which opens on 1 November from 09:00 to 17:00, with last entry at 16:30. Under the cypresses, with the Pyramid of Cestius at the wall, the graves of Shelley and Keats draw a steady, hushed stream of visitors who treat the place as a garden as much as a cemetery.
Where the City Gathers: Verano and the Mass at Its Gates
Campo Verano, beside the Basilica of San Lorenzo fuori le Mura, is Rome's great cemetery and the centre of the public observance. Pope Leo XIV is scheduled to preside over an All Souls' Day Mass at the entrance to Campo Verano at 16:00 on Sunday. In 2026 that Sunday is 1 November, so the Mass falls on the first of the two days, not the second. Arrive well before then; the approaches along Via Tiburtina fill, and the extra bus services are at their most crowded. Even if you only stand at the edge of the crowd, the scale of it — thousands of Romans, the candles, the flowers banked against the wall — is the thing you will remember about the holiday.
Note the calendar: in 2026, 1 November falls on a Sunday, and All Souls' Day follows on Monday 2 November. That gives you two consecutive days of observance, and the evening of 31 October — All Saints' Eve — is when Romans increasingly place candles on graves, so the cemeteries glow after dusk on the night before the feast.
Eat What the Day Asks For
The food of these two days is specific and easy to find if you know the names. Look for fave dei morti — "beans of the dead" — small almond cookies sold in pastry shops and eaten on All Souls' Day. The name comes from the ancient Roman custom of baking sweets shaped like black broad beans, which stood for the souls of the dead and were used in funeral rites; in Perugia the association is still explicit. Buy a bag from a pasticceria and eat them as you walk.
The other ritual is a meal near the graves of your own dead — Romans do this, and while you have no family plot here, the trattorie around San Lorenzo and the streets near the cemetery gates fill with extended families eating together after the visit. Book nothing elaborate. Order what the table next to you orders, and let the chrysanthemums on the pavement outside tell you which restaurants are the right ones that day.
Markets, Sweets and the Halloween Question
American-style Halloween has taken hold among younger Italians — you will hear dolcetto o scherzetto from children on 31 October, and the costume shops and party aisles of the city's markets lean into it. But treat it as the warm-up, not the main event: Halloween remains widely regarded in Italy as a commercial import, and the traditional holiday is the one that follows. The confectionery and flower markets do their briskest trade in chrysanthemums and fave dei morti across 31 October and 1 November, so a morning wander through your local mercato rionale on either day shows you the holiday's real economy.
Because 1 November is a Holy Day of Obligation in the Roman Catholic calendar, Mass attendance is expected, and churches across the city will be full. The traditional reading is the Beatitudes from Matthew's Gospel, and many parishes now also read out the names of those who died during the past year — a practice worth knowing about if you slip into a neighbourhood church for the morning service.
Know the Rhythm of the Two Days
- 31 October (Saturday): Halloween, growing among younger Italians. Evening candle-lighting on graves becomes more common each year. Cemeteries open as usual.
- 1 November (Sunday): Ognissanti, a national public holiday. Government offices, schools and many private businesses close. Public transport runs a Sunday schedule. Verano, Laurentino and Prima Porta open 07:30–18:00, with extra buses. Non-Catholic Cemetery in Testaccio open 09:00–17:00, last entry 16:30. Mass in churches throughout the city, and Pope Leo XIV scheduled to preside at Mass at the entrance to Campo Verano at 16:00.
- 2 November (Monday): All Souls' Day, la commemorazione dei defunti, a day of mourning the dead. Cemeteries again open 07:30–18:00 with increased bus services until 2 November.
Many Italians travel home to be with family across these days, so the city empties a little and the cemeteries fill. Plan your transport around the Sunday schedule on 1 November, and expect the buses toward Verano, Laurentino and Prima Porta to be standing-room only.
Build the Trip Around the Dates
Book your accommodation with the cemetery routes in mind — somewhere on the Tiburtina side puts you within easy reach of Verano and its 16:00 Mass on Sunday 1 November, while Testaccio is the natural base if the Non-Catholic Cemetery is your priority on the same day. Check the Sunday transport timetable before you commit to a plan, buy your fave dei morti early, and leave the evening of 31 October free for the candle-lighting. The holiday rewards a visitor who arrives knowing which two days matter and what the city does on them.