By Mother Martha
In 1300 Pope Boniface VIII proclaimed the first ordinary Jubilee, or Holy Year, with the Papal Bull, “Antiquorum Habet Fida Relatio.” Since then, they have taken place either every 50 or every 25 years. 2025’s Holy Year is the 27th. It began on Christmas Eve 2024 and will last through Epiphany, January 6, 2026. If you still need to organize your pilgrimage to Rome, the principal venue, and to other religiously significant places elsewhere in Italy, here are three unbeatable websites.
My “Food for Thought” article “Religious Stays in Italy,” published in the June-July 2020 issue, was about the website www.ospitalitareligiosa.it. This non-profit Association, Ospitalità Religiosa Italiana (Italian Religious Hospitality) at Via Molina 10 in Varese, a city in Lombardy, northwest of Milan (tel. 011-39-327-3842841), still describes nearly 3,000 “religious places to stay” in Italy. As I’ve already explained, these include guesthouses, holiday houses, B&Bs, campsites, hostels, hermitages, convents, monasteries and hotels. In short – somewhere for everybody.
Accommodations are found in all 20 regions of Italy. Logically, the largest number, some 197, are in the Latium region – many fewer than before Covid. Of these, 123 are in the Eternal City. Several are within walking distance of Vatican City.
Of the sites in Rome, especially for pilgrims wanting more privacy, 13 are hotels. All of them have restaurants, conference rooms and often, chapels, as well as free parking and spacious gardens.
They are: San Giuseppe House, Hotel Valle, Hotel Antico Palazzo Rospigliosi, Domus Australia, Hotel Adriatico, Casa Fraterna Domus, Hotel Varese, Casa Madre Nazarena, Hotel Nova Domus Aurelia, Villa EUR, Hotel Casa Tra Noi, Hotel Santa Prisca, and DNB House Hotel. San Giuseppe House, Hotel Adriatico, Hotel Nova Domus Aurelia, and Hotel Casa Tra Noi – and all are short walks to St. Peter’s Square.
giubileo bonifacio VIII DEL 1300 x
In 1300 Pope Boniface VIII proclaimed the first ordinary Jubilee, or Holy Year.
info point vaticano
Cardinal Pietro Parolin and Archbishop Rino Fisichella inaugurate the Info Point for the Jubilee 2025 at no. 7 Via della Conciliazione
The Vatican’s Dicastery for Evangelization has chosen My Safe Place Transfer as the Vatican’s Official Taxi and Transfer Partner during 2025’s Holy Year.
Its shared mobility service seeks to reduce travel costs and traffic, especially for transfers to and from Rome’s airport, a ride that usually costs 50 euros, not counting luggage and tips. My Safe Place Transfer charges 14.99 euros per person for religious and 19.90 euros per person for pilgrims. This door-to-door service, payable via Visa, Mastercard, Amex and debit cards, as well as cash, is available Monday-Friday, 8 am-8 pm, and 8 am- 5 pm on Saturday and Sunday.
To be eligible you must download: www.mysafeplace.it. It’s already accepting bookings if you’re registered on the official Jubilee App: www.register.iubilaeum2025.va.
In addition to the airport transfer, My Safe Place Transfer can meet cruise ship passengers at Civitavecchia and offers transportation to Assisi, San Giovanni Rotondo and Padua at negotiable prices, so you may want to check out accommodations on www.ospitalitareligiosa.it in these locations as well. The service to travel outside of Rome is available 24 hours a day and every day of the week.
To book specific Jubilee events, you need to download the pilgrim’s card on the official Jubilee App. The App explains how you can become a Jubilee volunteer, recounts the history of the Jubilee, lists all the 2025 Jubilee’s special events, Jubilee churches and Jubilee itineraries. Here too, if you click on “contacts,” you can write in personal requests, or telephone questions to 011-39-0669869201, 011-39-0669869202, or 011-39-0669869203.
Once in Rome, you can also visit the Pilgrims Welcome Center at no. 7 Via della Conciliazione, the wide street from the Tiber to St. Peter’s Square built by Mussolini to celebrate the Lateran Pacts in 1929, whereby Italy recognized The Holy See as a sovereign state.
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