What to Expect in Rome: Jubilee Year 2025

What's a Jubilee Year?

A Jubilee Year is a Holy Year decreed by the Pope. It's a special year of remission of sins, debts, and universal pardon, meaning Catholics from all over the world will make a trip to Rome seeking forgiveness.

Different times of the year are aimed at different sectors of society, with special events geared towards artists, health care workers, volunteers, public service workers, and even teenagers. Each event includes a pilgrimage to the Holy Door of St. Peter's Basilica or other famous basilicas around Rome. These doors are generally sealed shut and are only open on Jubilee Years.

To learn more about each event and what exactly the Jubilee Year has in store, I recommend going right to the source at the Jubilee website. Tickets are not required for the events but they do ask that you register before you attend.

The tradition of Jubilee Year started in the year 1300 with Pope Boniface VIII. The last Jubilee Year was held in the year 2000, with the exception of the Extraordinary Jubilee of Mercy in 2015.

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Should You Visit Rome in 2025?

Unless you dream of visiting Rome for a Jubilee Year and want to take part of the events hosted by the Catholic Church, my recommendation is to change or defer your trip until 2026, if you have the flexibility to do so.

According to locals, they're predicting 65 million tourists to visit Rome. Recent years have seen around 35 million tourists for reference.

Think more crowds at famous historical sights, higher cost to book accommodation, busier public transportation, and a far more religious ambiance than usual.

In the months leading up to the start of the Jubilee Year, Rome has been under massive construction. When I visited in November 2024, the construction was unavoidable. In August 2023, another of my visits to Rome, there was the normal amount of repairs and expansions that every city in the world sees but in 2024, the scale is undeniably bigger.

The goal is that all of this construction is wrapped up by the start of the Jubilee Year on Christmas Eve 2024.

That means in 2025, you should see pristine historical sights, less graffiti, and an incredibly preserved city center but at the cost of so many tourists, I don't think the pros will outweigh the cons.

With so many fantastic places to visit in Italy, if you're visiting in 2025, I'd skip Rome and head somewhere else in the country instead.

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The Best Time to Visit Rome

This isn't to deter you from never visiting Rome. Rome is one of my favorite cities in the world. Even visiting Rome on a budget is incredibly fun and rewarding. From incredible Roman food to great areas to explore, I highly recommend a visit to Rome. But when?

2026.

In 2026, the construction will be far done with and the Jubilee Year will have come and gone. That means, you should be able to enjoy the historical sights still looking fresh and clean but with a fraction of the tourists to share them with.

Personally, I love shoulder season in Italy so I would recommend spring or fall in 2026 specifically.

In November, we needed light jackets in the nights and in the shade but otherwise were comfortable in jeans and a t-shirt. Summer can get brutally hot in Rome and is high-season for tourism. Winter can be enjoyable but depending on the year, you might be cold with the lack of central heating in many of the buildings in old town.

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To Avoid or to Visit the Jubilee Year

Depending on you, you might be excited by the idea to visit Rome during a holy year and to experience the pilgrimage events that only come around once every 25 years or. For the average tourist though, I would avoid visiting Rome during the Jubilee Year and put a trip in 2026 in the books instead.