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Pope Leo to hold All Souls' Day Mass at Verano Cemetery in Rome

Pontiff to mark All Souls' Day with Mass at Campo Verano. Pope Leo XIV is to celebrate All Souls' Day Mass in front of the entrance to Campo Verano cemetery in Rome on Sunday 2 November. The service, commemorating all those who have died, will begin at 16.00, the Vicariate of Rome said on Thursday. All Souls' Day, a Catholic tradition of mourning the dearly departed, is known in Italian as the Commemorazione di tutti i fedeli defunti or more simply il Giorno dei Morti - the day of the dead. It is a particularly important day in Italy when relatives gather to visit family graves. Leo's predecessor, Pope Francis, visited several war cemeteries on All Soul's Day, including the American Military Cemetery, the French Military Cemetery and the Rome War Cemetery. The capital’s three main cemeteries - Verano, Laurentino and Flaminio (Prima Porta) - will be open on 1 November - All Saints' Day - and 2 November from 07.30-18.00. City buses serving these cemeteries have been increased in the weeks leading up to 2 November. Photo credit: Stefano Tammaro / Shutterstock.com.

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Mastro Titta: The blood-soaked story of Rome's fearsome executioner

The sight of Mastro Titta crossing the river Tiber struck fear into the heart of Romans. Giovanni Battista Bugatti, better known as Mastro Titta, was the official executioner for the Papal States from 1796 to 1864. Over his 68-year career, he carried out more than 500 executions, earning him a chilling, almost legendary status in Roman history. His name, a Romanesco diminutive of Maestro di Giustizia (Master of Justice), became synonymous with death and gave rise to the phrase "Mastro Titta is coming", historically used to frighten misbehaving children. A long and lethal career Bugatti began his work at the tender age of 17, and his reign as executioner spanned the turbulent periods of the Napoleonic occupation, the restoration of papal rule, and the burgeoning Italian Risorgimento. He served under several popes, from Pius VI to Pius IX, meticulously recording each of his grim assignments in a personal ledger, now preserved in the Historical Archive of Rome. Referred to as Il Libro dei Giustiziati (The Book of the Executed), the ledger provides a stark, factual account of the executioner's work, listing names, dates and crimes. There are 516 victims listed, however two of these were not executed by Mastro Titta: one was shot in jail and the other was hanged and quartered by his assistant. This left Mastro Titta responsible for 514 executions over the course of his career. Methods of execution Mastro Titta employed various methods of execution, reflecting the prevailing practices of his time. Beheading by axe was common, especially for crimes of murder or high treason. For particularly heinous offenses, or for those deemed to have committed sacrilege, the mallet (mazzola) was used, followed by a throat-cutting. Hanging was another frequently used method. One of his most notorious tools, however, was the guillotine. Introduced to Rome during the Napoleonic era, Mastro Titta quickly adapted to its use, employing it for public spectacles that drew large crowds. These executions were often carried out against the backdrops of Roman landmarks, such as Castel Sant'Angelo, the Circus Maximus and Piazza del Popolo. The man behind the axe Giovanni Battista Bugatti was born on 6 March 1779 in Senigallia, a seaside town in the central Marche region, relocating to Rome at some point in his youth. Despite his fearsome profession, Mastro Titta lived a seemingly ordinary life outside his gruesome duties, with his profession listed as umbrella painter. He resided in the Borgo district of Rome, near the Vatican, on Vicolo del Campanile. Mastro Titta was not permitted to cross the Tiber river at Ponte Sant'Angelo into the main part of the city unless it was for an execution. Tradition holds that when he did cross the bridge, dressed in his distinctive red cape, Romans would quickly retreat indoors, a testament to the pervasive fear and awe he commanded. He was reportedly a devout Catholic and a man of routine. Before each execution, he would attend Mass and pray for the soul of the condemned. He even offered a small gift of snuff to those about to face his blade, a macabre gesture of finality. Mastro Titta was a feared symbol of papal power and stern justice, reflecting a part of Roman life that both repelled and fascinated its citizens. A curious Roman tradition arose among those who attended the executions: fathers brought their male children to witness the torture and death of the condemned. At the exact moment when a head rolled, or when the victim exhaled their last breath, the boys received a slap as a warning from their fathers. Mastro Titta in literature In addition to appearing in the Romanesco sonnets of Giovanni Goacchino Belli, Mastro Titta featured in Pictures of Italy by Charles Dickens who witnessed one of his executions in Rome's San Giovanni area on 8 March 1845. Recounting the beheading in graphic detail, Dickens described the gruesome event as an "ugly, filthy, careless, sickening spectacle", after which the executioner "retreated to his lair" across the river. Retirement and death When Mastro Titta finally retired in 1864, at the age of 85, he received a monthly pension of 30 scudi. He died in Rome five years later, on 18 June 1869, and his place of burial is unknown. Mastro Titto was not, however the last papal executioner: Vincenzo Balducci, who became his assistant in 1850, continued his bloody mission until the fall of the Papal States in 1870. The last papal executions in Rome were carried out on 24 November 1868 when revoluntionaries Giuseppe Monti and Gaetano Tognetti were beheaded in front of crowds on Via dei Cerchi at the Circus Maximus. The Museum of Criminology, closed temporarily, contains the axe used by Mastro Titta as well as his red cloak (pictured). Rome legend has it that, just before sunrise, a grim figure wrapped in a scarlet cloak can be seen in the area around Castel Sant'Angelo.

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Italy's birth rate hits new record low

Steep downward trend in births continues in Italy as demographic crisis deepens. There were 369,944 babies born in Italy in 2024, a 2.6 per cent decrease from the 379,890 births the previous year, according to data released by national statistics agency ISTAT on Tuesday. The number of births in Italy in 2024 is the lowest since records began in 1861, after Italian unification, with the figure falling for the 16th year in a row. The downward trend has been advancing steadily since 2008, when the peak of births (576,000) in the 2000s was reached. Preliminary data for the first seven months of 2025 shows this negative trend continuing, with a 6.3 per cent decline in newborns compared to the same period in 2024. The fertility rate - the average number of children per woman of child-bearing age - fell to a record low of 1.18 last year, down from 1.20 in 2023. Provisional figures for January-July 2025 suggest a further drop to 1.13. The data paints a picture of a steady decline in fertility: from 2.01 children per woman for the 1947 generation (the last to reach the so-called generational replacement threshold) to 1.44 for women born in 1975 (who turned 49 in 2024). The decline in fertility per generation is accompanied by an increase in the number of women with no children. This figure stood at 10 per cent for women born in 1947, however in the 1975 cohort, women without children represent almost a quarter of the total (23 per cent). The ISTAT report stressed that the decline in births over the years is linked to the reduced number of potential parents, belonging to increasingly small generations born since the mid-1970s, when fertility began to decline. Employment insecurity, particularly the prevalence of temporary work contracts, and low wages also have a heavy impact on Italy's falling birth rate. Non-Italian births The decline is offset however by the relatively stable number of births to parents in which at least one of the partners is a foreigner. These births, which make up 21.8 per cent of the total, went from 80,942 in 2023 to 80,761 last year. The highest number of births in this category in 2024, to one or more non-Italian parents, were Romanian (10,532), Moroccan (9,448) and Albanian (9,115). The most popular boy's name among new parents in Italy continues to be Leonardo, retaining the top spot since 2018, followed by Edoardo and Tommaso. For girls, the situation remains unchanged compared to 2023, with Sofia in first place, followed by Aurora and Ginevra. Among the most popular names for boys born in Italy in 2024 to non-Italian parents are Rayan, Adam, Amir and Liam, while for girls the favourite names are Sofia, Sara and Amira. Ageing population Concurrent with the falling birth rate, Italy's population continues to age. As of 1 January 2025, the average age in Italy rose to 46.8 years, with individuals aged over 65 now accounting for nearly a quarter (24.7 per cent) of the total population. The continuous decline in births, coupled with an ageing population, represents a major national challenge for Italy's social and economic future.