How celebrants can help you honour and give thanks for a unique life in a non-religious ceremony

At Passaggi we provide a service that aims to ease your mind at that most difficult moment when someone you love dies. Together, we create a funeral ceremony that is an inspiring alternative to a traditional church funeral. We celebrate the person’s life and achievements and take into account their wishes and your ideas of what to include in the service. Alternatively, we can help you craft a ‘celebration of life’ memorial service, or an ash scattering ceremony, at a later date.

A non-religious funeral in Rome with Renata celebrant

“We cannot find words to describe how grateful we are to Clarissa for making such a sad occasion into a comforting moment, with the knowledge that such a ceremony, in our garden, with food and a glass of wine at the end of it, was just what Dad would have wanted.
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— Sara, Castelli

Humanist funeral in the park at Villa Ada in Rome — Funeral in Villa Ada, Rome

Delivering ceremonies in Central Italy and beyond
We mainly work in Rome, but also in many towns in Lazio (such as Ostia, Latina, the Castelli Romani, Viterbo etc.), and in Umbria (Orvieto, Foligno, Terni, Perugia, etc.). We have also conducted funerals further afield (Florence, Milan) and are happy to put you in contact with other trained celebrants anywhere in Italy through our network of professional celebrants FederCelebranti.

Humanist funeral in Rome at Tempietto Egizio with celebrant — Gilia conducting a funeral at the Tempietto Egizio, Verano, Rome

Bilingual Ceremonies
We are able to conduct the service in English, Italian, German (with Renata) or all three. Many celebrants in FederCelebranti can conduct services in other languages.

Coordinating with your funeral director
In order to ensure our availability, we strongly advise you to contact us before setting the date and time of the funeral or have the funeral director do so.

Celebrant conducting funeral in Rome — Aldo conducting a funeral in Rome

more about us

“Thanks to Passaggi we were able to say goodbye to our Dad with a funeral ceremony that was touching, very personal, and appreciated even by our religious friends and family. We are really very grateful.”

— Giulia and Lorenzo. Castelli

“The funeral was so touching. It was an intricate fresco of Laura’s life, her work, her family, and our relationship, which kept everyone in the room in an emotion-filled silence.”

— Paolo. Rome

How we create a non-traditional funeral ceremony

An overview of the steps we follow

Celebrants spend time getting to know you, your family, or your friends – either directly or by Skype or WhatsApp video – so that they can create a ceremony filled with warmth and sensitivity and take into account personal beliefs and philosophies. Personalised funeral ceremonies are non-religious, but the family’s wishes are paramount and we embrace all faiths or no faith.

After the family visit, we plan the whole funeral service or ash scattering, including whatever readings and music you have suggested, and write a personalised funeral tribute which we undertake to send to you for your comments and approval.

On the day of the ceremony we will be there for you, conduct the funeral service, commemoration, or ash scattering, and keep in close contact with the funeral directors.