The Calendario Romano is an unofficial calendar that features men from the Catholic clergy (priests, seminarians, or religious), often photographed in ecclesiastical attire in iconic locations of Rome. A true media phenomenon, it was quickly nicknamed the “calendar of the sexy priests of the Vatican.” It was created in 2003 by the Venetian photographer Piero Pazzi, who was then working on educational calendars for several cities, focusing on their most emblematic inhabitants such as the gondoliers for Venice and the priests for Rome.
Priced at around 8 to 10 euros and published for 24 years, it has become a cult keepsake among tourists thanks to its popularity on TikTok and Instagram, where the men featured have accumulated millions of views and hundreds of thousands of likes. It recently drew attention again after revelations from the Italian newspaper La Repubblica.
The men of the calendar would not all be real priests
In a recent interview, Giovanni Galizia, one of the iconic figures of the Calendario Romano whose face has appeared for years on the covers of numerous editions, revealed that he had actually never been a priest. He explained that it was the photographer, a family friend, who asked him to pose in a cassock in front of a church in his hometown. Now 39 and a flight attendant for a Spanish airline, he was only 17 when he posed for the photo that became emblematic.
“It’s very funny when colleagues or friends come from Rome and tell me: ‘You have a familiar face. I start to tremble'”, he said before admitting that he had never received royalties from the calendar sales, but that it did not bother him because it was part of the initial agreement with the photographer. According to him, none of them could have foreseen the calendar’s success. As the calendar’s emblematic model, Giovanni Galizia naturally became the subject of many rumors, including one that claimed he was a priest who left the order for love.
But the reality would be quite different. “I have never frequented clerical circles. I am not a priest,” he revealed. Giovanni Galizia did not stop at his own case: he also claimed that almost none of the men appearing in the calendar were actually priests, some not even Italian. “The men photographed were mostly models and volunteers”, he noted, adding that some simply participated in religious processions when Pazzi’s lens captured them.
Despite the revelations, the calendar’s success does not waver
Despite the revelations, the calendar’s commercial success does not seem to have been affected. Indeed, sales remained high, as did the number of people convinced they were dealing with real priests. “People are fascinated”, said Maria Letizia D’Ilario, who has run a newsstand near Saint Peter’s Square since 2013. Over the years, tourists, but also priests, have come to buy her calendar. “People often ask me where to find priests as handsome as these. I tell them that if only I knew, I would go confess right away”, she joked.
The same sentiment from Monirul Haque, who has run a newsstand for 18 years. “Many tourists, both Italian and foreign, buy it as a joke. Mostly women, but also a few men,” he confides. He adds that he sells about 600 copies of Calendario Romano per year, but that sales fell in 2025. The reason? The arrival of a new religious calendar titled the “Calendario Gregoriano”. It replicates exactly the model of the “Calendario Romano” by offering an anonymous and seductive priest photographed for each month of the year in front of churches in Rome, Venice, and Florence.
