New and more days of free admission at Italian museums and monuments!
This year starts a new initiative of the Ministry of Cultural Heritage and Activities of Italy, under the hashtag #IoVadoAlMuseo, “I go to the Museum”. The initiative provides 20 days of free admission during the year, in all state-owned attractions: monuments, museums, galleries, archaeological excavations, parks and monumental gardens.
The new decree replaces and widens the “Museum Sundays”, the scheme that saw museums open for free every first Sunday of the month.
Michelangelo’s David – Florence
From this year, Italian state Museums and sites will be open for free every first Sunday of the month from October to March. Additionally they’ll offer 6 free days during the Museum Week, and other 8 free days of their choice (different in every site).
The Museum Week will be chosen each year, from Tuesday to Sunday, in a period between January and March. For 2019 the Museum week will be from March 5th to 10th.
Furthermore, children under 18 will always enter for free, and young adults from 18 to 25 years old will always pay a discounted ticket of 2€ (on paid entry days).
Some of the most famous attractions participating include the Colosseum, Castel Sant’Angelo, and the Borghese Gallery in Rome, the Uffizi Gallery and the Accademia Gallery in Florence, the archeological site of Pompeii near Naples.
Find a full list here
Consider that during free access days, you cannot book the entrance, so you will have to wait in line, that will likely be long. Evaluate carefully if you are willing to wait to enter for free, or if you prefer to pay the full ticket but have a quick access, purchasing the ticket in advance.
The new system should help reduce the long queues and crowds that typically gather at Italy’s most popular attractions every first Sunday of the month. Culture Minister Alberto Bonisoli also said that he wants to add even more free days in future, hinting that there could be two Museum Weeks a year from 2020.
