Rome museums at a glance. With over 2,700 years of history, Rome is full of works of art from ancient times to modern times. Discoveries are still made today during excavations and construction work and can be visited. Read our overview with information on reservations, tickets and opening times.
COVID rules
To ensure that it doesn’t get too tight in many museums and that there are no queues, a reservation is necessary at many museums. Only a certain number of visitors are allowed in per time slot.
This applies to the Vatican Museums and to all museums of the Municipality of Rome, as well as to many national museums.
In addition, the body temperature is measured at the entrance and you will not come in with 37.5° C / 99.5° F or more. You must have a face mask with you and wear it in the museum.
Vatican Museums
Reservations are required for the Vatican Museums. The visit of the Sistine Chapel is included.
Some departments can only be visited with special guided groups.
The gardens can only be visited with guided tours on foot or with a trip in an open bus.
Opening hours
You can only enter the Vatican Museums at the reserved entry time. They close at 6:30 pm. During the season, the Vatican Museums close on Friday and Saturday at 10:30 pm.
Free admission
The Vatican Museums offer free admission on the last Sunday of the month. However, a maximum number of visitors applies and there may be long waits.
Tickets and tours
at Tiqets:
at GetYourGuide:
National museums
Reduced entrance fee
There is free entry for children and young people up to the age of 18 as well as for people with disabilities and one accompanying person. If a reservation is required at a museum, you must also reserve free admission.
EU citizens aged 18-25 pay reduced admission on presentation of ID.
Booking at Ticketone
Some museums can be booked through Ticketone. For free and reduced tickets, click on “clicca per ridotti e altre opzioni di acquisto”:
Free admission
The Italian national museums offer free admission on the 1st Sunday of the month. However, a maximum number of visitors applies and there may be long waits.
Colosseum
Reservations are required at the Colosseum. You can visit the Roman Forum and the Palatine Hill in the 24 hours before or after the reserved entrance time for the Colosseum.
For the opening times and for an orientation in the archaeological park of the Colosseum, read our information about the Colosseum.
Tickets and tours
Castel Sant’Angelo
Reserve a time slot for your entry at Castel Sant’Angelo.
The building was created as a mausoleum for Emperor Hadrian and has been modified over and over again. Over time, Castel Sant’Angelo served as a prison and refuge for the popes and as a barracks.
The Castel Sant’Angelo hosts some exhibitions and offers wonderful viewpoints.
Tickets and tours
Pantheon
The Pantheon is a consecrated church and entry is free. However, entry must be reserved on Saturday, Sunday and public holidays. No reservation is required when booking an audio guide or a guided tour. 
Reservation & tours
Borghese Gallery
The wealthy Borghese family showed off their art treasures in their garden villa. Napoleon cleared the villa and had a large part of the art treasures moved to the Louvre.
Napoleon’s sister Paolina married the Borghese prince Camillo.
Tickets and tours
The artist Antonio Canova immortalized Paolina half-naked on a divan, a hymn to joy and life. The Borghese family replenished the stolen treasures from their holdings. The gallery can only be visited by reservation.
Piazzale Scipione Borghese 5 Tram 3, 19 (Bioparco), Bus 61, 89, 160, 490, 495, 590, nMA, 120, 150F (S. Paolo del Brasile)
Other national museums in Rome
Roman National Museums
Four museums belong to the Roman national museums: Crypta Balbi, Palazzo Altemps, Palazzo Massimo and the Baths of Diocletian. The ticket allows access to all 4 museums. Reservation is mandatory.
TerminiPalazzo Massimo Largo di Villa Peretti 2
TerminiPalazzo Altemps Piazza di Sant’Apollinare 46, bei Piazza Navona
Bus 30, 70, 81, 87, 492 (Zanardelli)Crypta Balbi Via delle Botteghe Oscure 31
Tram 8 (Venezia) Bus 30, 40, 46, 62, 64, 70, 81, 87, 492, 916 (Torre Argentina)Baths of Caracalla
Bathing and sports facility from the year 216. Until the construction of the Baths of Diocletian (part of the Roman national museums) in 306, it was the largest facility in the Roman Empire.
Bus 118, 628, 671, 714, 792 (Terme di Caracalla)
National Gallery for Modern and Contemporary Art
Tram 3, 19 (Galleria Arte Moderna)
Palazzo Barberini – Galleria Nazionale d’Arte Antica
Reservations are required at Palazzo Barberini on weekends and holidays.
Bus 52, 53, 62, 63, 83, 85, n5, n46, n201, n543 (Tritone/Barberini)
Palazzo Corsini – Galleria Nazionale d’Arte Antica
Reservations are required at Palazzo Corsini on weekends and holidays.
Bus 23, 280 (Lungotevere Farnesina – Lungotevere Tebaldi/Perosi)
Galleria Spada
It is famous for Borromini’s optical illusion
Villa Giulia – Museo Nazionale Etrusco
The most important museum on Etruscan civilization. Objects from pre-Roman times
Tram 3 (Valle Giulia), Tram 19 (Museo Etrusco Villa Giulia)
MAXXI museo nazionale delle arti del XXI secolo
Tram 2 (Apollodoro – Flaminia/Reni)
National museums without reservation
Palazzo Venezia
Accompanied visits lasting 90 minutes start daily from 9:30 am to 6:00 pm, ticket sales in the Vittoriano
Appia Antica Park
Villa dei Quintili and Mausoleo della Cecilia Metella, ticket sales at the Colosseum
National Museum of Musical Instruments
It is located to the left of the Basilica Santa Croce in Gerusalemme
National Museum of Civilization
Piazza G. Marconi (EUR) Metro B EUR Fermi, Bus 30 (Colombo/Europa), 714, 791 (Colombo/Marconi)
Departments: National Museum of Prehistory and Ethnography “Luigi Pigorini”, National Museum of the High Middle Ages, National Museum of Folk Art and Traditions
Excavations of Ostia Antica
The trading city at the gates of Rome
Viale dei Romagnoli, 717 Lokalzug Roma – Lido (ab Piramide)Tickets and tours
City Museums
The Capitoline Museums and the Markets of Trajan are the most famous museums in Rome owned by the municipality.
Reduced admission
Admission is free for children up to the age of 6. Young people up to the age of 25 pay reduced admission.
Further regulations apply to residents of Rome.
Reservations
To order tickets for the Capitoline Museums, Trajan’s Markets and all the other museums in the Municipality of Rome, call +39060608
Free admission
The city museums offer free entry on the 1st Sunday of the month. Admission must be reserved by calling +39 060 608.
Museums with free entry
You also need to make a reservation for the museums with free admission. Reservations can be made by calling +39 060 608
The following museums in Rome offer free entry:
- Museo di Scultura Antica Giovanni Barracco
- Museo delle Mura
- Villa di Massenzio
- Museo della Repubblica Romana e della memoria garibaldina
- Museo Napoleonico
- Museo Carlo Bilotti
- Museo Pietro Canonica
- Museo di Casal de‘ Pazzi
List of community museums and opening times
- Musei Capitolini 9:30am-7:30pm
- Centrale Montemartini 9am-7pm Closed on Mondays
- Mercati di Traiano 9:30am-7:30pm
- Museo dell’Ara Pacis 9:30am-7:30pm
- Museo di scultura antica Giovanni Barracco X-III 10am-4pm IV-IX 1pm-7pm Closed on Mondays
- Mausoleo di Augusto 9-19
- Museo della Civiltà Romana (currently closed)
- Museo delle Mura 9am-2pm Closed on Mondays
- Museo di Casal de‘ Pazzi
- Villa, Circo di Massenzio e Mausoleo di Romolo 10am – 4pm Closed on Mondays
- The Museum of the Roman Republic and the Memoria Garibaldina Tue-Fri 10am-2pm Sat + Sun + holiday 10am-6pm Closed on Mondays
- Museo di Roma 10am-7pm Closed on Mondays
- Museo Napoleonico 10am-6pm Closed on Mondays
- Galleria d’Arte Moderna 10am-16:30pm Closed on Mondays
- MACRO Tue-Sun 10:30am-7:30pm MACRO Testaccio Tue-Sun 2-8pm
- Museo Carlo Bilotti – Aranciera di Villa Borghese XV Tue-Fri + holidays 10am – 4pm, Sat + Sun 10am-7pm; VI-IX Tue-Fri + Holidays 1-7pm Sat + Sun 10am-7pm
- Museo Pietro Canonica in Villa Borghese XV 10am-4pm VI-IX 1-7pm Closed on Mondays
- Museo di Roma in Trastevere 10am-8pm Closed on Mondays
- Musei di Villa Torlonia 9am-7pm Closed on Mondays
- Planetario e Museo Astronomico currently closed
- Museo Civico di Zoologia 9am-7pm Closed on Mondays
Rome museums virtual
There are some virtual tours for the city museums:
>Musei Capitolini
>Museo dell’Ara Pacis
>Museo Napoleonico
>Mercati di Traiano – Museo dei Fori Imperiali
>Casino Nobile di Villa Torlonia
>Centrale Montemartini
>Museo delle Mura
>Museo di Roma
Private museums
In addition to the national museums and the municipal museums, there are numerous villas, palaces, collections and excavations that are privately owned or owned by foreign institutions.
Wax museum
Since 1958, in the Palazzo Colonna
P.za dei Santi Apostoli, 68/A
Video game museum
Consoles, storyboards, heroes
Via Sabotino, 4
Leonardo da Vinci Experience
50 inventions in 5 exhibition rooms, at St. Peter’s Basilica
Via della Conciliazione 19
The genius of Leonardo da Vinci
200 wooden machines and 65 models, at Campo de’ Fiori
Piazza della Cancelleria, 1
Galleria Doria Pamphilij
Art in a spectacular setting: a visit to one of the most magnificent palaces in Rome.
Via del Corso 305
Galleria Colonna
The gallery preserves the splendor of a Roman patrician residence from the baroque period.
Via della Pilotta, 17
Domus Romane in the Palazzo Valentini
The fascinating remains of the patrician “domus” of imperial Rome were further enhanced by virtual reconstructions, graphics and videos.
Foro Traiano, 85
Piazza Navona was built on the plan of Domitian’s stadium, the athletics stadium from the 1st century. Remnants can be viewed under Piazza Navona.
Via di Tor Sanguigna, 3
Casa di Goethe
Goethe lived in this place.
Via del Corso 18
Tuesday – Sunday 10-18
Villa Medici
Académie de France à Rome
Viale della Trinità dei Monti, 1
Guided tours of the villa and gardens Tel. 066761311
