Rome
Free museums in Rome
One Sunday a month, Rome lets everyone into the Colosseum and the Capitoline for nothing.
Rome's state and city museums are free for everyone on the first Sunday of every month, from the Colosseum and Castel Sant'Angelo to the Capitoline Museums. The Vatican Museums have their own free day, on the morning of the last Sunday of the month. Four small city museums are free every day, and so are St Peter's Basilica and St John Lateran, while under-18s go free in the state museums all year.
Free museums in Rome: what’s free, when and for whom
The big day for free museums in Rome is the first Sunday of every month, when entry is free for everyone. That covers the state sites, from the Colosseum to Castel Sant’Angelo, and the city’s own museums, such as the Capitoline. The Vatican Museums keep a free day of their own, on the last Sunday of the month, and only in the morning.
On other days you pay to get in, with a few exceptions worth knowing. Four small city museums are free every day, and so are St Peter’s and St John Lateran, Rome’s two great basilicas. Children also get in free at many sites.
Older pages often get one thing wrong, and it’s about residents. Since 2 February 2026, the museums run by Roma Capitale, the city council, are free all year only for people who live in Rome and its metropolitan area. Visitors pay the full or reduced ticket, and the MIC Card, the city’s yearly museum card, is only for residents and students at Rome’s universities.
First Sunday of the month: Rome’s free state and city museums
On that Sunday two separate schemes run at once. The state’s #DomenicalMuseo covers the national museums and archaeological parks: the Colosseum, the Roman Forum and the Palatine Hill, the Borghese Gallery, Castel Sant’Angelo and the Pantheon among them. Some older pages still say it only runs from October to March, but in 2026 it ran every month, 7 June included, so count on it all year and check the museum’s own site before you go.
The city does the same with its own museums: the Capitoline Museums, Trajan’s Markets, the Ara Pacis (Augustus’s altar of peace), Palazzo Braschi and Villa Torlonia, plus three open-air sites: Largo Argentina, the archaeological area of the Circus Maximus and the Imperial Fora, entered by Trajan’s Column. Some temporary exhibitions are included one month and not the next, so check the city’s announcement for your month.
Free doesn’t always mean you walk straight in, though. Each site keeps its own rules on that day, and at two of the big ones they change the plan.
How the free Sunday works at each site
- Colosseum, Forum and Palatine
- Tickets only at the ticket office on the day, no booking; the arena, the tunnels and the upper levels are closed
- Borghese Gallery
- Booking still required, with a €2 fee; sales open 10 days ahead
- Pantheon and Castel Sant'Angelo
- No booking needed
- City museums
- Entry while there's room; only groups book, on 060608
So the Borghese is the one to set an alarm for, ten days out.
An included entry in the Roma Pass
If the arena floor or the tunnels are why you’re going to the Colosseum, the free Sunday won’t show you them: book a regular day through our Colosseum tickets page instead.
An included entry in the Roma Pass
The Colosseum also has a few free days of its own outside the Sunday rule. In 2026 they fell on 25 April, 2 June and 4 November, with tickets at the ticket office and no booking. On 2 June every state museum joined in.
Vatican Museums: free on the last Sunday of the month
The Vatican runs on its own calendar. Its museums close on Sundays, apart from the last Sunday of the month, when the museums and the Sistine Chapel are free from 9:00 to 14:00, with the last entry at 12:30. There’s no free Sunday at Easter, on 29 June, or when the last Sunday falls on 25, 26 or 31 December.
Travel guides count the free Sunday among the busiest days, with a long queue to get in. With five hours of opening and a crowd to share them with, a weekday with a booked time can be the calmer way to see the Vatican Museums and the Sistine Chapel.
Included in the Vatican City Pass
Free every day in Rome: four museums and two basilicas
Four of the city’s museums are free for everyone on every day they open. The Museo della Repubblica Romana e della Memoria Garibaldina, on the Janiculum hill, remembers Giuseppe Garibaldi, the general of Italian unification. The other three are the Museo di Casal de’ Pazzi, the Museo delle Mura and the Casa Museo Alberto Moravia, home of the Roman novelist, which asks you to book ahead.
Five more used to be free and now aren’t: the Barracco, the Carlo Bilotti, the Canonica, the Napoleonic Museum and Villa di Massenzio. Since February they charge non-residents, and the Roma Pass gets you the reduced ticket there.
Then there are the basilicas. Entry to St Peter’s Basilica is free, with nothing to book: you go through the security check on the right of the square, with shoulders covered, and there’s nowhere to leave luggage. Since 26 October it’s open from 7:00 to 19:00, and the climb up the dome is paid.
On the other side of the city, St John Lateran, Rome’s cathedral, is free every day from 7:00 to 18:30, again with no booking. What you pay for there are the cloister and the Lateran Palace next door.
The valley of the Circus Maximus, ancient Rome’s chariot-racing track, is free and always open, so you can walk it at any hour. Only the excavated area at one end and the Circo Maximo Experience charge.
Two places people expect to be free no longer are. The Pantheon has charged since 3 July 2023, so it’s free only on the first Sunday, for under-18s and for Rome residents. And since February 2026, visitors pay €2 to get close to the Trevi Fountain.
One of the choices in the Rome Tourist Card
Free museum days in Rome: dates for 2026 and 2027
Three free days are left in 2026. Sunday 6 December is the next first Sunday for the state and city museums, and the Vatican Museums open free from 9:00 to 14:00 on Sunday 29 November, and on Sunday 27 December if the last-Sunday rule holds.
For 2027 there’s no official calendar yet, so the dates below follow the two Sunday rules. The Vatican skips March, since its last Sunday is Easter Day, and December, since it falls on the 26th. Check again before you fix your trip around one of them.
Expected free Sundays in 2027
- First Sundays, state and city museums
- 3 Jan, 7 Feb, 7 Mar, 4 Apr, 2 May, 6 Jun, 4 Jul, 1 Aug, 5 Sep, 3 Oct, 7 Nov, 5 Dec
- Last Sundays, Vatican Museums
- 31 Jan, 28 Feb, 25 Apr, 30 May, 27 Jun, 25 Jul, 29 Aug, 26 Sep, 31 Oct, 28 Nov
Free entry for children in Rome’s museums
Children have it easier on any day of the year, but the age limits change from one system to the next. In the state museums and sites they go in free under 18, and EU citizens aged 18 to 25 pay a reduced ticket.
Two of the big ones add a step: at the Colosseum each child still needs a named ticket booked online, and at the Borghese Gallery children from age 6 pay the €2 booking fee. The city museums are free only for under-6s, with non-residents aged 6 to 25 paying the reduced ticket, and the Vatican Museums let children under 7 in free.
Roma Pass and other passes when the free day misses your trip
A free Sunday and a city pass don’t mix: the doors are already open, so the card has nothing to save you that day, and the always-free museums and basilicas never need one. Where a pass helps is on the other days, at the sites that charge. On the Roma Pass and Rome’s other city passes page, a calculator takes the list of places you want to see and tells you whether a pass works out cheaper.
If your dates miss both Sundays, these are the passes that cover the big paid sites.
-
Roma Pass
48 or 72 hours on the metro, buses and trams, with one or two included entries at sites such as the Colosseum or the Borghese; keep them for days when entry is paid.
from €44.90
Buy pass→ -
Omnia Card 24h
The Vatican Museums and the Sistine Chapel at a time you book as you buy, plus a hop-on hop-off bus round the rest of Rome.
from €70
Buy pass→ -
Rome Tourist Card
The Vatican Museums and the Colosseum on the dates you choose, bought together in one go.
from €89
Buy pass→
City cards
Rome city cards and passes
Pick the one that fits your trip. Prices are per adult, and you choose your dates on the next page.
See what you’d save, if anything
Which Rome card pays off for your trip?
Pick how many days you’ve got and the sights you want to see. The calculator adds up the tickets and rides, sets them against the card and tells you right away whether it pays off, and by how much, at today’s prices. No email, no sign-up.
Step 1 of 3
How long, and who’s going?
People also ask
Frequently asked questions
Which museums in Rome are free on the first Sunday of the month?
All the state museums and archaeological parks, including the Colosseum, the Roman Forum and Palatine, the Borghese Gallery, Castel Sant'Angelo and the Pantheon, and the city's own museums, such as the Capitoline Museums, Trajan's Markets and the Ara Pacis. It runs every month of the year.
Are Rome's city museums free for tourists all year?
No. Since 2 February 2026, the museums run by the city of Rome are free all year only for residents of Rome and its metropolitan area, with a document to prove it. Visitors go free there on the first Sunday of the month, and every day at four small museums, such as the Museo delle Mura.
When are the Vatican Museums free?
On the last Sunday of the month, from 9:00 to 14:00, with the last entry at 12:30. There's no free Sunday at Easter, on 29 June, or when the last Sunday falls on 25, 26 or 31 December. Children under 7 go free on any day.
Do I need to book on Rome's free Sunday?
It depends on the site. At the Colosseum you can't book: free tickets are handed out at the ticket office on the day. The Borghese Gallery still needs a booking, with a €2 fee, and sales open 10 days ahead. The Pantheon, Castel Sant'Angelo and the city museums need no booking, though the city museums let people in only while there's room.
Is the Roma Pass worth it on a free Sunday?
Not on that day. The entries are already free, so the card has nothing to save you at the doors. Keep its included entries for the days when the museums charge.
Are Rome's museums free for children?
In the state museums, yes, up to 17, though at the Colosseum each child still needs a named ticket booked online. The city museums are free under 6, and the Vatican Museums under 7.
Read more
