Colosseum Free Entry - how and when is it possible?

Looking for Colosseum free entry?

The Free Sunday is one obvious way, but this is only one day a month.

So, what are some other ways you can enter the Rome Colosseum for free?

Colosseum Free Entry

In recent years, we've enjoyed the "Free Sunday", in which state sites and museums are free on the first Sunday of the month.

These sites include the Colosseum/Roman Forum/Palatine Hill, but also sites like Castel Sant'Angelo, the Baths of Caracalla, and other sites across Italy such as Pompeii.

You cannot pre-book tickets, so you will need to pick up your free tickets on the day from the ticket offices next to the Colosseum or at the Roman Forum on the Via dei Fori Imperiali, and the Full Experience tickets will not be available, just the regular access ticket.

As the Free Sunday is only once a month, if this doesn't coincide with your trip to Rome, take a look at what else this page covers to see if you can still get Colosseum free entry:

• Who is eligible for free entry to the Colosseum?
• Free entry to the Colosseum with the Roma Pass /other Rome City Pass
• Colosseum free entry with Parco Colosseo Card
  
• Colosseum Full Experience free entry
• Colosseum night visits
• Free entry to the Roman Forum/Palatine Hill

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How to Get Free Entry to the Colosseum

The Colosseum is regularly free:

• For everyone under 18 years of age
• For holders of a Roma Pass or other Rome city pass that allows entry to the Colosseum, and you choose this as one of your free sites
• For anyone with a disability and their caregiver/companion (with valid medical documentation of the disability)
• For European tour guides (with proper documentation)
• Entrance to the Colosseum and Roman Forum/Palatine Hill is free for newborn babies and up to 2 accompanying family members, up until the baby’s first birthday. This initiative is called "Born with Culture."
  

There are a few other categories of people eligible for Colosseum free entry, as follows (according to Parco Colosseo, the official ticketing website of the Colosseum):

• Italian teachers
  
• European union touristic interpreters as long as they are actively working
  
• Employees of the ministry for cultural heritage and activities
• Members of ICOM (international council of museums)
• Members of ICCROM (International Organization for the Conservation of Cultural Heritage)
• Employees of the Ministry for Italian Heritage (MIBACT)
• European union school groups with one teacher and max 10 students. Reservation required.
• Teachers and students of architecture, conservation of cultural assets, learning sciences and degree courses in literature with an archeology or art-history focus who are actively enrolled in or employed by an accredited school or university. Also allowed free entry are those in EU PhD programs of the above-mentioned courses. Documentation will be required.
• Socrates and Erasmus students of the above-mentioned degree courses
• High school art-history teachers
• Students of the following schools: Central institute of restoration, opificio delle pietre dure, school for mosaic restoration
• Accredited journalists in the performance of their duties and upon presentation of a suitable document proving the professional activity carried out

Colosseum Free Entry with a Roma Pass or other City Pass

When you purchase a Roma Pass or other City Pass, it comes with at least one "free entry" to a major site in Rome (this depends on the pass you purchase and the duration of the pass.

You can evaluate the different Rome City passes here.)

Granted, you have to purchase the Roma Pass / City Pass, but once you do, you get to enter your choice of monument(s) for free, after which other the entry fee for other museums/monuments is reduced.

Buying the Roma Pass or other City Pass may not actually be a money-saver (unless you plan to sightsee extensively and really take advantage of the pass), but it can be convenient.

In any case, remember that when you use one of these passes for your Colosseum entry, you must still reserve a spot.

Colosseum free entry with Parco Colosseo Card

The Parco Colosseo has recently introduced a new "Parco Colosseo" membership card. 

The cost is

• 25 € for 18 - 30 year-olds
• 50 € for 1 adult
• 80 € for a couple

This card offers (almost) unlimited Colosseum free entry for one year after purchase. With this pass, you may visit the Colosseum no more than once per week. You also need to book your spot, but I've never once found that I could not get a spot when I wanted to go, even last-minute.

This entry also includes the Palatine Hill and Roman Forum, and for that, you may go as often as you like.

The pass ALSO includes access to all the S.U.P.E.R. sites that are open.

For those of us who live in Rome, this is an excellent deal if you love the Colosseum archaeological park as much as I do.

For a visitor, it may not be worth it unless you plan to visit these areas more than 2-3 times in a given year.

Click here to visit the page about the Parco Colosseo Membership Card on the Parco Colosseo website to learn more and to purchase the card if you are interested.

Fees for booking the Colosseum free entry

It may seem a bit like an oxymoron, but there may be fees when booking a free ticket to the Colosseum.

In my opinion it does not make a lot of sense and it's a bit confusing but here are the rules for when you have to pay a booking fee when booking free entry to the Colosseum, and when you don't:

Colosseum free entry tickets with booking fee

When you book your free ticket to the Colosseum, with the Roma Pass or any other kind of Rome City Pass, despite them being "free" you will still need to pay the 2€ booking fee.

COLOSSEUM FREE ENTRY TICKETS WITHout BOOKING FEE

For all other free tickets, when you book, the entry fee is zero and there is NO booking fee. These tickets include:

• Everyone under 18
• Tour guides
• Anyone with a Parco Colosseo membership card
• People with disabilities and their caregiver

The way to see this is simply by beginning the booking process on Parco Colosseo.

Be aware that if you are eligible for free entry to the Colosseum, and want to visit on a Free Sunday, you cannot book in advance and will need to pick up your ticket from the ticket office along with everyone else.

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Colosseum free entry for the Full Experience

There are two main types of tickets for visiting the Colosseum - the basic 24-hour ticket and the 48-hour Full Experience ticket.

The Full Experience ticket allows you entry (subject to availability and booking) to the Colosseum underground and / or arena.

It also allows you access to the S.U.P.E.R. sites on the Palatine Hill /Roman Forum (these will also be subject to availability, subject to being open or not, and in some cases, subject to reservation.)

These tickets cost 24€ for adults, 2€ for EU citizens between 18 - 25 years of age, and are free for everyone under 18.

Also, as of October 18, 2023, all paying Colosseum tickets will be nominative.

This means that your ticket will have your name on it, and you’ll have to show ID (any photo ID is acceptable you don't need to carry your passport and a photo of your ID on your phone is acceptable too) to prove you are the person whose name is on the ticket.

They are also free for all the other categories listed above, i.e. for EU tour guides, people with disabilities, etc.

Colosseum night visits

For night visits to the Colosseum, the only people allowed free entry are those under 6 accompanied by an adult.

Free entry to the Roman Forum/Palatine Hill

Your Colosseum ticket, whether a standard 24-hour or a Full Experience 48-hour ticket, also includes entry to the Roman Forum/Palatine Hill.

If you have free entry to the Colosseum for any of the reasons stated on this page, you also have free entry to the Roman Forum/Palatine Hill as long as you enter this park within the parameters of your ticket.

This means:

• With a standard 24-hour free Colosseum ticket, you may enter the Colosseum once and then the Roman Forum/Palatine Hill (it's considered one park), once within a 24-hour period. 
• With a full-experience 48-hour ticket, you may enter the Colosseum (and whatever else you have booked on this ticket, the underground and/or the arena floor) once, and then the Roman Forum/Palatine Hill once. As soon as you book the Underground or Arena, then you can decide when to visit the Roman Forum/Palatine Hill, i.e. the day prior, the same day, or the day after. The Palatine Hill/Roman Forum park does not require advance booking, however, if you plan to visit one of the S.U.P.E.R. sites that require a booking, you will need to do that in advance.

All the above visits to the Palatine Hill/Roman Forum are free if you have a ticket for free Colosseum entry.