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Italy announces three more free museum opening dates

The Local Italy
The Local Italy - [email protected]
Italy announces three more free museum opening dates
Visitors to Rome's ancient Colosseum have complained of difficulties in getting tickets via official channels throughout 2023. (Photo by Andreas SOLARO / AFP)

Italian state museums, archaeological parks and other cultural sites will be open for free to the public on three more dates this year, the culture minister confirmed on Thursday.

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As well as allowing free museum entry on the first Sunday of every month, Italy’s state-run museums will open to the public at no cost on three more dates in 2023. These are:

  • April 25th - for Liberation Day, or Festa della Liberazione (a public holiday);
  • June 2nd - for Republic Day or Festa della Repubblica (a public holiday);
  • November 4th - National Unity and Armed Forces Day, or Giornata dell'Unità Nazionale e delle Forze Armate (a ‘national day’ but not a public holiday).

Culture minister Gennaro Sangiuliano announced on Rai 1 TV chat show Cinque Minuti on Thursday evening that these three “symbolic” dates would be added to the nationwide Domenica al Museo (Free Museum Sundays) programme, although none fall on a Sunday this year.

READ ALSO: What you need to know about Italy’s free museum Sundays

The announcement came as Sangiuliano continued to push for more of Italy’s museums and cultural sites to hike their ticket prices this summer, after he insisted last year that tourists - he singled out Americans in particular - could afford to pay more.

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The Uffizi art gallery in Florence increased its basic ticket price in the high season, which began in March, from 20 to 25 euros, and Rome's Pantheon will begin charging an entry fee, expected to be set at €5, for the first time this summer under a controversial plan supported by Sangiuliano.

READ ALSO: Why is Italy's plan to charge for entry to the Pantheon so controversial?

Sangiuliano has repeatedly defended the push to raise prices as being in step with admission fees at other major European cultural landmarks, such as the Musèe de l’Armèe in Paris which charges €14 to visit the tomb of Napoleon, or Westminster Abbey in London which has an entry fee of €25.

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