20 ROME MUSEUMS FREE ALL YEAR ROUND
Who said you have to wait for the first Sunday of the month, and the #Domenica al museo initiative, to get free admission to Rome’s museums? There are at least 20 free museums in Rome all year round. Some are open regularly, others can only be visited by appointment; many, as we shall see, also offer free guided tours.
We have made a list of Rome’s museums for free all year round, and we have organized it by areas of interest ranging from archeology to contemporary art. With some curiosity. There is certainly a lot to see and discover, and it is worth visiting them. Free entry is really just a pretext. So let’s get started!
FREE ROME MUSEUMS: ANTIQUITY AND ARCHEOLOGY
1. Museo di Casal de’ Pazzi
Let’s start well before the Roman era – but much, much earlier! – with this museum which is unique in the panorama of Rome’s museums. The museum reconstructs the prehistoric environment – fauna, flora, human settlements – that occupied the area in the Paleolithic era.
Here are exhibited finds that testify the presence of animals such as elephants and rhinos; fossil leaves and stone remains worked by man. The Pleistocene landscape is represented with virtual reconstructions and more (the plants that populate the garden are real).
Admission is free but, as the visit includes an accompanied tour, booking is mandatory, at the number 060608. To tell the truth, the system of visits, timetables, group accesses and workshops is a bit articulated: to orient yourself we recommend to consult the page of the museum’s website. The address is Via Egidio Galbani, 6.
2. Villa di Massenzio
The majestic archaeological complex called “Villa di Maxenzio” extends along the Via Appia Antica and includes three buildings: the palace, the circus and a mausoleum. All the buildings were built by Maxentius, emperor who ruled Italy and Africa from 306 to 312 and who was defeated by Constantine in the battle of Ponte Milvio in 312 AD.
The villa of Maxentius is open from Tuesday to Sunday, from 10am to 4pm. 24th and 31st December from 10am to 2pm. It is located in Via Appia Antica 153.
The complex is part of the network of museums of the Municipality of Rome and free guided tours are often organized there. The information can be found on the institutional website of the area.
3. Museo delle Mura
The Museum of the Walls is located inside Porta San Sebastiano, not far from the Via Appia Antica and the Baths of Caracalla. The permanent exhibition traces the history of Roman fortifications, from the republican walls to those built by Aureliano in the third century AD. The walkway is particularly impressive.
The Museum is open from Tuesday to Sunday, from 10 to 14. It is located in via di Porta San Sebastiano, 18.
This museum is also part of the “Musei in Comune” network.
4. Museo di scultura antica Giovanni Barracco
Giovanni Barracco, from a wealthy Calabrian family, was a member of the first Italian parliament (and after that, of several legislatures) but above all a great collector of ancient art. A great scholar and lover of art, especially ancient sculpture, Barracco gradually built a
there is little a notable collection of Egyptian, Assyrian, Etruscan, Greek and Roman art, with some examples of medieval art. Already in 1902 Barracco donated his collection to the Municipality of Rome, which in 1948 found its permanent home in the beautiful sixteenth-century building known as the “Farnesina ai Baullari”, on Corso Vittorio Emanuele. The museum is open from Tuesday to Sunday, from 10 to 16 from October to May; from 1pm to 7pm from June to September. You can enter up to half an hour before closing.
In Corso Vittorio Emanuele 166 / A. If admission is free, the audio guides are subject to a fee and cost 4 euros. In any case, all the info (including on guided tours) can be found on the museum’s website.
FREE ROME MUSEUMS: MODERN ART
5. Accademia nazionale di San Luca
The Accademia di San Luca has a long history, but don’t be scared! Here we will only say that, from the end of the fifteenth century until 1878, he carried out a teaching function in Rome in the arts of drawing, painting, sculpture and architecture.
Today the Academy no longer has this function but preserves and exhibits the heritage accumulated over four centuries of activity. The Gallery is open to the public from Monday to Saturday from 10am to 7pm (last admission at 6pm).
Groups must book a few days in advance; all information is on the Academy website. The Academy is now located in Palazzo Carpegna, in via degli Staderari, 4. A stone’s throw from the Trevi Fountain.
FREE ROME MUSEUMS: ART AND CULTURE OF THE 1900s
6. Museo Boncompagni Ludovisi per le Arti Decorative, il Costume e la Moda
Let’s start here, as the museum also houses material from the 19th century, as well as from the 20th. The collection is a bit of a story from the dawn of Made in Italy: furniture, clothes, accessories, art and design objects as evidence of the evolution of Italian taste and making.
The Boncompagni Ludovisi Museum is open from Tuesday to Sunday from 9.30 to 19. Admission is allowed up to one hour before closing. The museum is located in via Boncompagni 18.
The news (sometimes they organize special events) and all the references are available on the MIBACT web page dedicated to the Museum.
7. Museo Pietro Canonica
In the heart of Villa Borghese, the Pietro Canonica Museum collects most of the works of this artist: sculptures in marble and bronze, sketches and original drawings. The museum is housed in the building which from 1922 to 1959 was the home and studio of the sculptor; today both the artist’s private apartment and his studio are still visible.
The Piero Canonica museum is open from Tuesday to Sunday, from 10 to 16, from October to May; from June to September it is open from 1pm to 7pm. The address would be Viale Pietro Canonica 2, but that’s like saying Piazza di Siena.
8. Museo Hendrik Christian Andersen
Hendrik Christian Andersen was a Norwegian painter and sculptor born in 1872, who moved to the United States as a child and then naturalized Italian, who lived and worked in Rome for almost forty years, until his death in 1940.
The building that now houses his museum house was designed by himself, providing both a space for exhibiting his completed works – the Gallery on the ground floor – and a studio dedicated to creation. Both spaces can be visited and house Andersen’s monumental sculptures and his pictorial and graphic work, for a total of about 700 works.
The museum is open from Tuesday to Sunday from 9.30 to 19.30 (admission allowed up to half an hour before closing). It is located in via Pasquale Stanislao Mancini, 20.
9. Museo Giacomo Manzù
Another museum dedicated to a 20th century artist. This time we move to via Laurentina, almost in Ardea, where a building built ad hoc houses 90 sculptures by Giacomo Manzoni, known as Manzù, as well as about 300 graphic works, bas-reliefs and medals.
The garden surrounding the museum also houses numerous monumental statues.
The Museum is open from Monday to Sunday, from 9 to 19.30 (last admission one hour earlier). It is located in Via Laurentina at km. 32
10. Studio di Luigi Pirandello
In 1933, Luigi Pirandello, after having lived in Paris and Berlin, decided to settle in Rome and moved to this small villa on the Nomentana. The house-museum preserves the original furnishings of the living room-study and bedroom, the library and countless relics. An exciting visit.
To visit the studio, consult the archives or the library, call 0644291853 or send an email to the post. @ Studiodiluigipirandello.it. Here more information.
The house is located in via Antonio Bosio 13b / 15
11. Casa Museo di Mario Praz
Mario Praz, a scholar of English literature, critic and essayist, with the research work of a lifetime built an impressive collection of antiques of furniture, furnishings, books and works of art. All dating back to the first half of the nineteenth century. This collection is housed today in Palazzo Primoli, where Mario Praz lived from 1969 until his death.
There are 10 fascinating rooms, which can be visited by taking advantage of the guided tours that follow one another regularly. Thursdays and Fridays, at 2.30pm, 3.30pm, 4.30pm, 5.30pm and 6.30pm; the Saturday at 9.00, 10.00, 11.00, 12.00 and 13.00. Last admission, half an hour before the last visit. Palazzo Primoli is located in via Zanardelli, 1. This is the MIBACT web page dedicated to the Mario Praz House Museum.
12. Museo Carlo Bilotti – Aranciera di Villa Borghese
A large collection of works by Giorgio De Chirico, 17 paintings and a sculpture; then works by Severini, Warhol, Manzù and Mimmo Rotella. The collection of the entrepreneur Carlo Bilotti donated to the Municipality of Rome and kept in the beautiful orangery of Villa Borghese. All with free admission.
The museum is open Tuesday to Friday from 10 to 16, Saturdays and Sundays from 10 to 19 from October to May. From June to September, however, it is open from Tuesday to Friday from 1pm to 7pm, Saturday and Sunday from 10am to 7pm. In any case, the last admission allowed is half an hour before closing. The museum’s website is packed with information.
13. Museo Napoleonico
This museum documents the close relationships that existed between Napoleon Bonaparte’s family and Rome. The creation of the Napoleonic Museum is due to Giuseppe Primoli, son of Count Pietro and Princess Carlotta Bonaparte, who in 1927 gave the city of Rome his family collection of Napoleonic works of art and relics; the collection of portraits is particularly interesting. The collection now occupies the ground floor of the family building.
The Napoleonic Museum is open from Tuesday to Sunday from 10 to 18; you can enter up to half an hour before closing.
The physical address is Piazza di Ponte Umberto I, 1; the virtual one www.museonapoleonico.it. Last thing: while you are there, you could pay a visit to the Mario Praz House-Museum: it is on the third floor of the same building!
14. Museo della Repubblica Romana e della memoria garibaldina
Lovers of the Risorgimento and the Garibaldi myth cannot miss this Museum housed inside Porta San Pancrazio. The Museum collects paintings, statues and relics which, together with a multimedia apparatus, reconstruct the climate of the two-year period 1848-49.
Here, on the Janiculum Hill, in June 1849 the defenders of the Roman Republic led by Giuseppe Garibaldi opposed the extreme attempt of resistance to the French troops who came to take the city back to return it to Pope Pius IX. In one of the many clashes Goffredo Mameli was injured, who died a month later from his injuries.
The Museum is open from Tuesday to Friday from 10 to 14, but you can enter in stages every 45 minutes. On Saturdays, Sundays and holidays the hours are from 10 to 18.00, and admission is not limited. Every day, entry is allowed up to one hour before closing. The address is Largo di Porta San Pancrazio; this is the museum website.
15. Museo storico della Liberazione
During the occupation of Rome, the Nazi command decided to install the security police headquarters in a building in Via Tasso, near the Basilica of San Giovanni. Kappler was its leader. From September 1943 to June 4, 1944, the German police imprisoned and tortured more than two thousand people accused of participating in the struggle for the liberation of Rome in the premises of Via Tasso. In the 1950s, the building was donated to the state to make it into a museum.
In addition to the collection of clandestine press, flyers and memorabilia, the Museum is notable for the detention cells, left as they were, on the second floor.
The Museum is open from Tuesday to Sunday from 9.30 to 12.30; on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays it is also open in the afternoon from 15.30 to 19.30. Normally Mondays are closed, except for 8 September, 16 October, 23 November, 27 January, 25 March, 25 April, 1 May, 2 and 4 June. On these dates the Museum is always open. In August it closes for the whole month, so avoid planning a visit. Last thing: for groups of more than 10 people, reservations are required. Admission is free, but a voluntary contribution is welcome. The same goes for the audio guides: they are free, but if you want to contribute, no one will stop you!
The address is via Tasso 145. The Museum also has a fairly documented website.
16. MUSA – Museo degli Strumenti Musicali
Musa is the museum of musical instruments of the Academy of Santa Cecilia. The Academy’s collection gathers 500 pieces from various eras and origins; about 140 of these are shown to the public in the permanent exhibition site designed by Renzo Piano. Inside the Museum it is possible to rent a tablet with which to hear the sound of each instrument. The lutherie workshop open to the public is worth a visit, where it is possible to witness live the work of the master luthiers.
The MUSA is open from October to June, every day except Thursday. From Monday to Friday it is open from 11 to 17; Saturday and Sunday from 11am to 6pm. In the months of July and September the museum can be visited only by reservation; in August it is completely closed.
Admission is free; but the museum also organizes guided tours, workshops and paid activities. All the info on the MUSA website. The address is from the foyer of the Sala Santa Cecilia of the Auditorium, in Viale Pietro de Coubertin.
17. Museo teatrale del Burcardo
The Burcardo Museum – now transferred together with the Library to a new location at the EUR – collects the SIAE theatrical collection. The documentary and artistic heritage is truly endless; if you are interested in the Commedia dell’arte, documented by countless prints and drawings, and theatrical photography, this museum is truly the place for you.
The Museum is currently being transferred to the Library, which is freely accessible on Mondays and Wednesdays from 9.15 to 16.20, on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays from 9.15 to 13.15. All closed for three weeks in August. The library and museum are located in via della Letteratura, 24 (at the SIAE General Management). This is the museum’s website.
18. Museo della Zecca di Roma
New headquarters for the Mint Museum, from October 2016 housed in the industrial complex of the Poligrafico in via Salaria. The collection is of extraordinary interest for numismatics enthusiasts: the museum preserves over 20,000 works including coins, medals, hallmarks, wax models for medals and cameos and industrial machines.
The museum is normally open on Fridays from 10 am to 1 pm and from 3 pm to 5 pm, always by reservation. At 11 am and 3 pm an engraver from the Poligrafico accompanies visitors on a free guided tour of the collections. The program of educational visits is however very broad and can be found on the museum’s website (where there is also the online booking form). Address: via Salaria 712.
19. Museo del Trasporto – Polo Museale ATAC
The Roman transport company created this small transport museum in 2004, inside a palm garden between the Ostiense station and the Pyramid of Cestius. The collection includes old trams and small trains, also used for extra-urban transport; the visit will also appeal to children, who
they will be able to get off and on from the convoys, all perfectly restored. The site also hosts temporary exhibitions and, in the summer, film screenings.
The museum is open from Monday to Thursday, from 9 to 16, on Fridays from 9 to 13. Entrance in via Bartolomeo Bossi, 7. The website of the Polo Museale is there, but unfortunately it is not very well maintained.
20. Museo storico dei Vigili del Fuoco
The Historical Museum of the Fire Brigade is located in via Marmorata, inside an interesting building from the late 1920s, which is also a garage for vehicles. All the scenographic and pictorial reconstructions of the great fires in Rome, accompanied by sound effects, will drive people crazy
children (and not a few former children). There is also a course on fire management and extinguishing techniques, and a small experimental laboratory on combustion phenomena.
The museum is open every day except Sundays and holidays. But it is necessary to book at 06/5746808. The address is Via Marmorata 15, or via Galvani, 2. Here is a description of the Museum.