A new 'differentiated' ticketing
system is in the process of being introduced for the Colosseum
and other nearby archaeological sites in Rome.
As of November 1, visitors will have to pay 16 euros, an
increase of 33% from 12 euros, for a 'Basic' ticket giving
access to the Colosseum, the Roman Forum and the Palatine Hill.
As of today it is already possible to buy the new 'Super'
ticket - which also includes a number of 'Super' sites such as
the House of Augustus and the Santa Maria Antiqua church - for
16 euros.
From November it will also be possible to buy a 'Full
Experience' ticket for 22 euros, which allows access to all the
sites for two days.
The new was announced by Colosseum archaeological park
director Alfonsina Russo, who noted that new routes and
technological innovations had been added in 2018 and that
accessibility had been improved.
She added that growth had been steady over the past 20 years,
"to the point of reaching the maximum limit of visitors. For
security reasons, the monument cannot have more than 3,000 in it
at the same time. The 'Super' ticket', for example, makes it
possible to access 'Super' sites when the Colosseum is 'full'."
Some 60 million people or 0.8% of the global population have
visited the Colosseum in the last 10 years, Russo said.
Russo said "the number of visitors is in continual and strong
growth, even higher than that of tourists arriving in Rome. The
Colosseum archaeological park is the 4th most popular cultural
site in the world (after the Louvre, the Great Wall of China and
the National Museum of Beijing) and is the most popular in
Italy.
Culture ministry undersecretary Gianluca Vacca and Rome
deputy mayor Luca Bergamo announced Monday that a system to cut
time spent by tourists waiting in line to enter sites may be
introduced "soon", possibly in the next year.
The system has been tested in the Uffizi Galleries in
Florence on days when the museum is free.
Starting this year, there will also be a 'Nero route' in
the Colosseum archaeological park.
On April 11, Russo said, "we plan to open Nero's Palace on
the Palatine Hill, known as 'Transitory Domus'. This will be the
beginning of a new route focusing on Nero that links the palace
on the Palatine Hill destroyed by a fire in 64 AD with one that
was to become the royal palace, the Domus Aurea on Colle Oppio.
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