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Museum Night in Rome

Museums, galleries, monuments and archaeological sites in Rome and throughout Italy open free of charge on the night of Saturday 18 May from 20.00 until 02.00, with last admission at 01.00.

Rome’s fifth consecutive edition of Notte dei Musei involves more than 100 of the capital’s state, civic and private museums, historic buildings, libraries and foreign cultural academies. During the evening the permanent and temporary shows are enlivened by about 200 events such as concerts, theatrical and dance performances, readings, screenings, lectures, guided tours and workshops.

Among the many venues participating are the Capitoline Museums, Centrale Montemartini, Trajan's Markets, the Pantheon, and the Casa del Cinema at Villa Borghese.

Highlights include a night visit to the five exhibitions currently on show at the MAXXI Museum of 21st Century Art; ancient Rome in film at the Museo Pietro Canonica; jazz at Palazzo Barberini; while the Ara Pacis presents a programme of music and dance inspired by Pink Floyd’s Dark Side of the Moon on the occasion of the landmark album’s 40th anniversary.

Shezad Roy performs at the Carlo Bilotti Museum in collaboration with the embassy of Pakistan; there is a musical homage to the Eternal City at the Giovanni Barracco Museum of Ancient Sculpture; and the exhibition "Tales & Things" opens that night at the Museo Laboratorio di Arte Contemporanea (MLAC), Piazzale Aldo Moro 5.

Many foreign academies are taking part, including the Belgian Academy with a tribute to Maria Callas on the 90th anniversary of the soprano’s birth; the "Soulages XXI secolo" exhibition at the French Academy; video works by Christoph Brech at the Casa di Goethe; a costume drama film screening at the Japanese Cultural Academy; and a classical music concert at the Royal Netherlands Academy.

Last year's event was postponed until 6 October as a sign of respect for the victims of the Brindisi bomb attack on the morning of 19 May, the date the museum night had originally been scheduled to take place. The explosion occurred outside a girls’ school named "Morvillo Falcone" – after the wife of anti-Mafia judge Giovanni Falcone who was murdered in Sicily 20 years ago that week. Last year's museum night in Rome was dedicated to Melissa Bassi, the 16 year-old girl killed in the bombing.

The European-wide event has taken place annually since 2005 and this year includes over 3,000 museums and 40 countries. Last year’s event in Rome attracted over 250,000 people.

For full details on this year's event, see the city website.

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