Italy's new Green Pass rules came into force on 6 August.

The Pompeii archaeological park is offering free covid tests to visitors who arrive without the Green Pass which became obligatory for museums across Italy on 6 August.

The Green Pass shows that people have been vaccinated, tested negative or recovered from covid-19, and is now required for access to cultural and leisure venues in addition to indoor dining in restaurants.

Management at Pompeii, together with regional health authorities, have decided to offer tourists without the Green Pass the chance to take a covid test which, if negative, allows entry to the archaeological park and remains valid for 48 hours.

• Italy rolls out new Green Pass rules

The free service, reserved exclusively for visitors of the archaeological park, was launched on 6 August and is available at the entrance in Piazza Anfiteatro during the site's opening hours.

For now it is operating on an experimental basis and Pompeii is reportedly the only cultural site in Italy offering its visitors this type of service.

• How to get to Pompeii from Rome and back

"In a global emergency situation like the one we are going through" - said Pompeii director Gabriel Zuchtriegel - "the task of those who manage cultural sites must be to best reconcile the needs of public health and safety with our mission to be an inclusive and accessible place open to all."

For full Green Pass details see the Certificazione Verde website. Photo credit Massimo Todaro / Shutterstock.

A partire dal 6 agosto 2021 i visitatori potranno accedere al Parco Archeologico di Pompei solo previa esibizione della certificazione verde Covid/Green Pass (vaccino o certificato di tampone antigenico con esito negativo) in ottemperanza al decreto legge n.105 del 23 luglio 2021 pic.twitter.com/G8hIin6xcp— Pompeii Sites (@pompeii_sites) August 5, 2021