Italy's museums open for free on the first Sunday of every month.

State museums and archaeological sites in Rome and across Italy will open their doors for free on Sunday 4 May as part of the monthly Domenica al Museo initiative.

The nationwide scheme, launched over a decade ago, is held on the first Sunday of every month in tandem with the monthly free entry for Rome's municipal museums.

This Sunday almost all museums and archaeological sites in Rome will be open for free, however some museums such as Galleria Borghese require booking in advance.

The Pantheon, which introduced an entry fee for tourists in 2023, is included in the free openings on 4 May however visitors must book in advance online.

The double initiative by the state and the city of Rome allows free access to all municipal museums in Rome including the Ara Pacis and the Capitoline Museums as well as the archaeological areas of the Circus Maximus and Largo di Torre Argentina.

A relatively new entry on the capital's free museum list is the Forma Urbis Museum, in the archaeological park on the Caelian hill, which houses the remaining fragments of the Forma Urbis Romae, the giant marble map of ancient Rome.

Reservations to Rome's museums and archaeological sites on Sunday 4 May are only required for groups, for more information see city website or tel. 060608.

Cover image: Viacheslav Lopatin / Shutterstock.com.