Colosseum tickets

How the official system works

There is one official online box office: ticketing.colosseo.it. Tickets for a given day go on sale 30 days before, and the Colosseum part comes with a compulsory time slot. You pick the day and the hour, and you show up at the gate for that hour. There is also a ticket office on the square and a call centre, with the same rules.

Every ticket is issued in a name. At the gate you show the ticket on your phone (no need to print) and your ID, and the names must match. You can change a name once, until midnight seven days before the visit, and only for the reasons in the park's rules: an obvious typo, a discount assigned to the wrong person in the same order, or a documented serious reason. In practice, a ticket bought for one person can't be passed to someone else.

Group tickets don't exist. If six of you are travelling, buy six individual tickets in the same slot, in one order.

Standard ticket, arena or underground

The standard ticket, "Colosseo, Foro Romano, Palatino", costs €18 and is valid for 24 hours: one entry to the Colosseum's first and second tiers with the viewing terraces, and one entry to the Roman Forum and Palatine Hill. The arena floor is not included, and you can stay inside the Colosseum for 75 minutes at most.

If the arena matters to you, read the official names carefully:

• Only Arena (€18): 20 minutes on the arena floor plus the Forum, Palatine and the SUPER sites. It does not include the usual tiers, so it replaces the standard ticket rather than adding to it.
• Full Experience Arena (€24): valid two consecutive days, arena floor included, 90 minutes inside the Colosseum.
• Full Experience Underground and Arena (€24): the same plus the chambers under the arena.

There are also Full Experience tickets for the upper attic level and for the Passage of Commodus. If you have already seen the Colosseum, the Forum Pass SUPER (€18) covers the Roman Forum, Palatine and Imperial Fora without the amphitheatre.

The €2 reduced rate applies only to EU citizens from 18 up to their 25th birthday. The official price list shows no general student, senior or non-EU rate. Children and teenagers under 18 go free, but each one still needs a booked ticket in the same slot as the adults.

Official site or reseller

The official site is cheaper. The catch is supply: morning slots and the arena and underground tickets go fast in spring and summer, and if you plan only a few weeks ahead the dates you want may already be gone.

Tiqets, GetYourGuide and Headout sell their own allocations, usually bundled: entry plus audio guide, guided tours that include the arena, entry with a VR or video extra. You pay more, but you get dates that are still open, often easier cancellation terms than the official tickets, and on guided tours someone else handles the timing and the gates. A guided tour with arena access is the least stressful way onto the arena floor if the official Full Experience slots are sold out.

Before paying extra for an audio guide, note that the park's official MyColosseum app is free and includes audio guides in English and Italian for the Colosseum. Standard ticket plus app is the cheapest way to get commentary.

On the day

From 25 October to 28 February the Colosseum opens at 8:30 and the Forum and Palatine at 9:00; everything closes at 16:30, last entry 15:30. It is closed on 25 December and 1 January. Winter afternoons are short: if your Colosseum slot is after lunch, you may reach the Palatine just as it closes. A morning slot followed by the Forum works better.

Free days (first Sunday of the month, 25 April, 2 June, 4 November) sound tempting, but tickets are handed out at the office on the day, first come first served, and the queues are long.

Getting there is easy: Colosseo station on Metro line B is right opposite the amphitheatre, two stops from Termini. Wear proper shoes, because the Palatine is uphill and many paths are gravel or ancient paving, and carry water in summer.