Changes are on the horizon for visitors coming to Rome.
New entrance fee for the Pantheon
One of the most visited sites in the Eternal City- the 2,000 year old Pantheon– will begin charging an entrance fee on July 1, 2023. Gennaro Sangiuliano, Italy’s Culture Minister, announced it will cost five euros to enter the building. He calls the fee to visit the formerly free building “modest” and says “there is an ethical reason: something, if it is worthwhile, must be paid for.”
In recent years, as many as 9,000 tourists a year have visited the structure and Sangiuliano hopes with the small fee his team will be able to make restorations on the monument, turn a part of it into a small museum and also help fund a few soup kitchens. Access to the Pantheon will remain free for Rome residents, children under 18 and religious visitors attending mass. A youth ticket for visitors 18 to 25 will be two euros.
All aboard! Next stop: 79 A.D.
A direct train to Pompeii is launching July 16. The partnership with the Ferrovia dello Stato, the Italian national train line, will bring visitors from Rome to the sites at Pompeii, a journey which previously required travelers to change trains in Salerno or Naples. The 35-million euro project has proposed a new station near the entrance to Pompeii. It will also connect travelers to the Villa dei Misteri stop of the Circumvesuviana line which has trains heading to other sites like Herculaneum.
This train is no ordinary high speed train- screens will show videos explaining the history of Pompeii and its archaeological projects and entrance tickets for Pompeii will be available for purchase on board. Visitor numbers are expected to double given the convenience of this new route.
—Danielle Abbazia
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