Rome Museums This Week: Casa di Livia Closed for Restoration, Free Contemporary Art Day at

Casa di Livia closes while restoration runs

The archaeological parkArea archeologicaAn area archeologica is an open-air archaeological site managed like a museum, with tickets, opening hours and routes. In Rome the label covers the Forum, the Palatine, Ostia Antica and the Baths of Caracalla. of the Colosseum has announced that the Casa di Livia, the frescoed house on the Palatine Hill associated with the wife of Augustus, has been temporarily closed to the public since 24 August 2026 to allow restoration work to begin, according to the park's own notice. The park says that over the coming months it will assess and define a visiting arrangement that can run alongside the works. Until that arrangement is published, treat the house as off the itinerary and check the park's news page before buying Palatine tickets. Your Colosseum ticket still covers the wider site, so the loss is one room complex, not the whole visit. Plan 2-3 hours for the combined Colosseum, Forum and Palatine route and expect the standard security queue.

10 October: Contemporary Art Day, free entry at MAXXI

Saturday 10 October 2026 brings the Giornata del Contemporaneo, the annual event that opens over a thousand museums and galleries across Italy at no charge, as listed by Artribune. In Rome the headline participant is MAXXI, the national museum of contemporary art, which Artribune names among its ten recommended stops. If contemporary work is not your priority, this is the day to skip MAXXI and use the freed slot for the Capitoline Museums or the Borghese Gallery, where free-admission crowds do not apply but timed entryTimed entry slotA fascia oraria is the entry window printed on a Rome museum ticket. It fixes when you may enter, and at some museums how long you may stay. does. If you do go, arrive at opening and confirm the day's programme and any reservation requirement on the museum's official page, because the Giornata recurs annually and individual timetables are set by each venue.

What to book now

Restoration closures and free-admission days are the two things that move Rome museum queues fastest. Recheck official pages within a week of your visit, hold a timed slot where one is offered, and do not assume a listed room will be open.