Italy Will Start Charging Tourists To Enter One Of Its Most Famed Landmarks
The Italian Culture Ministry has announced visitors will soon have to pay an entry fee to visit the Pantheon in Rome, one of the most famous landmarks in the city that welcomes millions of tourists annually.
According to Forbes, 70% of the proceeds from the sale of the tickets will go towards the ministry for maintenance and cleaning costs, while the remaining 30% will go towards the Rome diocese, which agreed to the new rules.
Calling the decision “good sense,” Culture Minister Gennaro Sangiuliano explained tourists will be charged €5 (US$5.40) to enter the Pantheon—which had its beginnings as a Roman temple before it was converted to a Catholic Church in 609 AD.
Visitors under the age of 25 will have to fork out a smaller fee of €2 (US$2.15), while residents living in Rome, minors, and churchgoers attending Mass will not be charged an entry fee. However, the ministry has yet to set a date for when the fee will come into effect.
For now, the Pantheon remains free to visit, though tourists are required to make bookings on weekends and public holidays before heading to the site. As Forbes pointed out, this isn’t the only monument to see an introduction or increase in entry fees in recent months.
At the start of the year, the Uffizi Gallery in Florence revealed it was raising the prices of its high-season tickets, going from €20 (US$21.70) to €25 (US$27.10) per person to cover the “rising energy and construction costs.”
It’s uncertain if other attractions in Italy and the wider continent will follow suit and see a hike in prices across the board, but tourists planning to visit the storied country should set aside more change to see the sights.
