Palazzo Altemps Tickets: The €15 Combined Pass, Hours, Free Sundays and What to See
By the BeatTheCrowd team · Updated 11 November 2026 · 7 min read
Quick answer
Palazzo Altemps is one of the four sites of the Museo Nazionale Romano, and there's no single-site ticket: you pay €15 for a combined ticket that also gets you into Palazzo Massimo and the Baths of Diocletian once each within one week. EU citizens aged 18-25 pay €2, and under 18s are free. It's open Tuesday to Sunday until 7 pm (last admission 6 pm), closed Mondays, and free on the first Sunday of the month. Queues are rare: this is one of the quietest major collections in central Rome, two minutes from Piazza Navona.
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€15 combined: Altemps, Palazzo Massimo, Baths of Diocletian, 1 week
Concession
€2 (EU citizens 18-25). Under 18s free
Hours
Tue-Sun from morning to 7 pm, last admission 6 pm
Closed
Mondays
Free day
First Sunday of every month
Queue
Usually none; first Sundays are the exception
Audio guide
None at present. Bring your own notes or hire a licensed guide
Time to allow
1.5-2 hours
Do you need to skip the line at Palazzo Altemps?
Honestly, almost never. Palazzo Altemps holds some of the most famous ancient sculpture in the world, yet it sits in the shadow of the Vatican and the Colosseum and most visitors to Piazza Navona walk straight past the door. On a normal weekday you buy a ticket and walk in.
The exceptions are predictable:
First Sunday of the month: entry to all state museums is free, and Altemps gets its biggest crowds of the month. Expect a line at the door late morning.
Special free-entry days: the Ministry of Culture adds a few extra free days through the year (recent examples include national holidays in June and November), with the same effect.
School groups: on weekday mornings in term time, a class can fill the courtyard and the Ludovisi rooms for half an hour. Let them move on.
Rainy weekends: Navona's indoor options are limited, so the museum fills a little more than usual.
🔑 Free skip-the-line hack
Go when it’s quiet: see live crowds and the hourly forecast.
One entry to each open site within a week of first use
Concession
€2
EU citizens aged 18-25 (bring ID)
Under 18s
Free
Any nationality; still collect a ticket
Musei in rete pass holders
€10
Holders of affiliated museum passes
MNR Card
€30 (€20 reduced)
Unlimited visits to all sites for a year
The combined ticket covers Palazzo Altemps, Palazzo Massimo (Roman frescoes, mosaics and the Boxer at Rest bronze) and the Baths of Diocletian. The fourth site, Crypta Balbi, is temporarily closed, so you get three sites for the price. Plan the other two within seven days of your first entry; each site can be entered once.
Where to buy
Best times to visit
Best: Tuesday to Friday after 3 pm, when school groups have gone. Last admission is 6 pm, so arrive by 4:30 pm for a full visit.
Also good: weekday mornings straight after opening, before groups arrive.
Worst: first Sunday of the month, late morning.
Remember: closed every Monday, which catches out people planning a Navona day at the start of the week.
Check the opening time on the day
The museum's main tickets page lists Tuesday to Sunday 9 am-7 pm, while the Altemps page itself says 9:30 am. If you're coming at opening, aim for 9:30 am to be safe.
Crowds by day and time
From the typical weekly visitor pattern for Museo Nazionale Romano, Palazzo Altemps, based on Google’s popular-times data.
Quietest time
Saturday, 9-10 am
Busiest time
Wednesday, 11 am-7 pm
When
What to expect
Verdict
A route through the palace
Altemps isn't a museum that happens to occupy a palace; the Renaissance building is half the show. Ancient statues stand in frescoed rooms the way a cardinal's guests would have seen them. There's no audio guide at the moment and the museum doesn't run tours, so it helps to know what you're looking for.
1. The courtyard
Begun for a nephew of Pope Sixtus IV and finished for Cardinal Marco Sittico Altemps, the three-storey courtyard has Roman statues in the arches and a fountain and nymphaeum on the east side. The removable canopy overhead is a modern nod to the awnings rigged up here for parties when it rained.
2. The ground floor
Look in the corner room for the foundations of a 12th-century tower, a reminder that the palace swallowed older medieval buildings. Statues from the Altemps and Mattei collections line the porticoes, and the Egyptian collection, from the sanctuary of Isis and Serapis on the Campus Martius, is down here too.
3. The Ludovisi masterpieces (first floor)
The heart of the visit is the Boncompagni Ludovisi collection, bought by a 17th-century cardinal for his villa on the Quirinal and acquired by the Italian state much later. Don't miss:
The Ludovisi Throne: a three-sided Greek marble relief, about 2,500 years old, showing the birth of Aphrodite from the sea, with a nude flute player and a veiled woman burning incense on the sides.
The Ludovisi Gaul: a Gaulish warrior stabbing himself after killing his wife rather than be captured. One of the most dramatic sculptures of the ancient world.
Plans by type of visitor
Classical sculpture fans
Give it two hours and go to Palazzo Massimo within the week on the same ticket. Between them, they hold more of Rome's ancient masterpieces than many visitors realise.
Short on time
Head upstairs to the Ludovisi rooms first (Throne, Gaul, Ares), then the loggia. Forty-five minutes is enough for the essentials.
Families
Under 18s are free, the rooms are calm and the battle sarcophagus and Egyptian pieces go down well with children. There's no café, so plan snacks around Piazza Navona.
Budget travellers
Come on the first Sunday of the month for free, but arrive at opening. Or let the €15 ticket do triple duty with Palazzo Massimo and the Baths of Diocletian.
Practical information
Address
Piazza Sant'Apollinare 46, just north of Piazza Navona
Buses
70, 81, 87, 116T, 186, 492 and 628 stop nearby
Bags
Lockers available. Bulky backpacks, trolleys and umbrellas aren't allowed inside
Accessibility
Step-free routes and lifts from the ground floor; accessible toilets on the second floor; wheelchairs to borrow
Audio guide
Temporarily none; the museum doesn't organise tours, but licensed guides can bring groups
Café and shop
No café or bookshop at Altemps
Pets
Small animals in carriers only; assistance dogs welcome
What's nearby
Piazza Navona: a two-minute walk south. Free.
Sant'Agostino: a few steps away, with Caravaggio's *Madonna of Loreto* inside. Free.
The Pantheon: about 10 minutes' walk. See our Pantheon guide for tickets and queues.
€15 for the combined Museo Nazionale Romano ticket, which also covers Palazzo Massimo and the Baths of Diocletian within a week. EU citizens aged 18-25 pay €2 and under 18s are free.
Can I buy a ticket for Palazzo Altemps only?
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No standard single-site ticket is listed. The €15 combined ticket is the normal admission.
Is Palazzo Altemps open on Mondays?
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No, it's closed every Monday. It opens Tuesday to Sunday until 7 pm, with last admission at 6 pm.
Is Palazzo Altemps free on the first Sunday of the month?
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Yes, like all Italian state museums. It's the busiest day of the month there.
Do I need to book Palazzo Altemps in advance?
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Usually not. There's rarely a queue, so buying at the desk is fine. Tickets are non-refundable once bought.
Heading to Museo Nazionale Romano, Palazzo Altemps?
See how busy it is right now and the quietest hours for your date, then walk in when the line is short.
How we research: every guide is written by the BeatTheCrowd team from official sources and recent traveller reports, cross-checked against each other, and dated so you know how fresh it is. Last checked 11 November 2026. Prices and rules change, so always confirm on the official site before you book.
At the ticket desk: the normal way to do it here. There's rarely a wait.
Online on Museiitaliani: the Ministry of Culture's official ticketing platform. Worth it on first Sundays and free-entry days only if a booking requirement is announced.
Resellers: sell "reserved entrance" tickets, sometimes with fixed afternoon slots, for more than the official price. There's no queue to skip, so there's little reason to pay extra.
Tickets are non-refundable
The museum says tickets bought through any official channel can't be refunded. Since there's no queue, the safest plan is to buy at the desk on the day.
🎟️ Explore Rome activities
Check the crowds, find the best time slot, and book through our authorised partner.
The Ludovisi Ares: the seated god of war, in a room with late 15th-century frescoes of a painted sideboard laden with wedding gifts.
The Juno Ludovisi: a colossal head that Goethe adored.
The Great Ludovisi Sarcophagus: a crowded, almost chaotic battle between Romans and barbarians carved from a single block.
Orestes and Electra, the Sleeping Fury and the Ludovisi Acrolith.
4. The painted rooms and the loggia
The Room of Painted Perspectives surrounds you with trompe-l'oeil landscapes and hunting scenes, and the frescoed loggia was designed as a gallery for antiquities, painted like a secret garden. Above it rises the altana, which the museum describes as the oldest example of this type of rooftop belvedere.
5. The church and the theatre
The palace has its own church, Sant'Aniceto, built to hold a pope-saint's relics, and a small theatre named after Goldoni that later served as one of Rome's first cinemas and, at one point, a piano bar.
What is the most famous piece in Palazzo Altemps?
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The Ludovisi Throne, a Greek relief of the birth of Aphrodite. The Ludovisi Gaul and the Ludovisi Ares are close behind.
How long do you need at Palazzo Altemps?
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About 1.5 to 2 hours for the whole palace, or 45 minutes for the Ludovisi highlights and the loggia.
Is there an audio guide at Palazzo Altemps?
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Not at present. The museum doesn't run guided tours either, so download notes beforehand or book a licensed guide.
Is Palazzo Altemps worth visiting?
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Yes, if you like ancient sculpture or Renaissance interiors. It's quiet, central and holds world-famous works, and the ticket also covers two other major museums.
Where is Palazzo Altemps?
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At Piazza Sant'Apollinare 46, at the northern end of Piazza Navona in central Rome.
