Tom Rankin is an architect and teacher in Rome. I picked this up off of his Facebook page this morning. Sounds like the Italians have made it damn hard to visit the Colosseum complex. I doubt anything will be done about the resellers so this will become much like The Last Supper and the only way to get tickets will be through a third party. Glad we saw it years ago so no need to go through this craziness.
Tom’s Story:
A practical update on anyone planning on visiting the Rome's Parco Archeologico del Colosseo (the Forum/Palatine/Colosseum sites) these days. Since I have been there repeatedly of late, I hope I can help others avoid headaches.
It's hopeless to purchase tickets online for upcoming weeks; they have all been snatched up illegally by resellers. This doesn't mean no tickets are available though. If you go to the ticket offices, at the Colosseum, Palatine, Arch of Titus, or Forum at 8:30 am you will probably be able to get tickets with a short wait. The ticket windows should open at 8:30 but really open a bit later so don't cut your timing too close.
Wherever and whenever you get your ticket you will be given a timed entry for the Colosseum, usually about 1/2- 1 hour later, which means you can't go through the Forum/Palatine first and then finish later with the Colosseum when it is cooler and less crowded. Nor can you a request a later entry. You take what they give you.
If you only want to see the Forum and Palatine, meaning you are enlightened enough to know how over-rated the interior of the Colosseum is, you have to pay more. The Foro/Palatino Super Ticket costs €16 instead of the €12 for the Foro/Palatino/Colosseum. True it gets you into some special areas (mostly the ones that used to be open for everyone years ago). But to take advantage of this you need to be lucky or plan carefully; the houses of Augustus and Livia and the Domus Transitorio have timed entries, only in the morning, and Santa Maria Antiqua and Domitian's ramp are only open in the afternoon. Some super sites are closed Mondays, the Transitorio and its impressive Augmented Reality show is open only Friday-Monday, for maximum 7 people at a time, and other variations pop up all the time.
Sometimes the only thing you can actually use the "super ticket for is the Palatine Museum, nice but not exceptional.
While those really interested might want to get the Super ticket and stay all day to see all the sites you pay extra for, remember you can't leave and come back, there's nowhere to eat inside the site, and even picnicking is prohibited (although I doubt they enforce that).
My latest discovery? Today when I went at 8:30 to the Palatine to buy tickets for three benefactors of the Horrea Agrippiana dig I was told the limit was two tickets per person. To buy the third ticket I had to wait in line again.
At 10:00 am on a Saturday, about 30 people (probably 10 "parties") in line ahead of me at the Forum entrance, it took 45 minutes to reach the window. Why so slow? Because nowhere is there information about the timed entries, the limitations on numbers, the different kinds of tickets, the audioguides. Each person gets to the window and undergoes a lengthy consultation which could have been avoided by proper signage. The only saving grace: an employee of CoopCulture wandered the line ready to help bewildered travelers patiently, clearly, and in several languages. A true hero, I wish I had got his name.
I have yet to really experiment with the new entry at Trajan's Column which now connects the Imperial Fora to the Roman Forum. I asked for information the other day at the ticket office there and, after a lengthy, convoluted explanation (this tickets works here, not there, but if you have that ticket you can get in there and come here...but not into the Colosseum which requires another ticket...) I had to interrupt her and move on.