Culture Week

"The list has not been posted yet, but here's the official site, Ministry for the Cultural Good, (in Italian, of course) at Settimana della Cultura"

Search Settimana della Cultura on Google and use google translate when the website information comes up. The English translation is very good.

I have been in Italy several times during the culture weekend that occurs last weekend in September. The free museums in Rome and Florence were busy, but I didn't find entry lines to be overly long. Last time I visited the National Museum in Rome on the free weekend, I had no wait at all. I would imagine the waits during the April week would be similar to the September weekend.

I'm with Frank. We were in the Rome - Florence - Milan stretch last fall during Culture Week and the lines were non-existant (we walked right in the colosseum). I strongly suspect the concept is to attract tourists during the slower seasons before and after the summer peak. In fact, among the visitors, I heard very little Italian being spoken, so I don't think it's something the local folks take advantage of (if they live there, they've probably already seen it anyway).

Only problem I had was in the Milan archaeological museum which was open although it was a normal closed day. The do-not-touch watchers were around, but not the museum staff, so I couldn't get a couple of questions answered about an exhibit in which I was interested.

It's a great deal; do not buy a pass.

Agree with the above - just buy the transport pass, not the roma pass including museums :)