European citizen discounts? know anything about it?

Members of the EU get discounted or free entrance to museums in Rome. It depends on their age as to whether they get free entrance or discounted entrance. She will have to prove she is a citizen to qualify for the discounts.

Donna

The only free/discounts I remember seeing for EU citizens was related to "pensioners." Sometimes restricted to EU citizens and in Spain, anyone over 60. An id was required. I used by passport. Is your wife running under a US passport or an EU country passport?

There may be discounts available for European citizens for seniors and/or children and/or students. Most places will ask for ID (e.g. EU passport), some won't. It just depends who you get at the ticket office. You can often find out about the available discounts by checking the official websites of the attraction you're interested in.

Just remember that the Vatican is not part of Italy and not part of the EU. No discounts there.

Here is the official guidance on free entry for certain EU citizens, and some others, in Rome. It also applies to other state properties in Italy eg Pompeii (my New Zealand cousin's children got in free). If you read the annexes you will see that Canadian seniors are also eligible but it does not apply to US citizens.

http://www.romapass.it/doc/gratuita_e_riduzioni_eng.pdf

thanks everyone!

As I posted earlier our experience which is actually based on being 65, and been there rather than what is found in guidebooks, or from Mr. Frommer, or the Internet is that your country of citzenship is important. Spain was the only European country that we found where age was the sole determinate.

Linda made a good point. There are some attractions where citizens of certain countries outside the EU can also get discounts. It's usually linked to funding received (especially EU funds) or specific cultural agreements between the countries. At Pompeii we got a discount for our kids by showing a Canadian ID - we had left their EU passports back in the hotel by mistake.

I'm an EU citizen and don't recall any discounts anywhere...my son though is usually free.

All I can do is laugh at the quirkiness of the answer to this question. Yes, discounts are mostly related to age, maybe 60, or 62, or 65, or, in the U.K. younger if you are a "pensioner," i.e., retired. BUT sometimes it also matters if you are an EU citizen or if your country has a reciprocal agreement with the one you're visiting. It can also depend on the attendant. Several years ago, in Ravenna, at the San Vitale complex, we were haughtily told that only EU citizens got the senior discount. When we went to Sant'Apollinare in Clase, we asked for 2 adults admissions. The man scrutinized us and gently asked, "Don't you qualify for the reduced rate?" When we explained that we're Americans, he waved his hand dismissively and said it didn't matter. Same sort of experience at the Palazzo Ducale in Urbino, only that time it was a young lady. She just said her sister was married to an American, and she loved us. She gave the discount. Bottom line for all you grayheads out there is it doesn't hurt to ask.

We just got back and found that the main discount was that the kids were free for the museums... even the Roma pass.