What’s Open When in Italy

There are so many potential complications to planning an Italy trip, and one of the big ones is something many people don’t even realize they need to think about – the “what’s open when” question.
We’re used to things like banks and restaurants having one or two days a week when they’re closed, but it’s easy to forget that even major museums and attractions in Italy take a day off each week.
Planning your itinerary so you don’t end up staring at a “closed” sign on the only day you have left in a city isn’t difficult, it just involves a little bit of research.

“The Monday Dilemma”

This isn’t set in stone throughout the country, but Monday is a common day for big museums and other attractions to use as their closed day. Italy doesn’t shut down completely on Mondays, however, so it’s relatively easy to find other things to do on a given Monday when the big sights are closed.
There’s an excellent list on the Dream of Italy blog of museums and attractions in some of the big cities in Italy that stay open on Mondays. The cities covered are Florence, Milan, Naples, Rome, and Venice, and some of the sights that remain open on Mondays include things like the Duomo Museum and Giotto’s tower in Florence, the Duomo roof in Milan, the Archaeological Museum and Castel Nuovo in Naples, the Vatican Museums and Palatine Museums in Rome, and the Ca’ d’Oro and Peggy Guggenheim Collection in Venice.

Closed Days for Major Italy Attractions

If there are certain sights that are important to you on your Italy itinerary – things you would be disappointed if you missed seeing – then it’s a good idea to figure out specifically when those things are closed so you can plan around that. Then, rather than making do with a less exciting attraction on a day when your preferred one is closed, you’ll know in advance which days the big attractions are closed.
Here are some of the biggest attractions in Italy, and which days each week they’re closed. (Note that there are holiday closing at each of these places as well, but those aren’t listed below. Be sure to look up the individual websites of the museums and monuments you wish to visit to find out exactly what holidays they honor.)
Florence

• Accademia – closed Mondays
• Duomo – open every day
• Uffizi Gallery – closed Mondays

Milan

• Duomo – open every day
• The Last Supper – closed Mondays

Naples

• Archaeological Museum – closed Tuesdays
• Herculaneum – open every day
• Pompeii – open every day

Pisa

• The Leaning Tower – open every day

Rome

• Colosseum – open every day
• Forum – open every day
• Pantheon – open every day
• St. Peter’s Basilica – open every day
• Vatican Museums – closed Sundays (except the last Sunday of every month)

Venice

• Doge’s Palace – open every day
• St. Mark’s Basilica – open every day

>> Read more about what to do in Italy
photo by Alex Scarcella