Italian museums, why are they among the most expensive in Europe? Tickets increased by 10% – Corriere.it

We often speak – rightly so – of the soaring price of houses or the rise in prices for everyday products. Little is said, however, of the increases affecting the cultural sector. Starting from museums, whose tickets, in the last year alone, have increased by 10%. This was revealed by an analysis by Altroconsumo, which verified the admission prices of the 15 main Italian museums in seven cities (Caserta, Florence, Milan, Naples, Rome, Turin and Venice).

From Naples to Turin: the ranking of price increases

At the top of the price increase ranking is Naples, where an average increase of 33% is recorded compared to 2022. In particular, the ticket to visit the archaeological excavations of Pompeii went from 16 to 18 euros while the one to enter the Royal Palace almost doubled (from 6 to 10 euros). Among the structures with the most significant increases are the Egyptian Museum in Turin, where you need 18 euros to enter today against 15 last year, and the Uffizi in Florence, whose ticket in the high season has risen from 20 to 25 euros. Sometimes the increase does not directly concern the ticket, but the pre-sale. Thus, for example, the Vatican Museums have kept the cost of the ticket unchanged (17 euros) but have increased the presale from 4 to 5 euros. Similarly, admission to Castel Sant’Angelo in Rome remained fixed at 15 euros, while pre-sales doubled (from 1 to 2 euros).

Who hasn’t raised their prices

There are also those who have not adjusted the prices at all. the case of the Royal Palace of Caserta, which has maintained the same price for 2023 as in 2022 (14 euros), the Pinacoteca di Brera, in Milan (15 euros), and the Archaeological Museum of the Colosseum in Rome, whose entrance continues to cost 16 euros. The cards deserve a mention, i.e. the cumulative tickets that allow you to visit several structures and/or are valid for several days. Here the tendency is to keep prices stable so as to encourage purchases. In Naples, for example, the full experience ticket, which guarantees access to various places for 48 hours, is “still” at the cost of 2022 (22 euros + 2 advance sales). The same goes for the 5-day passepartout in Florence, which this year, like last year, costs 18 euros in the low season and 38 in the high season.

The reasons for the price increases

Where do the increases come from? Surely a lot depends on the surge in bills. Lighting and heating a large building – and often not recently built – such as a museum involves a significant cost, which energy price increases have made even more significant. To contain expenses, some structures have implemented measures (for example, reducing the temperature in the hours of low attendance or replacing part of the traditional light bulbs with LEDs). These are important interventions which, however, in the face of price increases, have a limited impact on total energy expenditure.

Prices (lower) in the rest of Europe

Are tickets to enter Italian museums really expensive? To evaluate them objectively, it is useful to compare them with the cost adopted in other European countries. And – let’s face it right away – the outcome of the merciless confrontation. Prices here are on average higher than in France, Spain and Germany. Admission to the Prado in Madrid, for example, costs 15 euros and admission to the Louvre, which is still the most visited museum in the world, costs 17 euros. To enter the Pergamonmuseum in Berlin, famous for its archaeological collection, 12 euros are enough. In the UK, then, many museums (such as the British Museum, the Tate Modern, the National Gallery) are free.