Closed on Mondays in Italy: the real list

Monday closing in Italy is a museum habit, not a national rule: Castelvecchio in Verona and the Galleria Borghese in Rome both shut, while the Colosseum opens every day except December 25 and January 1.

Shops and restaurants: the rule went in 2012

No law has obliged an Italian business to close on a given weekday since January 1, 2012, when article 31 of decree law 201¹/2011, converted by law 214¹/2011, freed the hours of retail and of food and drink service. Only one duty survived: display the hours you keep, on a sign the public can read.

So a trattoria dark on Monday is dark by choice. That choice is common enough to look like a rule, and it is not one, which means the neighborhood next door may behave differently.

Verona: Castelvecchio, Tuesday to Sunday

The Museo di Castelvecchio opens Tuesday to Sunday, 10:00 am to 6:00 pm (10:00 to 18:00), with last entry at 5:15 pm, and closes on Monday (2026). The official page does not publish the ticket price, so neither does this one.

That is Verona's main civic museum, which makes Monday the wrong day for a one-day stop between Milan and Venice.

Bologna: the Asinelli tower is not a Monday problem

As of September 2026 the Asinelli tower cannot be booked at all: the official Bologna Welcome channel shows it closed for maintenance and points people to the Torre dell'Orologio. When it is open the climb costs 5.00 euro, or 3.00 reduced, runs on booked time slots that can be canceled up to 24 hours ahead, and involves 498³ steps with no elevator.

The closure traces back to the work securing the Garisenda tower, under way since 2023. Note the contradiction while you plan: torridibologna.it still publishes hours and prices as if the climb were running, while the booking system says closed. The channel that takes money is the one that decides.

Rome on a Monday: Borghese no, Colosseum yes

The Galleria Borghese opens Tuesday to Sunday, 9:00 am to 7:00 pm, and closes on Mondays as well as December 25 and January 1; booking is compulsory for everyone at 2.00 euro, in 2-hour slots, with last entry at 5:45 pm. The Colosseum opens at 8:30 am every day, with the Roman Forum and the Palatine from 9:00 am, and closes only on December 25 and January 1.

That pairing is the shape of a Roman Monday: the archaeological areas work, the great picture collection does not.

Losing a third of a stay

3 nights in Florence with a Monday inside them means a third of the stay lands on the day the museums are shut, unless the day is planned for it. Use it for the sites that open daily, for a market, for a walk or for a train leg to the next base.

The last-checked index lists which of these hours were verified and when, because a closing day printed without a date is worth nothing.

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