# Opening hours in Italy: 4 museums, 4 closing days

> No Italian law sets a closing day. Naples MANN shuts on Tuesdays, Turin's Musei Reali on Wednesdays, Brera on Mondays, and the Egyptian Museum never.

URL: https://myitalia.it/plan/opening-hours-and-closures
Last updated: 2026-09-02

No Italian law sets a closing day for anything: shop hours have been fully liberalized since January 1, 2012, and each museum picks its own weekly closure, which is why 4 major state museums close on 4 different days.

## The law that removed the rule

Article 31 of decree law 201 of December 6, 2011, converted by law 214 of December 22, 2011, freed the hours of retail and of food and drink service across Italy from January 1, 2012. No hour limits, no obligation to shut on a Sunday or a public holiday.

One duty survived: post the hours you actually keep, on a sign the public can read. That sign is the legal source. It outranks the website, the aggregator and the map listing, none of which anyone is required to maintain.

## 4 museums, 4 different closing days

Naples, Museo Archeologico Nazionale: open Wednesday to Monday, 9:00 am to 7:30 pm (09:00 to 19:30), last entry 6:30 pm, closed Tuesday. Full ticket 20.00 euro, 2.00 euro reduced for EU citizens aged 18 to 25.

Turin, Musei Reali: open Thursday to Tuesday, 9:00 am to 7:00 pm, last entry 6:00 pm, closed Wednesday, a rare midweek day among Italian state museums, and the site warns it can shift to a Tuesday in some weeks. Milan, Pinacoteca di Brera: Tuesday to Sunday, 8:30 am to 7:15 pm, last entry 6:00 pm, closed Monday, January 1, May 1 and December 25, booking compulsory.

Turin, Museo Egizio: open every day, with Monday cut to 9:00 am to 2:00 pm and Saturday extended to 8:00 pm, last entry an hour before closing. It has no closing day at all, and Monday morning is the only slot when it shuts at 2:00 pm.

## The first Sunday is an opening rule, not a closing one

Entry costs 0 euro at state monuments, museums, galleries, archaeological excavations and monumental parks and gardens on the first Sunday of every month, under the Ministry of Culture's Domenica al museo. Booking was not required at the sites verified, and each site keeps its usual hours.

The scheme reaches only state sites. Civic, diocesan and private museums, which include a large part of what you would want to see in Venice and Florence, charge full price that day like any other. Extra free dates exist in 2026, including April 25, June 2 and November 4.

## August 15 is the one date that closes everything at once

Ferragosto, August 15, is a national civil holiday and the peak of the Italian summer exodus: widespread closures of shops, restaurants and services in the cities, maximum crowding on the coast, heavy outbound motorway traffic.

The holiday status is verified. The scale of the closures is a well documented pattern and not a measured statistic, so this page prints no share of businesses shut. What you can act on is the date itself and the check you make the day before.

## How to check an hour so it holds

1 rule survives every exception: use the channel that takes the money. If a site sells timed tickets, the booking engine is the truth and everything else is a copy of a copy; if it sells at the desk, the sign at the desk is the truth.

Then write down the date you checked. On this site every published hour carries one, and the [last-checked index](/plan/opening-hours) records which ones were verified and when.

## FAQ

### Are shops open on Sunday in Italy?

They may be. Since January 1, 2012 retail and food service hours are fully liberalized, with no obligation to close on Sundays or public holidays. Whether a given shop opens is the owner's choice, and the only duty left is to post the hours actually kept on a visible sign.

### Which day do Italian museums close?

There is no single day. The Naples archaeological museum closes on Tuesdays, the Musei Reali in Turin on Wednesdays, the Pinacoteca di Brera on Mondays, and the Egyptian Museum in Turin opens all 7 days, with a short Monday of 9:00 am to 2:00 pm.

### What is closed on Ferragosto?

August 15 is a national holiday and the peak of the summer exodus, with wide closures of shops, restaurants and services in the big cities. The scale of those closures is a documented pattern rather than a measured statistic, so no percentage appears here.

### Is entry really free on the first Sunday of the month?

At state sites, yes: monuments, museums, galleries, excavations and monumental parks and gardens run at 0 euro on the first Sunday, with no booking required at the sites verified. Civic, diocesan and private museums are outside the scheme and charge normally.

### Why do the hours on map apps get it wrong so often?

Because nobody is obliged to keep them right. The single surviving legal duty since 2012 is the sign on the door, which no aggregator can read. When the sign and the app disagree, the sign wins, and so does the channel that takes your money.

### Do I need to book to visit a museum in Italy?

3 museums, 3 answers. Brera requires booking for every visit, the Egyptian Museum in Turin sells online only and turns walk-ups away, and the Naples archaeological museum sells at the desk. Check the specific site, because the pattern does not generalize by country.

## Sources

| Fact | Source | Confidence | Valid until |
|---|---|---|---|
| Dal 1 gennaio 2012 gli orari degli esercizi commerciali al dettaglio e delle attivita' di somministrazione di alimenti e bevande sono liberalizzati in tutta Italia: nessun vincolo di orario e nessun obbligo di chiusura domenicale o festiva (art. 31 del D.L. 6 dicembre 2011, n. 201, convertito dalla L. 22 dicembre 2011, n. 214, che ha modificato l'art. 3, comma 1, lett. d-bis, del D.L. 223/2006). | [Ministero delle Imprese e del Made in Italy (MIMIT) - risoluzione n. 294246/2016](https://www.mimit.gov.it/index.php/it/normativa/altri-atti-amministrativi/risoluzione-n-294246-del-21-settembre-2016-orari-di-apertura-e-chiusura-degli-esercizi-commerciali-quesito); [Consiglio regionale del Lazio - L.R. 21/2006, art. 17 (orari rimessi alla libera determinazione degli esercenti)](https://www.consiglio.regione.lazio.it/consiglio-regionale/?vw=leggiregionalidettaglio&id=9081&sv=vigente) | high | 2028-12-31 |
| L'iniziativa #DomenicalMuseo del Ministero della Cultura prevede l'accesso gratuito ogni prima domenica del mese ai monumenti, musei, gallerie, scavi archeologici, parchi e giardini monumentali dello Stato. | [Ministero della Cultura](https://cultura.gov.it/evento/domenica-al-museo-1-marzo); [doc 2](https://cultura.gov.it/evento/domenica-al-museo-3-maggio-2026) | medium | 2027-06-30 |
| Nei musei, monumenti, aree archeologiche e giardini statali italiani l'ingresso e' gratuito ogni prima domenica del mese (#domenicalmuseo), oltre ad alcune giornate straordinarie (2026) | [Galleria dell'Accademia di Firenze - MiC](https://www.galleriaaccademiafirenze.it/visita/); [Gallerie degli Uffizi - MiC](https://www.uffizi.it/biglietti) | medium | 2027-06-30 |
| Il 15 agosto (Assunzione della Beata Vergine Maria, 'Ferragosto') e' festivita' nazionale in Italia; e' il picco dell'esodo estivo, con chiusure diffuse di negozi, ristoranti e servizi nelle citta' e massimo affollamento su coste e localita' turistiche. | [Camera dei Deputati](https://www.camera.it/leg17/561?appro=app_festivita_norme) | medium | 2029-12-31 |
| Il Museo Archeologico Nazionale di Napoli e' aperto da mercoledi' a lunedi' dalle 9:00 alle 19:30 con ultimo ingresso alle 18:30 ed e' chiuso il martedi'; il biglietto intero costa 20,00 euro e il ridotto per i 18-25 anni dell'Unione europea 2,00 euro (2026). | [Museo Archeologico Nazionale di Napoli](https://www.museoarcheologiconapoli.it/en/timetables-and-fares/) | medium | 2027-06-30 |
| I Musei Reali di Torino sono aperti dal giovedi' al martedi' dalle 9.00 alle 19.00, con ultimo ingresso alle 18.00, e chiudono il mercoledi' (2026). | [Musei Reali di Torino](https://museireali.beniculturali.it/); [doc 2](https://museireali.beniculturali.it/organizza-la-tua-visita/) | medium | 2027-06-30 |
| La Pinacoteca di Brera apre da martedi' a domenica dalle 8.30 alle 19.15, con ultimo ingresso alle 18.00; e' chiusa tutti i lunedi', il 1 gennaio, il 1 maggio e il 25 dicembre, e la prenotazione e' obbligatoria (2026). | [Pinacoteca di Brera](https://pinacotecabrera.org/visita/orari/) | medium | 2027-06-30 |
| Il Museo Egizio di Torino apre tutti i giorni: lunedi' 9.00-14.00, da martedi' a venerdi' e domenica 9.00-18.30, sabato 9.00-20.00, con ultimo ingresso un'ora prima della chiusura (2026). | [Museo Egizio di Torino](https://www.museoegizio.it/info/orari/); [doc 2](https://www.museoegizio.it/info/domande-frequenti/) | medium | 2027-06-30 |

## Other languages

- it: https://myitalia.it/it/organizza/opening-hours-and-closures.md
- es: https://myitalia.it/es/planifica/opening-hours-and-closures.md
- fr: https://myitalia.it/fr/preparer/opening-hours-and-closures.md
- de: https://myitalia.it/de/planen/opening-hours-and-closures.md