The Pantheon in Rome now needs a ticket: how entry works, and who still gets in free
The Pantheon in Rome has charged for entry since July 2023. How the ticket works, who still enters free, what a fast track ticket really spares you, and what to look at once you are under the dome.
The bronze letters across the front of the Pantheon say that Marcus Agrippa, son of Lucius, built it when he was consul for the third time. That is true of a temple that once stood here, and not of this one. Agrippa's building burned, and so did its replacement. What you see was put up under the emperor Hadrian, between about AD 118 and 125, and Hadrian, who rarely signed anything he built, had the old name set back on the front.
It has been in use ever since, which is why it is still standing. In 609 the emperor Phocas gave the temple to Pope Boniface IV, who made it a church, St Mary and the Martyrs. For the next fourteen centuries anyone could walk in from the square. That ended on 3 July 2023, when a ticket was introduced. The building has not changed. The way in has.
What changed in 2023
The Pantheon belongs to the Italian state and is also a working church. Since July 2023 sightseers pay for entry, under an agreement between the Ministry of Culture and the diocese of Rome. The ticket is a plain entry ticket: no guide and no audio come with it.
It is sold in two ways: online, on the ministry's own museum ticket site, and at the door. The door is where the line forms, and in the warm months it can run round the fountain. People who already hold a ticket are checked in separately.
Who still gets in free
- Children and teenagers under eighteen. They still need to be counted at the entrance, so take them through the ticket point with you.
- Residents of the city of Rome.
- People attending Mass. The Pantheon holds services at the weekend and on feast days. Worshippers are let in for the service, and sightseeing stops while it lasts.
- Everybody, on the first Sunday of the month, when state museums and monuments in Italy are free. The line that day is the longest of the month.
Young adults from the European Union have had a reduced rate. Bring an identity document if you claim any of these.
What "fast track" means here
There is no secret door. The building has one entrance, between the columns of the porch, and everyone passes it. A ticket bought beforehand spares you the ticket line, which is the slow one. It does not spare you the check at the door, and on a crowded afternoon that still takes some minutes.
Two things can close the doors without notice to sightseers: a service, and an official ceremony at the royal tombs. If your day is tight, go early. The first hour after opening is the quietest, and the last hour before closing is the next best.
The porch: each column shaft is a single piece of Egyptian granite. Photo: Nicholas Hartmann, via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0.
What to look at inside
A visit takes twenty to thirty minutes. It is one room, and it rewards standing still.
The dome
The inside is as high as it is wide: about 43 metres from the floor to the opening, and the same across. A sphere of that size would fit inside exactly. The dome is concrete with no steel in it, and nobody has built a larger one that way since. The builders made it lighter as it rose, mixing heavy stone into the base and pumice into the top, and the square coffers take out more weight.
The dome from the floor: five rings of coffers and the open oculus. Photo: T. Le Berre, via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0.
The oculus
The opening at the top, about nine metres wide, is the only window. It has never had glass. A disc of sunlight crosses the walls and the floor through the day, and when it rains, it rains inside. The floor is slightly domed, and small holes in the marble carry the water away.
The marble floor under the oculus, with the small holes that carry off the rain. Photo: Wknight94, via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0.
The tombs
Raphael asked to be buried here and was, in 1520, at the age of thirty-seven. His tomb is on the left as you face the altar, under a statue of the Virgin he ordered for it. Two kings of united Italy, Victor Emmanuel II and Umberto I, lie in the large niches, with Queen Margherita.
The tomb of Raphael, who died in Rome in 1520. Photo: Ank Kumar, via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0.
The porch, on the way out
Sixteen columns hold up the porch, and each shaft is a single piece of granite quarried in Egypt and shipped across the Mediterranean. The roof of the porch once had bronze beams. Pope Urban VIII, of the Barberini family, had them melted down in the 1620s, mostly for cannon. Rome answered with a line still quoted: what the barbarians did not do, the Barberini did.
Church rules
This is a consecrated church, and the staff may ask you to cover bare shoulders and to keep your voice down. Hats off for men. Photographs are allowed. There are a few benches, and no cloakroom to speak of, so do not arrive with luggage.
Reading the partner's listings
- A fast track ticket is entry, booked ahead. The listing gives little detail, so read on the booking page how and where the ticket is delivered.
- An entry ticket with an audio tour and a city walk names the ticket in its title, while the list of what is included speaks only of the audio tour. Read that list before you pay, and choose the plain ticket if it is not clear.
- A combined ticket with Castel Sant'Angelo covers the papal fortress on the Tiber as well, twenty minutes away on foot.
- The Pantheon audio tour is an hour of commentary on your own phone, in eleven stops. It does not include entry.
- The audio walk that ends at the Pantheon is a route through ancient Rome from the Circus Maximus. No tickets are part of it.
These are the Pantheon tickets and audio tours our partner sells, with today's prices:
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on WeGoTrip
Attraction Tickets Rome: Pantheon Entry Ticket & Audio Tour with a City Walk
Book on WeGoTripfrom170 kr
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on WeGoTrip
Architecture Rome Pantheon Audio Tour: Explore the Ancient Temple at Your Own Pace
Book on WeGoTripfrom26 kr
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on WeGoTrip
Rome Pantheon: Fast Track Ticket
Book on WeGoTripfrom108 kr
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on WeGoTrip
Rome: Audio Tour From Colosseum to Pantheon
Book on WeGoTripfrom75 kr
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on WeGoTrip
Castel Sant'Angelo & Rome Pantheon: Skip The Line Ticket
Book on WeGoTripfrom368 kr
Sold and delivered by WeGoTrip. You book on their site at their price; Viaqui may earn a commission, at no extra cost to you.
Opening hours and the days with services are on our page for the Pantheon.
From here
Behind the building, in Piazza della Minerva, a small marble elephant designed by Bernini carries an obelisk on its back, in front of Santa Maria sopra Minerva. Two minutes to the west, the church of San Luigi dei Francesi has three paintings by Caravaggio in one chapel, and entry is free. Piazza Navona is five minutes on, and the Trevi Fountain ten minutes the other way. For the rest of Rome, open the trip planner for Italy.
Cover photo: Nicholas Hartmann, via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0.
Frequently asked questions
Do you need a ticket for the Pantheon in Rome?
Yes. Since 3 July 2023 sightseers need an entry ticket, sold online and at the door. Before that date entry was free for everyone.
Is the Pantheon in Rome still free for anyone?
It is free for visitors under eighteen, for residents of Rome, for people attending Mass, and for everybody on the first Sunday of the month. Bring an identity document.
How long does a visit to the Pantheon take?
Twenty to thirty minutes inside. Add the time in line, which is short early in the morning and can be long at midday in season.
Can you visit the Pantheon during Mass?
Not as a sightseer. The Pantheon is a church, and visits stop while a service is held. People who come to attend the Mass are admitted for it.
Does it rain inside the Pantheon?
Yes. The opening at the top of the dome has no glass, so rain falls on the floor, which is slightly domed and has small drain holes in the marble.
