Is the Borghese Gallery worth it?
Yes, if you book a slot on the official site: the Galleria Borghese holds Bernini's most famous marble sculptures alongside paintings by Caravaggio, Raphael and Titian, and it lets in only 180 people every hour for two hours. It is the one art museum in Rome I would add to a first trip after the Vatican Museums, because it is small enough to see properly in the time you are given.
The catch is that only a booking guarantees entry. Every ticket, free ones included, is sold for a set hour, the desk keeps just a few last-minute tickets, and the museum closes on Mondays. Book it as soon as your Rome dates are fixed, then build the rest of that day around the slot.
Skip it on a two-day trip. With only two days, the Colosseum and the Vatican already take your two mornings, and the two-day Rome itinerary is the better use of them.
What are the Borghese Gallery hours, prices and rules?
| What | The rule |
|---|---|
| Open | Tuesday to Sunday, 9am to 7pm, last entry 5:45pm. Closed Mondays, December 25 and January 1. |
| Slots | Entry on the hour, for a two-hour visit. The 5:45pm slot gets 1 hour 15 minutes. Up to 180 people per slot, and no skip-the-line ticket exists. |
| Full price | 16 euros plus a 2 euro booking fee, so 18 euros. The 5:45pm slot is 11 euros plus the fee (official ticket office). |
| Reduced and free | Under 18: free, fee still due. Ages 18 to 25: 2 euros. Both apply to EU citizens and to others under reciprocity or with an Italian residence permit, with proof at the desk. |
| Booking | Required for every ticket. Up to 5 tickets per purchase. No refunds or changes. Phone +39 06 32810, Monday to Friday, 9:30am to 6pm. |
| Free days | The first Sunday of each month, plus April 25, June 2 and November 4. Tickets go on sale 10 days before, the 2 euro fee still applies, and there are no last-minute tickets those days. |
| Bags | Backpacks, medium and large bags are not allowed in the rooms; small bags up to 21 x 15 cm are. The cloakroom takes only bags up to cabin size. |
| Extras | Audio guide 5 euros at the desk by the ticket office. Museum guided tours 8 euros per person on top of the ticket. |
| Address | Piazzale Scipione Borghese 5, inside the Villa Borghese park. Nearest bus stop: Pinciana/Museo Borghese. |
Prices can rise during a temporary exhibition. If that happens after you book, the museum asks you to pay the difference in cash when you collect the ticket.
How do you get Borghese Gallery tickets?
Buy them from the official ticket seller, Gebart, linked from the official tickets page. The museum warns against unauthorized resellers and against anything sold as skip-the-line, since every visitor enters at the start of the same hour.
I would take the 9am or 11am slot. A morning slot leaves the afternoon for the park and lunch, and the 5:45pm slot is cheaper only because you lose 45 minutes, which is the upstairs picture gallery.
If your dates are sold out, the museum sells a small number of last-minute tickets at the desk from 20 minutes past each hour, at most 2 per person, with no guarantee. That is worth a try only if you are staying nearby. Otherwise keep the park walk and see major painting at another collection instead, as the Rome booking order guide suggests.
The Roma Pass 48-hour and 72-hour cards include the gallery, but you still have to book a slot through the pass's own booking site and show the card at the desk.
Is the free first Sunday worth it?
Not for a first visit. Free-day tickets go on sale only 10 days before, you still pay the 2 euro fee, and there are no last-minute tickets that day. The next free days are Sunday, November 1, whose tickets went on sale October 22, then Wednesday, November 4, and Sunday, December 6, 2026, with tickets for December 6 on sale from November 26.
The paid ticket is 16 euros. I would book a paid slot on the day that suits the trip rather than build the trip around a free one. If you are in Rome on a first Sunday anyway, the Rome on a Sunday guide covers what else is free that day.
What should you see in two hours?
Spend the first hour and a quarter on the sculpture floor you enter on, then go upstairs for the paintings. Most visitors linger in the first rooms, so a fixed order keeps you from running out of time before the picture gallery. Room numbers are from the museum's collection site.
- Room 1: Canova's Pauline Bonaparte as Venus, a marble portrait of Napoleon's sister reclining half dressed on a daybed.
- Room 2: Bernini's David, caught mid-twist as he is about to throw the stone, not standing still like Michelangelo's version in Florence.
- Room 3: Bernini's Apollo and Daphne, the nymph turning into a laurel tree as the god catches her. Walk all the way around it; the change happens across the whole figure.
- Room 4: Bernini's Rape of Proserpina, the god of the underworld carrying off Proserpina. Look at his fingers pressing into the marble of her thigh.
- Room 8: Caravaggio's Boy with a Basket of Fruit and David with the Head of Goliath, in which Goliath's severed head is thought to be the painter's own face.
- Upstairs, Room 9: Raphael's Deposition, painted in 1507, the body of Christ carried to the tomb.
- Room 20: Titian's Sacred and Profane Love, two women, one dressed and one nearly nude, on either side of a fountain.
The 5 euro audio guide is worth it here if you want the stories behind the myths each sculpture shows. Skip the café inside and eat after the park walk instead.
What should you pair with the Borghese Gallery?
Walk through the Villa Borghese park to the Pincio terrace, the lookout over Piazza del Popolo, then down to the Spanish Steps for lunch. That is about half an hour on foot, longer with stops, and it turns the gallery into a half day without another booking.
The four-day Rome itinerary gives this its own day four, with lunch near the Spanish Steps. Put the Colosseum and the Vatican on other days, and if your trip includes a Monday, give that day to the Vatican Museums, which open while the Borghese is closed.
In December, the gallery keeps its normal hours apart from Christmas Day and January 1; the Rome in December guide has the rest of the month's closures.