Late Hours, Advance Passes for Italy Sites

Catering to cultural night owls, Italy will offer evening and late-night hours at more than 50 museums, palaces and archeological sites this summer.

The sites include the Roman Forum and Castel Sant’Angelo Museum in Rome; Villa Adriana and Villa d’Este on the outskirts of the capital; the archeological site of Pompeii; the Capodimonte gallery in Naples; and royal palaces in Caserta, south of Naples, and Turin, in northern Italy.

Up to three nights a week, through Sept. 12, museums will keep their doors open until 11:30 p.m., while archeological sites and monuments will stay open until 8:30 p.m. In April, Italy extended open hours for 16 state museums, including the Uffizi in Florence, to 10 p.m.

Also new this year, advance passes can be ordered in the U.S. covering admission to 14 historic churches in Venice and five in Verona, avoiding long waits in line. Among the participating churches are the Basilica of San Marco, I Frari and Santa Maria dei Miracoli in Venice; and the Duomo and San Zeno in Verona.

The pass costs $27 for Venice and $9 for Verona. To order, contact Select Italy in Wilmette, Ill.; tel. (847) 853-1661, fax (847) 853-1667.