About the author: Costanza Del Gaudio
I'm an archaeologist, and for eight years I led groups through the National Archaeological Museum before I started writing about museums. Almost everything you find here is the stuff I used to say on the main staircase to people who had already paid and were about to discover that the piece they came for wasn't on display.
Why this site exists
For two things that nobody writes about, and which cost you money and afternoons. The first: a full-price ticket costs €20 and is valid for the day you enter. The figure circulating on half the Italian internet, with the story about two-day validity, comes from a March 2023 policy that has ended, and blogs, guides, and even search engine auto-responses still repeat it. Meanwhile, the museum applies a pre-sale fee of zero euros on its online ticket office: booking from home costs the same as paying at the counter. The full price list is on the tickets page.
The second is worse, because it concerns the reason half of visitors enter: the Alexander Mosaic is not visible. It has been under restoration since 2021, was flipped face down at the end of 2023, and there is no published reopening date. The two viewing points of the restoration site, inside the Mosaics collection, remained, and from 16 September to 30 November 2026, that will close too. Meanwhile, the official collection page continues to present the mosaic as the highlight of the visit. I've written in detail about what happened.
How I work
I read the museum's pages, its collection opening plan, the service quality charter, and the sellers' descriptions, and then I write about what changes for visitors. Where sources contradict each other, I say so instead of choosing the tidier one: the museum's printable map lists the Farnese Collection as open from rooms 1 to 16 and 25 to 29, while the opening plan only guarantees rooms 1-7 and 25-29 — and that's why those who trust the map expect to see the Farnese Bull. The updated closures are here.
Where the museum doesn't publish a number, I don't invent one. You won't find a recommended visit duration on this site, because the museum refuses to give one and writes that once you're in, you can stay «for as long as you wish»; you won't find the weight of the Farnese Bull, which the museum doesn't publish; you won't find the dimensions of the Pompeii Model. When I give an order of magnitude, I state that it's my estimate and what it's based on. I've done exactly that for how much time you need.
What I am not
I am not the museum, I am not the Ministry, and I am not an agency. The official website is museoarcheologiconapoli.it, the official ticket office is tickets.museoarcheologiconapoli.it, and bookings can also be made by phone with CoopCulture at 081 0098800, every day from 9 AM to 5 PM. If something I write here doesn't match what the museum says, the museum is right and I have a page to correct.
How this site is paid for
I earn a commission when you book through a link on these pages, without you paying a single cent more. It doesn't change what I write, and the best way to verify that is to look at what I recommend: the first thing I tell everyone is to buy the ticket at the counter, which is the option I don't earn anything from. Each of the six reviews opens with what the product doesn't give you, and the affiliate page explains the mechanism in full.
If you find a wrong number or a room that has reopened, write to me: contact details are here.