Free Naples: which museums are really free on the first Sunday, and what remains closed when they are

The free Sunday only applies to state museums

This is the most common misunderstanding in all of Neapolitan tourism, and it leads to very disappointing Sunday mornings. #domenicalmuseo is a ministerial initiative: it concerns state cultural sites. Everything else — private, ecclesiastical, municipal — opens and charges as usual.

Included, therefore free on the first Sunday of the month:

• National Archaeological Museum — €20 on other days.
• Museum and Royal Park of Capodimonte — €15.
• Royal Palace — €15, or €2 for EU citizens between 18 and 25. Open 9 AM–8 PM, closed on Wednesdays.
• Certosa and Museum of San Martino — €6, €2 reduced. 8:30 AM–6:30 PM, last entry at 5:30 PM.
• Castel Sant’Elmo — €5. Villa Pignatelli — €5. And the Villa Floridiana.

Excluded, therefore you pay even on the first Sunday: the Cappella Sansevero, Napoli Sotterranea, the Museo del Tesoro di San Gennaro, the Catacombs of San Gennaro and the Maschio Angioino, which is municipal, costs €10 and is even closed on Sundays. The Cappella Sansevero explains it better than anyone else, and I quote in full because it removes all ambiguity: «The Cappella Sansevero Museum is private, it does not receive – nor has it ever received – any public contribution… It is therefore not possible for us to participate in these types of initiatives».

The catch: on free days at MANN, three sections close

This is the part no one writes about, and that I had to explain in person at least one Sunday a month. The museum's words: «On the occasion of free openings for everyone, for security reasons, the Egyptian collection, the Gabinetto Segreto, and the Magna Grecia section remain closed to the public».

These are, in order, Italy's second most important Egyptian collection according to the museum itself, the room with about two hundred and fifty erotic artifacts from Pompeii and Herculaneum, and the section that many visitors consider the whole point of a trip to Naples. The three things that people who enter for free came to see. The saving is real, but what you buy on the first Sunday is a different museum from what you buy on a Thursday for €20. I've put all the details in MANN is free, and when.

Two other practical things. On free days, «tickets cannot be pre-purchased but only collected at the ticket office»: you'll have to queue, full stop. And those who have bought an official tour are not entitled to skip it, because CoopCulture's priority access does not apply on free entry days.

The dates for 2026: the first Sunday of every month, April 25, Tuesday June 2 (that day the museum opens and shifts its closing to Wednesday 3), November 4, and March 8 for women only.

The Certosa di San Martino closes on Tuesdays, not Wednesdays

Second correction to the page, and it saves you a wasted trip up to Vomero. It changed from July 1, 2026: the Certosa and Museum of San Martino closes on Tuesdays. Almost all the pages you find online still say Wednesday. It costs €6, €2 reduced, opens 8:30 AM–6:30 PM with last entry at 5:30 PM, and keep in mind that the naval section and the Gothic Underground are excluded from the itinerary until further notice.

While we're at it, the closing days that clash worst with each other: the MANN closes on Tuesdays, so does the Cappella Sansevero, and the Certosa too, while the Palazzo Reale closes on Wednesdays and the Maschio Angioino on Sundays. If you don't know this, a Tuesday in Naples can turn into a day of walking around.

How much do the others cost, and what's free every day?

• Naples Cathedral — free, 8:30 AM–7:30 PM: nave, Baptistery, Santa Restituta, and Treasury Chapel. You only pay for the panoramic route '500 cupole', €10, €8 for students, €6 for under 16s.
• Certosa and Museum of San Martino — €6, €2 reduced, closed on Tuesdays.
• Cappella Sansevero, the Veiled Christ — €12, €8 for 18 to 26 year olds, €6 for 10 to 17 year olds. Open 9 AM–7 PM, closed on Tuesdays, last entry at 6:30 PM.
• Museo del Tesoro di San Gennaro — €15, €11 reduced, daily 9:30 AM–6 PM, last entry at 5 PM.
• Napoli Sotterranea — €18, €15 for 11 to 17 year olds, €10 for 5 to 10 year olds, with tours every hour from 10 AM to 6 PM.
• Palazzo Reale — €15, €2 for EU citizens aged 18 to 25, 9 AM–8 PM, closed on Wednesdays.

The honest answer about the Veiled Christ is halfway between the two you read online. The official rule states that 'booking is mandatory', but the Chapel's FAQs admit that 'Small groups of up to 9 people can also book tickets directly at the ticket office, subject to remaining availability... available tickets at the ticket office correspond to those visible online'. In other words: you can enter without booking only if there's space left, and the ticket office draws from the exact same inventory as the website. On a busy day, nothing is left, and for ten people or more, you can't buy at the door. From February 4, 2026, the ticket office will be at via Raimondo di Sangro 12.

The Artecard is only worth it if you're rushing

This is the card the city sells to those who want to do everything, and on our catalog it starts from €27 at the time of writing for the Naples 3-day pass, the same price as the official website. It gives three free entries plus reduced prices on subsequent ones and includes urban transport; MANN is the first name on the list. It scores 3.0 out of 792 reviews, the lowest rating on this site, and the reasons are almost always the same three: the passes are digital and must be activated manually, the activation cannot be cancelled, and theAlibus from the airport is excluded from all Artecards.

The calculation is simple: with MANN, Capodimonte, and Palazzo Reale in three days, you're in profit before you even get on a bus; with one and a half museums, you're not. The full card, including its flaws, is in all visits compared.

The full museum price list, with exceptions and the annual pass, is in MANN tickets and prices; what's worth looking for once inside, in what's really worth seeing.

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