Palazzo Colonna
Last updated on October 4, 2026Why visit Palazzo Colonna
The draw
It is a private palace that opens two mornings a week, and the main room is one of the best in Rome. The Great Hall was commissioned in the mid-1600s by Cardinal Girolamo I Colonna and his nephew Lorenzo Onofrio, designed by Antonio del Grande and worked on by Bernini, Schor and Fontana; its vault carries a fresco cycle of the Battle of Lepanto. The walls hold Bronzino's Venus, Cupid and a Satyr and Annibale Carracci's Bean Eater, with Guercino, Tintoretto, Guido Reni, Salvator Rosa and Lanfranco. The reference work notes the family has held the palace for over twenty generations, and that the last scene of Roman Holiday was shot here.
The friction
Two mornings, two completely different systems. Saturday you can walk up: 09.15 to 13.15 last entry, EUR 15 or EUR 25. Friday you cannot: it is guided tours by reservation only, at fixed times, EUR 35. Arrive on a Friday without a booking and there is nothing to buy. The rest of the week the palace is shut.
The tactic
Decide between the two Saturday tickets before you reach the desk. The EUR 15 Short Tour gives you the Galleria, the Pio apartments and the gardens; the EUR 25 Complete adds the Princess Isabelle apartment, which is the older wing and the quieter half of the house. If the Great Hall is what you came for, the cheaper ticket has it. Walk to the far end and look back — that is the camera's view, and the only one that takes in the whole vault.
Skip it if you:
- Are in Rome Sunday to Thursday. It is simply closed, and no amount of planning changes that.
- Want a Friday visit without booking. Friday is reservation-only; there is no walk-up ticket.
- Are counting euros. EUR 15 is the floor here against nothing at all for the churches on the Quirinal ten minutes uphill.
- Cannot do stairs. The approach to the Great Hall is up a flight — the one the cannonball is sitting on.
Quick facts
- Type: Site Complex, Mansion, Historic Place
- Local name: Palazzo Colonna (vedi la pagina italiana)
- Visitor access: Open to visitors
- Admission: €15–€35
- Reservation: Not required — tickets on the door
- Typical visit: About 1 hour 30 minutes
- Built: Begun in the <time datetime="1201">13th century</time>; the Great Hall inaugurated <time datetime="1700">1700</time>
- Built for: The Colonna family, who have held it for over twenty generations
- Architectural style: Roman Baroque gallery by Antonio del Grande, with Bernini, Schor and Fontana
- Two mornings a week: Friday is booked guided tours only; Saturday you can walk up. Nothing else in the week.
- The cannonball stayed: French artillery put it on the stairs to the Great Hall in 1849. It is still there.
Visit responsibly
This is a family's house, not a public museum. The Colonna have held it for over twenty generations and still live in part of it; the two-morning opening is a concession, not a timetable. Keep to the route.
Book the Friday tour properly or come on Saturday. Turning up unbooked on a reservation-only morning puts staff in the position of refusing you at the door, which helps nobody.
The paintings are hung low and frame to frame. There is very little wall between them and no barrier in most of the hall. Bags in front, and keep clear of the frames when you step back to look up at the vault.
Do not touch the cannonball. It has sat undisturbed since 1849 and that is precisely what makes it worth seeing.
Where it is
Get directions Open in Apple Maps
© OpenStreetMap contributors · © CARTO · 41.897, 12.4842
Plan your visit
Admission: €15–€35 · THREE DIFFERENT TICKETS ON TWO DIFFERENT DAYS. Saturday: Short Tour EUR 15 (Galleria, Pio apartments, gardens) or Complete Tour EUR 25 (adds the Princess Isabelle apartment), with FAI members at EUR 20; audioguides EUR 5. Friday: guided complete tour only, EUR 35, FAI EUR 30, BY RESERVATION ONLY.
Prices verified October 2026
Best viewpoint: The far end of the Great Hall looking back toward the windows — the view the camera took for the last scene of Roman Holiday, and the only spot that shows the whole vault at once.
Two mornings a week, and they work differently
Open to the public on Friday and Saturday mornings, even on public holidays. Closed Sunday to Thursday.
Saturday — walk up. 09.15 to 13.15 (last entry), self-guided, with audioguides at EUR 5.
Friday — booked guided tours only. There is no walk-up ticket. Fixed departures: Italian 09.30, 10.00 and 10.30; English 09.30 and 10.00; French 10.30.
Getting this backwards is the expensive mistake. A Friday arrival without a reservation finds nothing on sale.
Tickets
- Saturday Short Tour — EUR 15. Galleria, Pio apartments and gardens.
- Saturday Complete Tour — EUR 25 (FAI members EUR 20). Adds the Princess Isabelle apartment.
- Friday guided Complete Tour — EUR 35 (FAI members EUR 30). By reservation only.
- Audioguides, Saturday — EUR 5.
Ticket & Pass Decision Matrix
| Option | Cost | What it gets you | Queue and booking | Verdict |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Saturday Short Tour | EUR 15.00 | Galleria, Pio apartments, gardens | Walk up, 09.15-13.15 last entry | The value pick. It has the Great Hall, which is what you came for. |
| Saturday Complete Tour | EUR 25.00 | Adds the Princess Isabelle apartment | Walk up, same hours | Ten euros for the older, quieter wing. Worth it if you like domestic interiors. |
| Saturday Complete, FAI member | EUR 20.00 | Identical to the above | Carry your card | Five euros off, if you happen to hold one. |
| Friday guided Complete | EUR 35.00 | The complete route, with a guide | Reservation only; fixed times in three languages | The only Friday option. Book, or come on Saturday. |
| Audioguide | EUR 5.00 | Commentary on the Saturday route | Ask at the desk | Cheap, and the rooms are not labelled for a stranger. |
| Sunday to Thursday | — | Nothing | — | Closed. This is a private palace, not a museum with a weekly rhythm you can bend. |
At the gate: the gallery publishes its own prices and no city-pass arrangement, so a Roma Pass buys nothing here.
What is free
The outside, and it is better than it sounds. On Via della Pilotta, behind the palace, four arches carry the house over the street to its garden on the hillside — a view you can stand under at any hour for nothing, and one of the odder pieces of street architecture in the centre.
The Basilica dei Santi Apostoli next door is free and open far more often. And ten minutes uphill, Sant'Andrea al Quirinale and San Carlo alle Quattro Fontane cost nothing at all — which is the honest comparison for anyone deciding whether EUR 15 is the right call on a tight day.
How long
About 90 minutes for the complete route. An hour if you take the Short Tour and give the Great Hall the time it deserves.
Verified against Galleria Colonna — Palazzo Colonna, October 2026.
When to visit
Saturday morning, early. It is the only self-guided option and the doors open at 09.15; last entry is 13.15. Arriving at opening gives you the Great Hall before it fills, and the room is long enough that a dozen people in it already read as a crowd.
Friday only if you have booked. The tours leave at fixed times — Italian 09.30, 10.00, 10.30; English 09.30, 10.00; French 10.30 — and there is nothing to buy on the day.
The light matters more than the season. Tall windows run down one side of the hall, so a bright morning puts the vault and the gilt frames to work. In flat weather the room is darker than the photographs suggest.
Public holidays are not a problem — the gallery states it opens on them too, which is unusual in Rome and useful over a long weekend.