Accessibility at the Capitoline Museums

Getting up the hill without the steps

The Cordonata is a ramped staircase, so it is not the answer. What is: reserved parking on Via delle Tre Pile, reached via Piazza della Consolazione and taken immediately after the portal, and taxi access to Piazza del Campidoglio from Piazza della Consolazione or Via San Pietro in Carcere. Three carriage roads up the hill are usable by wheelchair users: Via delle Tre Pile from Piazza dell’Ara Coeli, Via di Monte Tarpeo and Via del Campidoglio from Piazza della Consolazione, and Via San Pietro in Carcere. The museum lists Via delle Tre Pile 1 as a second address for the complex precisely because it is the vehicular approach. General directions are on getting there.

Inside the museum

• An elevating platform in the courtyard of Palazzo dei Conservatori leads to a lift up to the first floor, and there are further lifts through the palace.
• Two stairlifts connect Palazzo dei Conservatori to the underground Galleria Lapidaria and the Tabularium. Maximum capacity is 300 kg and the smaller platform measures 77 by 83 cm — worth checking against your chair, because this is the route to the Forum view described on the layout page.
• A ramp gives access to the Sala Egizia.
• Wheelchairs are available on loan on request at the ticket office or from custodial staff.
• Accessible areas include the first and second floors of both palaces, the Pinacoteca Capitolina and the Terrazza Caffarelli viewpoint — the café is covered on the comfort page.
• Accessible bathrooms are listed among the site’s facilities, and guide dogs are reported as permitted.

The current restrictions, in full

I would rather over-report this than have someone arrive to a barrier. As published during 2026: wheelchair access to Palazzo Nuovo is barred for wall restoration, under a notice dated 9 June 2026, with separate notices concerning visitors with motor disabilities in Palazzo dei Conservatori. Scaffolding in the Horti rooms — Tauriani, Vettiani and di Mecenate — may restrict passage, and the Horti di Mecenate halls were closed outright for maintenance. The pattern here is that individual routes close for months, so the notices page is the only current source. Opening days and hours makes the same point about the calendar.

Blind and partially sighted visitors

The provision in the Galleria Lapidaria is unusually good and almost nobody writes about it. There is a tactile book for the gallery, Galleria Lapidaria. Messaggi dalla pietra, available on request; embossed relief panels with Braille descriptions; audio descriptions; and didactic sheets supporting periodic guided visits. The museum runs a recurring accessible programme that takes visitors from the Galleria Lapidaria out to the Forum overlook, telling the history by touch. Turismo Roma also lists permanent tactile facilities and tactile tours among the site’s services.

Deaf visitors

Turismo Roma lists Italian Sign Language videos and interpreter-guided tours among the museum’s services. Separately, the free Centrale Montemartini app — for the Capitoline’s annexe on Via Ostiense — includes sign-language guides, audio descriptions and child-friendly routes, which is more than the main museum’s own paid app offers.

Which booked options suit, and which do not

This is where I would be careful, because the products are blunt about it and the marketing is not. Three of the six state that they are not suitable for visitors with mobility impairments or wheelchair users: the audioguide product, the hop-on hop-off combination and the private tour. The audioguide product also bars large bags. That leaves the multimedia product, which is self-paced after a 25-minute video and a reserved entry time, as the most flexible of the six for anyone who needs to set their own rhythm — though the operator, not the museum, is the right party to confirm details with before booking. The six are compared on the tickets hub, and the booking page explains why walking up remains a perfectly good option here.

One last thing in your favour: visitors with a disability and one accompanying family member are admitted free, and entitled visitors do not need to book online at all — they can phone the city call centre or present themselves at the desk. See who gets in free.

Frequently asked questions