Getting to Palazzo Colonna: two doors, and the day decides which

Two doors, one building

This is the single most useful fact on this website and it is worth noting before you set off.

The two addresses are a short walk apart round the outside of the palace, so a mistake costs you minutes rather than the morning — but on a Saturday that closes at 13:15, minutes are not nothing. Check which day you are on before you set off, not when you arrive.

Walking to it

You are almost certainly already close. The palace sits between the Trevi Fountain and Piazza Venezia, a few minutes from either, on the ground where the Quirinal hill comes down towards the Capitol. There is no station to plan around and no queue that forms outside. The building admits people for eight hours a week, so the morning is the only thing to get right.

If you approach along Via della Pilotta you will walk under the covered bridges that carry the palace across the street to its own garden on the Quirinal slope. That is why the street is photographed as often as it is, and why people who have never been inside recognise the view. The quarter explains why the family built on this particular piece of ground.

Arriving with mobility difficulties

The operator names Piazza SS. Apostoli, 66 as the entrance for visitors with mobility difficulties. That is the same address as the Friday door and not the same as the Saturday one, so if you are coming on a Saturday it is worth saying so when you book rather than working it out at the corner. The palace answers on +39 06 6784350.

One reviewer on the guided listing, Tarah, describes staff calling paramedics for a companion with heat exhaustion and letting the group take a lift down to the apartments to catch up. That is one reviewer’s experience rather than a published accessibility policy.

Getting the day right

The palace opens on two mornings. Friday and Saturday are the two, and they differ in hours, in door, in ticket and in whether anybody walks round with you. Visiting has the hours verbatim; which day has the choice.

Next

• The hours, both doors and the audioguide.
• Why the nobility built on this ground.
• What is inside, in the operator’s order.

Frequently asked questions