Italy - European Cultural Heritage Days = Free Museums and Cultural Events Across Italy

I just posted this on SlowTravel and wanted to share it with FTers too -

On the Colosseum's online booking site (http://www.ticketclic.it/Gb/HTML/musei/colosseo.cfm) I noticed that this year's European Cultural Heritage Days have been slated for September 29th and 30th, 2012, and I was happy to see that the Colosseum/Palatine/Forum venues will be included in the free admissions. (They had been excluded in this past Settimana della Cultura and Primo Maggio).

For those unfamiliar with this event here are the relevant links:

First here's the Council of Europe's page for European Heritage Days (http://www.coe.int/t/dg4/cultureheritage/heritage/EHD/default_en.asp)

Here's the Council of Europe's page dedicated to Italy (http://www.coe.int/t/dg4/cultureheritage/heritage/ehd/National_events/Italie_en.asp) (but the info for 2012 has yet to be fleshed out).

Here's MiBAC's page (in Italian): Giornate Europee del Patrimonio - anno 2012 (http://www.beniculturali.it/mibac/export/MiBAC/sito-MiBAC/Contenuti/MibacUnif/Eventi/visualizza_asset.html_903794572.html) At this time they haven't provided those spiffy downloadable brochures yet, but the needed information is in there when you click on the various regions in Italy. For my fellow Rome-ophiles here's the link for Lazio (http://www.beniculturali.it/mibac/export/MiBAC/sito-MiBAC/MenuServizio/EventiCorrelati/index.html_73698009.html).

For reference you can see those brochures from last year for all the regions throughout Italy (handy to print out at home and take with you - hopefully they'll also be provided for this year): Giornate Europee del Patrimonio - anno 2011 (http://www.beniculturali.it/mibac/export/MiBAC/sito-MiBAC/Contenuti/MibacUnif/Eventi/visualizza_asset.html_309520702.html)
Here's the 2011 brochure (28 page pdf) for Lazio: Per Due Giorni Lasciamo Le Porte Aperte (http://www.beniculturali.it/mibac/multimedia/MiBAC/documents/1316611266615_LAZIO_GEP11_web.pdf)
And the 2011 (4 page) pdf brochure just listing Lazio's venues with free access: Luoghi statali aperti gratuitamente - Lazio (http://www.beniculturali.it/mibac/multimedia/MiBAC/documents/1315580275966_LuoghiAperti_Lazio.pdf)

From the English language MiBAC site here's the blurb explaining last year's event (scroll down to view): European Cultural Heritage Days 2011 (http://valorizzazione.beniculturali.it/en/component/content/article/44-campagne/206-giornate-europee-del-patrimonio-2011.html)

And here are some more details from past Heritage Days (in English) so that you can get an idea what to expect for this coming September.

From 2010 here's a post in Revealed Rome with her advice how to best take advantage of the weekend: European Heritage Day=Free Events and Entrances (http://www.revealedrome.com/2010/09/on-september-26-free-events-and-entrances-rome-italy-european-heritage-days.html)

From the blog younginrome here's another good piece about last year's weekend: This Weekend: European Heritage Days (http://younginrome.com/2011/09/21/this-weekend-european-heritage-days/)

And lastly(!) for reference, here's the page on the Musei in Comune website from last year: European Heritage Days: Guided tours at the Civic Museums of Rome (http://en.museiincomuneroma.it/mostre_ed_eventi/eventi/giornate_europee_del_patrimonio_2011_visite_guidat e_nei_musei_civici)
And this page (also linked in that younginrome article):Free admission to the Rome’s Municipal Museums for the European Heritage days (http://en.centralemontemartini.org/servizi/news/24_e_25_settembre_2011_musei_civici_ad_ingresso_gr atuito_in_occasione_delle_giornate_europee_del_pat rimonio)

To those in Italy for this special weekend - enjoy :)