May 2025 in Rome: discover and experience Rome from 1 to 31 May 2025

Every month Rome dresses up in new colors, offering a wide range of different visiting opportunities: a rich cultural and entertainment program in a city with a millenary history that amazes for its majesty, but that also hides corners of beauty and treasures that are less known to the public. Discover with us the main events organized in Rome in April and follow the suggestions thought up by our editorial staff to experience and admire the city, even along less beaten paths.  

• Roma Live events in May

• New entries and special events in May

• Rome free/low cost in May

• Jubilee 2025: the events in May

• Rome with kids in May

• The days of Rome: key dates in the city’s history and traditions in May

• The many facets of Rome: places of the ancient Rome, papal Rome and modern Rome to (re)discover in May

• Itineraries and curiosities: our tips for May 

Roma Live events

Roma Live is the calendar for experiencing Rome at 360°, a multimedia container dedicated to unmissable events for those living in the city and for tourists. Check here all the events for the month of May, and choose from the exhibitions, sporting events, concerts, theater shows, festivals, ballets and dance performances scheduled until 31 May. Please note: information available in this section is being updated constantly.

New entries and special events

• Internazionali BNL d’Italia 2025 - The 82nd edition of one of the most eagerly awaited tournaments by tennis fans: three weeks of competitions (from 29 April to 18 May), more than 300 matches and many top players in the Foro Italico Park, this year even bigger, more beautiful and more functional.

• World Press Photo Exhibition 2025 - From 6 May,  Palazzo Esposizioni is hosting the winning photos and the photo of the year of the 68th edition of the prestigious photojournalism contest that has rewarded the best professional photographers every year since 1955 helping to build the history of visual journalism worldwide.

• Dawson/Lightfoot - León/Ekman - From 20 to 25 May, a triptych of contemporary dance to the notes of Haydn, Beethoven, Schubert, Mahler and Strauss with the orchestra, étoiles, prima ballet dancers, soloists and corps de ballet of the Teatro dell’Opera di Roma.

Rome free/low cost

Churches and palaces, courtyards and cloisters, elegant squares and secret piazzas, monumental or tiny fountains, marbles and stones with a history stretching back thousands of years – even if you have a limited budget, the city does not skimp on its wonders. As for the sites and monuments that charge a fee, on 4 May, like every first Sunday of the month, both the national cultural sites and the museums run by Roma Capitale open their doors to the public free of charge. Please note: in some cases, a reservation is required, so always check in advance the websites of the museums. On 25 May, as on every last Sunday of the month, you can visit the Vatican Museums at no cost from 9 am to 2 pm (last admission 12.30 pm). On all other days, with the exception of Mondays, you can explore at no cost 8 small museums with small but valuable collections ranging from prehistory to modern and contemporary art. Generally once a month (from October to June) some institutional palaces also open their doors free of charge, for example Palazzo Chigi, the Casino del Bel Respiro at Villa Pamphilj and Palazzo Koch, headquarters of the Bank of Italy.

As always, the city cultural and entertainment program for the month of May offers events and activities at no cost. Examples include the the 123rd edition of the historic art exhibition d’arte Cento Pittori Via Margutta (1-4 May), the exhibitions SAISEISAN: Japan and the Art of Reproduction at the Japanese Institute of Culture, Richard Avedon - Italian Days at the Gagosian Gallery, Is it Sundown? at the Rhinoceros Gallery,  Il Cammino della Speranza. Rembrandt e Burnand a Roma at the church of San Marcello al Corso, Con lo zucchero in bocca at the Istituto Svizzero in Via Ludovisi, Il giardino perduto di Carlo Levi at the Carlo Levi Foundation in Via Ancona; the films (original version with Italian subtitles) of the retrospectives The Two-Headed Movie Director. The cinema of the Coen brothers (Palazzo Esposizioni, 2, 3 and 4 May) and Some like it classic (Palazzo Esposizioni, 14 and 27 May); the fourth edition of the Jazz Idea festival in the academic hall of the Conservatorio di Santa Cecilia in via dei Greci (4, 11 and 18 May), the concerts in the jubilee church of Sant’Antonio dei Portoghesi (3, 10, 17, 24 and 31 May) and Ars Cantandi, with music by Carissimi, in the church of San Giovanni dei Fiorentini (30 May); the visits promoted by VIVE-Vittoriano and Palazzo Venezia to the restoration site of the Barbo Apartment (17 May, Sala Regia) and the program of visits and workshops of the Speciale Giubileo 2025 event organised by the Capitoline Superintendency. Find more tips on the cultureroma and informagiovani websites.

Jubilee 2025: the events

In April, the Jubilee will continue with other events dedicated to specific categories: the Jubilee of Workers (1-4 May), the Jubilee of Entrepreneurs (4-5 May), the Jubilee of Bands and Popular Entertainment (10-11 May), the Jubilee of the Eastern Churches (12-14 May), the Jubilee of Confraternities (16-18 May) and the Jubilee of Families, Children, Grandparents and the Elderly (30 May - 1 June). On 31 May, as part of the event 1900-2000: Un secolo di Giubileo con le Vetture Storiche dell’ASI (A Century of Jubilee with the Historical Cars of the ASI), a special selection of 14 cars entered in the registers of the Automotoclub Storico Italiano, with two cars made in the years in which the Jubilee was held, will move from the Janiculum Hill to St Peter’s Square in the Vatican. Throughout the Jubilee year, the Pauline Rooms of the Vatican Apostolic Archive, exceptionally open to the public, will host the exhibition Jubilees. Rare Documents from the Vatican Collections (visit included in the Vatican Museums admission ticket). Until 2 June, the church of San Marcello al Corso is hosting the free exhibition Il Cammino della Speranza. Rembrandt e Burnand a Roma; until 20 June, the headquarters of the Dicastery for Culture and Education in Piazza Pio XII, is hosting the exhibition Global Visual Poetry (visits by appointment), with over 200 works by international artists linked to the current of visual poetry. For more information and assistance in registering for the pilgrimage to the Holy Doors and the major Jubilee events, please contact the Info Point for the Jubilee 2025 in Via della Conciliazione 7. For tourist reception, two new temporary Tourist Infopoints, active until 31 December 2025, are also available for tourists, cultural operators and pilgrims: the Tourist Infopoint Auditorium Conciliazione (information and sales) and the Tourist Infopoint San Paolo (information only).

Rome with kids

Museums to explore, villas and gardens in which to run wild, educational workshops and readings to stimulate the imagination and creativity, theme parks, theatrical performances and much more... Rome is also a family-friendly city, a cheerful and colorful stage for every child. Discover all the events dedicated to children scheduled for the month of May and unleash your imagination among surprising adventures, journeys through history, interactive itineraries and guided tours. Our Kids page is updated weekly: visit us again for new ideas!

The days of Rome: key dates in the city’s history and traditions

Rites, festivals, anniversaries and celebrations have always marked the life of the city, its inhabitants and its visitors: a dense calendar of fixed happenings dating back to past eras, but also to the present day, that define Rome’s identity. Discover with us some of the city’s old and new special dates and moments, with the most heartfelt or awaited occasions – or even simply the most curious ones for the month of May.

The many facets of Rome: places of the ancient Rome, papal Rome and modern Rome to (re)discover

The pagan Rome that was the center of one of the largest empires that ever existed; the symbol city of the Catholic religion shaped by the successors on the throne of Peter; the new capital of the Kingdom of Italy and then of the Republic. The history of an eternal city is inevitably made up of multiple narratives that intertwine with one another. Each month, we will introduce you to three places that show the different imagines of Rome through the centuries. As reference time thresholds, we will take the 6th century (that is, when the bishops of Rome began to be not only the supreme voice of the Christian Church but also the highest guide of their city) for the Rome of the popes, and 1870 (the year of the Porta Pia breach) for modern Rome.

• Sacred area of Largo Argentina - From the Republican Age to the Imperial and Medieval Ages, until its rediscovery in the 1920s: a surprising archaeological site rich in history, but also famous in the city for being the site of the oldest feline colony in Rome. The works conducted by the Capitoline Superintendence for Cultural Heritage, with funding from the Bulgari Maison, have led to its opening to the public from June 2023. A walkway route allows visitors to admire the majestic remains of the four republican temples and the external part of the Curia of Pompey, where Caesar met his death on the Ides of March in 44 BC.

• Basilica of San Clemente - Its simple Baroque façade is the starting point of a journey back through the centuries, with two overlapping churches and a unique underground archaeological complex. From the upper church, with its cosmatesque floor and gilded mosaics from the 12th century, one descends first into a 4th-century church and then, at an even lower level, into a 1st-century area with a mithraeum and, through a tiny alley, into a large public building. Among the many treasures preserved in the basilica there is also one of the earliest testimonies of the Italian vernacular (with an accompanying swear word), in the inscription accompanying the fresco dedicated to one of the miracles of St Clement, dating from around the end of the 11th century.

• Palazzo della Farnesina - A monumental palace now fully inserted among the iconic architectures of 20th-century Rome despite its long and troubled genesis, from 1937 (when it was imagined to house the new headquarters of the Fascist National Party) to 1959, when the Ministry of Foreign Affairs officially took up residence there. Since 2000, its majesty has also proved to be the perfect container for the works of art of the Farnesina Collection of contemporary art, which can be visited regularly (e.g. on the occasion of Open House Rome) and since last month for the most part accessible online with Google Arts & Culture.

Itineraries and curiosities: our tips

• Museo delle Anime del Purgatorio - Museum of the Souls in Purgatory - Documents and relics testifying to the relations between the living and the dead. This is the small and for some people probably bizarre collection of the museum with free admission housed in the sacristy of the church of Sacro Cuore di Gesù in in Prati, a happy and rare example of neo-Gothic in Rome. Find out more in the dedicated page.

• Rome’s historical libraries - Books, study and meditation, but also architecture and furnishings that bear the imprint of great artists. Places of culture and surprising beauty, the city’s historical libraries are marvelous microcosms still generally excluded from the major tourist circuits. Find out more in the dedicated page.

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