The best of Italy costs nothing — churches, piazzas, viewpoints, markets, and architecture that belongs to everyone.
Plan your Italy trip →Every church in Italy: From St. Peter's Basilica to the smallest village chapel. Caravaggio in San Luigi dei Francesi (Rome), Giotto in the Scrovegni Chapel context frescoes (Padua, though the chapel itself charges), Masaccio in Brancacci Chapel (Florence, small fee for the chapel). Thousands of masterpieces behind free church doors.
Piazzas: Italy's public squares are outdoor living rooms. Piazza Navona, Campo de' Fiori, Piazza del Popolo (Rome). Piazza della Signoria, Piazza Santa Croce (Florence). Piazza San Marco (Venice). Piazza del Campo (Siena). Just being in these spaces IS the experience.
Viewpoints: Piazzale Michelangelo (Florence), Pincio Terrace and Gianicolo (Rome), San Miniato al Monte (Florence), any hilltop town in Tuscany or Umbria. The best views in Italy are free.
Street life and markets: Morning markets, evening passeggiata, aperitivo watching at a piazza — Italian culture is performed in public spaces for free.
Architecture: Walking through Bologna's 40km of porticoes, Venice's canal-side palazzi, Rome's ancient layers, Florence's Renaissance streetscape, Turin's Baroque arcades — the cities themselves are the attraction.
First Sunday of every month: ALL state museums free. Colosseum, Forum, Uffizi, Brera, Pompeii, Borghese, Accademia, and hundreds more. Plan one museum day around this.
Pantheon (Rome): Free timed reservation required (book at pantheon.cultura.gov.it). The building is 2,000 years old and perfect.
Rome's nasoni fountains: 2,500+ drinking fountains with excellent water. Free hydration all day. See nasoni guide.