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Crypta Balbi
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Closed until 30 Nov 2025

Crypta Balbi

Temporarily closedClosed until Nov 30, 2025
About
The Balbi Crypt is the only Italian museum that arises from the activity of archaeological research carried out on an entire block between via delle Boetteghe Oscure, via Caetani, via dei Delfini and via dei Polacchi; this area was acquired in 1981 by the Italian State, to become one of the locations of the Roman National Museum.
Duration: 1-2 hours
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Neighbourhood: Sant'Angelo
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Most Recent: Reviews ordered by most recent publish date in descending order.

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4.0
4.0 of 5 bubbles301 reviews
Excellent
90
Very good
101
Average
74
Poor
23
Terrible
13

Gabrielle H
Oslo, Norway42 contributions
1.0 of 5 bubbles
June 2022
We should have left this museum as soon as some woman barked at a visitor for not paying a ticket although the desk was placed in a corner and there was nobody selling them. The woman who arrived later was unfriendly and sold us two tickets BEFORE telling us that the visit of the underground had to be made with a guide and that it would not start before another 45 minutes. We browsed through the unspectacular exhibition, which took about 25 minutes. There is no airconditioning and my daughter started to feel unwell so we left and never saw the crypt.

If you want to see it, make sure you get there around the beginning of the hour as the tours started at 14:00, 15:00, etc..
Written 29 June 2022
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

martijn611
Utrecht, The Netherlands13 contributions
2.0 of 5 bubbles
Oct 2021 • Family
My bought my tickets, which were not cheap, 12 euro per person, though you can use them with 3 other museums, to see the crypta. I love Roman ruins, especially when they are part of the modern city. So, with high expectations I entered, but found out that only the museum was accessible and the crypts were not. The museum was not that great, there are much more beautiful ones in Rome. And I can't tell anything on the crypts. Reason for closing was Covid I was told, which was completely bollocks, since I had the green pass, my temperature checked there and a mask.. I also went to many much more restricted places, like the catacombs, which were open all the same... so before you go in, check if the crypts are accessible. If you happen to have the tickets from the Museum Nazionale Romano, it's included, but this museum won't add much to what you saw in those other museums (near Termini station)
Written 22 October 2021
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

gertbrugge
Bruges, Belgium41 contributions
1.0 of 5 bubbles
Apr 2022
Horrible, unfriendly, waste of time and money. This is the worst publicity for the city of Rome. Unfriendly unhelpful personnel. The Crypt itself is closed on weekdays. So the only thing you van visit is the museum (which is probably the worst museum in Rome). Nice building, worthless presentation, outdated. Unintresting. What is the point of opening up the “Crypta Balbi ” if you can not visit the crypt?
Written 13 April 2022
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

Rosanna D
Rome, Italy133 contributions
5.0 of 5 bubbles
Nov 2014 • Friends
It's one of Rome's more underrated museums for some odd reason. I consider it to be one of the best: great structure, great displays, great collection, and if you're lucky you might even be able to visit the ruins! The museum is relatively new and it shows, the space is very well maintained and the staff if helpful and pleasant.
Written 2 November 2014
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

hereford
Sitka, AK340 contributions
5.0 of 5 bubbles
Oct 2019
If you want to understand Roman occupation and history from the 3rd century BC to present, this is the place to visit. Excellent signage, in Italian, Greek, and English explaining the utilization and occupation of the land where you are standing as you work your way through an extensive well designed museum. If you like the details, it is easy to spend 2 hours here, Included as one of the four museums in the Rome museum ticket, An excellent deal.
Written 17 October 2019
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

Phyllis K
Vancouver, Canada102 contributions
5.0 of 5 bubbles
Apr 2018 • Couples
The Crypta Balbi, is another branch of the four Museo Nazionale Romano and if you are like us and enjoy exploring archaeological sites, this should definitely be up your alley...it was ours! Heads up that there is an entrance ticket that will allow you to visit all of the Museums for one price, that's valid for 3 days. The upper floor of the building shows objects from the Antiquity and the Middle Ages. The ground floor shows what they found during excavating the site and the lower part contains the remains of the Theatre of Balbus just waiting to be explored as you walk along damp and not too dark passageways...fun! You'll also find the remains of a porticoed square that Lucius Cornelius Balbus had built that was inaugurated in 13 B.C. We enjoyed our visit as it added to our knowledge of ancient Rome.
Written 5 March 2019
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

Robin A
22 contributions
5.0 of 5 bubbles
Nov 2018
Staggering that these amazing remains were hidden for so long. Really get down there in the bowels (and cistern) For just 2 euros more on your ticket you can get into another 3 museums in Rome. Not far from the cat colony, short walk past the tortoise fountain to kosher vegetarian restaurant for refreshment.
Written 3 November 2018
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

Marsviolet
63 contributions
5.0 of 5 bubbles
July 2018 • Family
We had purchased the tickets to Balbi for 2€ each as part of the combo ticket to enter Termi do Dioclezio way over by the train station.

I’d done my research and knew we could go to Balbbi after seeing the Pantheon, Teatro Pompeo (the very steps where Caesar was stabbed) and indulging in truffle paninis from Panepiu.

We liked the design and airy spaciousness of this multi-story museum. We had it to ourselves most of our visit. You can’t compare the site to the crypts like San Sebastiano, it is a worthwhile cross-section of Ancient and Medieval Rome. The subterranean floors are a mix of crypt and cistern. The uppermost floor has some unforgettable details about the woes that followed the earthquake in 600AD - an insect death like no other. Teens liked the gross factor and loved that they could explore on there own throughout. Free use of lockers, clean toilets, and elevator access to most stories is an added bonus.

After Balbi we walked up Capitoline Hill (near the staggering white monument to a united Italy) then strolled by the ancient Mercado Fiori and Trajan’s bragging pole. It’s a manageable loop before a siesta.
Written 20 July 2018
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

cantorl
Bethesda, MD12 contributions
5.0 of 5 bubbles
July 2018
One reviewer suggested 90 minutes to see this museum. If you decide instead, as I did, to read all the extensive historical notes and explanations, you will need a minimum of 2 hours. I have never been to a museum with such full explanations, along with a huge number of artifacts, and reconstructions. The museum covers roughly the years 500 to 1800, some of which are not as well known as earlier periods. I felt as though I'd attended a graduate seminar, it was so enriching. It's not so much bells and whistles as informative. I agree with other reviewers that it is not all clearly signposted, and if I hadn't read in another review about the basement level, nothing would have shown me how to get there. And it is worth a visit, though nothing is explained down there, contrary to the other 3 floors of the museum.
Written 18 July 2018
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

grandmaEthel
Oak Park, IL20 contributions
5.0 of 5 bubbles
Apr 2017 • Family
Whether one goes down into the "dig" before (as we did) or after (as the commenter just before me apparently did) wandering through the beautifully designed "museum" occupying several floors above it, the total experience is a wonderful and relaxing way to get one's mind and psyche around life in ancient Rome - and how it evolved into what it is today. Although this was my fifth trip to Rome - and when visiting this city I have always focused on things ancient - I had not been to this museum before (it opened relatively recently). But I found it to be absolutely marvelous. Down below, with a museum staff person unobtrusively accompanying us, my 10-year-old granddaughter (who loved the place as much as I did) and I wandered with only one other visitor through the excavated (and being excavated) areas. There, up close as we were to where people had lived, loved and worked so long ago, we could ponder the lives of these early Romans - and in conjunction ponder our own lives and contemporary civilization. And then on the floors above there were the everyday objects which prompted further ponderings (including feelings of kinship). Accompanying these very well-displayed artifacts were wonderfully detailed and clear (even in Italian, in which I have only a minimal present-tense competence) maps of the various layers of life in this spot from the earliest to the present (with these and the artifacts one can really grasp what it would have been like to walk through the Musem's general neighborhood at various points in history!).

I have over the years loved visiting the Colosseo, the Forum, various Baths, the Aqueduct park, and many other archaeological spots in Rome. And these also affect me deeply. But this comparatively small one was, in it's own way, at at least as affecting. It is an oasis of calm, beauty and information. And since it is not filled with visitors (when we were there, on a warm sunny day in early April, the Forum and most other popular ancient spots were thronging with hordes of tourists - but here the quiet solitude was interrupted (pleasantly and briefly) by only one other visitor (who was with us in the excavation part) during the entire couple of hours we lingered in this lovely spot.
Written 30 April 2017
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

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Crypta Balbi, Rome

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