An Italian ticketing company and six tour operators have been fined almost €20m (£17m) for illegal practices that made it difficult for regular visitors to access Rome’s Colosseum at the standard cost.
Italy’s antitrust authority, AGCM, said the practices, including using software bots to hoard tickets and resell them at higher prices, made it “essentially impossible” to buy tickets online for site.
The Colosseum is among the most popular landmarks in the world. More than 12 million people visited it in 2024.
AGCM said it had fined CoopCulture, which managed official ticket sales for the site between 1997 and 2024, €7m for “knowingly contributing to the substantial and prolonged unavailability” of standard-priced tickets.
“On the one hand, CoopCulture failed to take adequate steps to counter automated ticket hoarding,” AGCM said in a statement. “On the other, it kept a sizeable share of tickets for bundled sales tied to its own educational tours, which generated considerable profits.”
Customers were forced to turn to tour operators and online platforms, which resold tickets at higher tickets, bundling them with additional services such as guided tours, pickups from hotels and priority access.
The remainder of the fine was handed out to six tours operators based in Italy, Germany, the Netherlands and Ireland, which scooped up tickets in bulk using software bots and other tools, contributing to their rapid disappearance from CoopCulture’s website.
AGCM said: “The operators benefited from the constant unavailability of tickets, which left consumers seeking access to the Colosseum with no choice but to purchase them through these channels – often at much higher prices due to the bundling with additional services offered either directly or via other operators.”
The authority did not say how much people ended up paying for entrance to the Colosseum as a result of the illegal practices. The website for the ancient site, which is operated by Italy’s culture ministry, lists the basic adult ticket price at €18. That gives tourists 20 minutes to explore the amphitheatre’s main floor. A “full experience” ticket costs €24 and gives access to the wider Colosseum archaeological park, including the ruins of the Forum and the Palatine hill.
A cap imposed in 2019limits visitor numbers to 3,000 at any given time. Among the British visitors on Tuesday afternoon were King Charles and Queen Camilla, who are on a four-day state visit to Italy.
