MyColosseum: what the official app does, and the alternatives

MyColosseum is the free official app of the Parco archeologico del Colosseo. It is worth having for tickets and for its audio guide to the amphitheatre. It is not worth relying on alone, for two reasons: visitors report it is fragile in use, and your ticket opens far more than the Colosseum. Here is what it does, how to make it work, and what to use alongside it.

What MyColosseum does

• Ticket purchase and information about visit routes.
• Interactive audio guides in Italian and English that follow you through the Colosseum — the underground, the middle gallery and the upper level.
• Playback that starts by position, so the phone can stay in your pocket.

What visitors complain about

Store reviews are mostly negative. Treat them as reports from other visitors rather than a verdict — the app is updated and some of this may be fixed by the time you go.

• The tour resources must be downloaded in advance: mobile coverage inside is poor and there is no usable Wi-Fi.
• Position-triggered audio is unreliable — tracks start late or not at all.
• Downloads and location tracking drain the battery.
• Audio in only two languages, where the old rented devices offered many more.

How to make it work

• Install it at the hotel and download every audio guide manually, on Wi-Fi.
• Check the publisher is the Parco archeologico del Colosseo: older apps with similar names exist.
• Allow location access, and test one track before you leave.
• Bring a power bank; a full day on the ticket is long.

The bigger gap: the Forum and the Palatine

The same ticket opens the Roman Forum and the Palatine Hill, and most visitors spend more time there than inside the amphitheatre. They are also the harder half: a field of columns and brick cores with small plaques and no obvious order. A guide that covers only the Colosseum leaves you to work them out alone.

Alternatives

The handheld guide rented at the Colosseum costs a few euros and needs no phone, but it stays in the Colosseum. Rick Steves Audio Europe has free English walks through the Colosseum and the Forum, without a map of where you are. A licensed guide answers questions, and an accompanied visit is usually how you get into the underground.

Tessera is the alternative built for the whole ticket: 69 stops across the Forum, the Palatine and the Colosseum on one plan, six timed routes, eight languages, all downloaded in advance and working in airplane mode. It does not sell tickets — buy those from the official channels as usual.

Updated 2026-10-28