Italy: Pompeii offers free covid tests to visitors with no Green Pass

Rome: The Pompeii archaeological park is offering free covid tests to visitors who arrive without the Green Pass which became obligatory for museums across Italy on Friday.

The Green Pass shows that people have been vaccinated, tested negative or recovered from covid-19, and is now required for access to cultural and leisure venues in addition to indoor dining in restaurants.

Management at Pompeii, together with regional health authorities, have decided to offer tourists without the Green Pass the chance to take a covid test which, if negative, allows entry to the archaeological park and remains valid for 48 hours.

The free service, reserved exclusively for visitors of the archaeological park, was launched on 6 August and is available at the entrance in Piazza Anfiteatro during the site’s opening hours.

For now it is operating on an experimental basis and Pompeii is reportedly the only cultural site in Italy offering its visitors this type of service.

“In a global emergency situation like the one we are going through” – said Pompeii director Gabriel Zuchtriegel – “the task of those who manage cultural sites must be to best reconcile the needs of public health and safety with our mission to be an inclusive and accessible place open to all.”