In October 2026 we traveled to Rome and Florence. We used Wheel The World and their partner in Italy, WanderAbility who provided complete accessible travel planning services for us. This included guides who had experience navigating wheelchair accessible routes through popular attractions. I’d highly recommend WanderAbility if you ever need accessible hotels, guides, and transportation in Italy and this page can’t possibly replace the expertise they have in helping people with disabilities get the most out of a trip to Italy.
In Italian fashion, accessibility at most museums and monuments is an improvisational dance of asking guards, entering exits, back staff hallways, antique elevators, spooky ramp angles, and retrofitted lifts. On the upside, you and a companion get into most attractions for free. There’s an increasing number of accessible travel blogs and guides that have detailed information on these sites down to the last toilet grab bar, but I felt like it would be helpful to have a higher level overview of how one navigates some of the most popular attractions in Rome and Florence in a wheelchair.
Rome
Colosseum
Unlike most our tickets which we could just walk up and get a free disabled ticket, this is a scarce ticket we needed to secure for a specific timeslot months in advance. The accessible route for the Colosseum is straightforward. You enter at the normal entrance and proceed around the outside ground floor hallway to the lifts at the end of the path, which are monitored by staff to ensure they’re only used by those who need it. You can explore the second level and then you backtrack to the same lift to go down and exit. In theory you could be asked to show a disabled ID at this lift but I was not asked. The accessible toilet is next to the main women’s bathroom door and not locked. The line for the women’s bathroom is very hectic and blocks the ramp up to the accessible bathroom. Avoid this bathroom if you can.
Roman Forum, Imperial Forum, and Palatine Hill
You can easily get free disabled tickets to the Roman forum online with instant email delivery.
Entrances
The forum is down below street level and you need to take a lift or ramp down to access it. The lift at the Palazzo Venezia entrance is a crude platform lift with very limited weight capacity. A larger modern elevator is installed at the Via Dei Fori Imperiali entrance. There is also a steep ramp at this entrance you can use. Once you enter there are accessible level pathways between the Roman Forum and the less busy Imperial Forum area. The entrance closest to the Colosseum is uphill on a Roman road that was bumpy but passable on a front wheel drive powerchair but mid-drive and manual chairs may struggle.
Viewpoints
The Roman Forum ticket also gives you access to the Palantine Hill site which has more ruins to explore and a vista point with a very nice view over The Forum and Colosseum. The best entrance to take is the one by the Colosseum however you will need to pass through a 50m or so stretch of uphill bumpy road before the entrance that may be difficult for some equipment. The least crowded accessible bathrooms are at the top of the hill at the far side of the park.
A stair-free path to the panoramic viewpoint is shown below. Sections are long uphills and one section is dry hard packed gravel but I had no issue in a front wheel drive power wheelchair. There is another nice view looking the opposite direction from the Roman Forum if you cross the gardens once at the top of the hill.
Vittoriano e Palazzo Venezia Terrazza Panoramica (Panoramic Terrace)
The panoramic terrace on top of the the Vittoriano monument has breathtaking views and is worth the steps needed get to the top. Facing the monument you will find the accessible entrance to the left side of the monument (normally the exit). The guard at the exit will let you in and call another staff member to assist you. From there you can either take a stair platform lift up a staircase if you are using a manual chair, or power chair users will be taken though the interior of the monument through a series of halls and ramps through an abandoned museum exhibit. Then you board an antique elevator that goes to the 5th floor where the main outdoor area of the monument is located. You cross the front of the monument and go around the side to the back. This requires going up a pretty steep ramp at the left side of the monument but is probably avoidable. If you want to avoid this ramp, when you exit the elevator at the 5th floor ask to go up the exit pathway around to the back of the monument via the right side. For whatever reason the ramp connecting the right side of the monument to the back is a much gentler slope.
Pantheon
Beside the main entrance line there is a ramp up the couple of steps at the front of the Pantheon that was monitored by a staff member. The staff let us take the ramp up and then opened various ropes in the line so we could enter the structure. The Pantheon is all one level floor so it was easy to navigate.
Trevi Fountain
The Piazza in front of the Trevi Fountain is crowded and took patience to navigate in a wheelchair. A paid ticket is required to go down the ramp to the front water’s edge of the fountain and the ramp appeared to be decently wheelchair navigable but we were able to get a decent view of the fountain from the upper free area and did not try this. The ticket is free for disabled guests and a companion but we did not try to obtain one.
Vatican City, Sistine Chapel, St. Peter’s Basilica
Sistine Chapel
To access the Sistine Chapel you first enter the Vatican Museum. There are several entrance lines to the museum and one of them is designated for wheelchair users. Once entering there is a clear route to the main museum level via an elevator and a ramp. The crowds going to the Sistine Chapel are directed around a winding path around an outdoor courtyard but the guards will happily open rope barriers to more direct routes if you’d like to visit other exhibits.
When you want to go to the Sistine Chapel you start at what is normally the exit hallway path from the main museum level where visitors are directed down a stairway. The guard at this stairway will let you into the exit hallway and you go against traffic for the length of the hallway. Later when you exit, you will be going back down this hallway in the normal direction so wait to look at the exhibits until then and focus on dodging people. When you get to the end of the hallway you will be at the exit of the chapel which is down a short flight of stairs. There is a platform lift on these stairs but it has a low weight limit. The guard at these stairs has a manual hospital type folding wheelchair you can transfer into and leave your chair at the top of the stairs. There will be no shortage of strong looking tourists streaming out of the chapel who you can grab to help you do the transfer.
The guards will stop foot traffic and send you down the platform lift. You go down a short hallway and then there is a short ramp into the chapel. It will feel hectic and rushed going down the last bit into the chapel because you’re stopping all traffic, but once you’re in, you can take your time and enjoy as much as you want. To exit you just go the reverse of how you entered.
St. Peter’s Basilica
The staff at the entrance will direct you down roped lines designated for wheelchair users through security and up to the Basilica. When you get to the stairs at the front there is a clear entrance to a long gradually sloped ramp outdoors up to the main floor of the Basilica. You can also go past this ramp and go inside to the space to the right of the entrance. There are very clean private accessible bathrooms there and you will have to ask the visitors desk to unlock them for you. They also can let you into an elevator across from the accessible bathrooms that will take you up to the Basilica entrance. Once inside the entire floor is level and easily navigated.
Florence
Duomo
You do not need tickets to enter the Cathedral. There is a ramped entrance at the side exit and the staff will open up the double doors so wheelchair users can enter.
The Duomo Museum is free for disabled visitors and a companion but you must get tickets first across the square from the museum. The ticket office has a pretty significant lip at the entrance but I was able to jump it with my power wheelchair. The upper roof terrace level of the museum has a nice view of the dome. The elevators are clearly marked and freely usable and you need to take the larger elevator by the entrance to get to the roof terrace.
Uffizi Gallery
Like most attractions, we were able to go to the front of the entrance line and be given priority access. Of all the attractions listed here, the Uffizi is the most straightforward to access with a wheelchair. There are no significant routes with stairs and elevators are in logical public places.