Italy's rugby federation partners with culture ministry for Rome museum initiative.

There will be free admission for two people to ten Rome museums for holders of tickets for the Six Nations rugby tournament during the weekends of the three games being played in the capital.

The Rome museum initiative is scheduled on the weekends that Italy faces three squads at Rome’s Stadio Olimpico: Wales (5 Feb), Ireland (11 Feb), and France (11 March).

The project, whose title IV Tempo Rugby e Cultura is a play on the “third half” so beloved of rugby fans, follows an agreement between Italy's rugby federation and the country's culture ministry.

The 18th edition of the annual Six Nations rugby union championship, which is contested by England, France, Ireland, Italy, Scotland and Wales, kicks off on 4 February and finishes on 18 March.

The museums participating in the IV Tempo Rugby e Cultura, which runs from Friday to Sunday each of the three weekends in question, are: Galleria Spada, Museo dell'Alto Medioevo, Museo Nazionale dell'Arte Orientale, Museo Nazionale degli Strumenti Musicali, Museo Nazionale del Palazzo di Venezia, Museo Nazionale di Castel S. Angelo, Museo Nazionale Etrusco di Valle Giulia, Museo Preistorico ed Etnografico "Luigi Pigorini", Galleria Nazionale d'Arte Antica in Palazzo Barberini, Galleria Nazionale d'Arte Antica in Palazzo Corsini, and the Museo Nazionale Romano network: Palazzo Massimo, Palazzo Altemps and Crypta Balbi.

Italy's rugby team will be keen to pass on the dreaded “wooden spoon”, for coming bottom of the table last year, while the English side goes into the tournament as defending champions.

For rugby fans in Rome unable to attend the Olympic Stadium, see the Wanted in Rome guide to the best bars to watch the Six Nations.

Photo Arte.it