Italy's most prominent tourist destination is introducing a new measure to prevent online ticket scalping, the culture ministry announced.

Starting on October 18th, named tickets will be required for all types of admissions, as declared by Italy's culture ministry. The objective is to counteract ticket reselling and speculative activities related to entry fees for the archaeological site.

Visitors will now be required to present identification when they arrive at the Colosseum, a practice similar to sporting events, according to reports from the La Repubblica newspaper.

This requirement is part of various changes by the Colosseum's management to thwart scalpers who use automated software to purchase official tickets online and then sell them at inflated prices. In July, Italy's competition authority initiated an investigation into allegations that Colosseum tickets were being purchased in large quantities by bots and resold on other websites at several times the official prices, often as part of "skip the line" tour packages. The investigation targeted the official vendor, Società Cooperativa Culture (CoopCulture), as well as websites like Musement, GetYourGuide, Tiqets, and Viator, following complaints from visitors who couldn't obtain official tickets.

Tickets will now only be available through the official website www.colosseo.it, and a new ticket office will open alongside the existing one, with the number of tickets available on-site doubled, according to the culture ministry. The Colosseum, Italy's most visited tourist site, attracts millions of visitors each year. Photo by Dudva, Wikimedia commons.