This is the Visitor Center in the central courtyard of the Cato Library. Here you can purchase tokens for admission to both the Consular Library exhibits and the Homestead tour of Cato’s farm near Reate. You can also purchase a token for combined admission at a reduced cost.

Marcus Porcius Cato Maior, also known as Cato the Censor, is remembered as one of the great moralists of the Roman Republic. Inside the Consular Library you will find exhibits on the amazing career of this sturdy farmer who rose to become a consul of Rome and influential senator.

Guided tours of the Cato Homestead depart from the Visitor Center at the third and fifth hours of the day. Personal possessions of Cato are preserved in this simple country house. Live exhibits on the farm demonstrate the model agricultural techniques and recreate recipes from Cato’s famous book for farmers.

You may take a self-guided tour following the numbered signs. Please keep your entrance token with you while visiting the farm.

The full tour including Cato’s early life and family exhibits begins at the Cato Homestead.

A shorter tour covering the public life and career of Cato begins in the library’s Porcian Portico.