May 1st in Rome

Hi Kit, how did you find out it is a holiday? I will be arriving May 1st.....

May 1st (May Day) is a holiday throughout much of Europe. It's the equivalent of our labor day.

i was in rome last year, april 27 for 4 days, and back may 8 for 3days. as with florence, naples, ...there seemed to be like 2 0r 3 different "holidays", none of which i realised, because basicly everything was the same...i didn't notice any particular closings...the shops were open..

Gina I am on a cruise and the cruise board is buzzing with that fact not to mention the shore excursion for the Vatican has now been cancelled. What concerns me is what else is closed like the coliseum or shops. The only way so far of finding out what is closed is if I select a tour from a private company and they say it is unavailable. I have yet to find one site that says what is open and what is closed, they don't have a chamber of commerce for Rome like we have in the States. Are you also on a cruise or just going to Rome for a vacation.
Mike Have you been to Rome on May 1st before?

Kit

Kit, I was in Rome for May day last year. Banks were closed, some restaurants were (but I had no problem finding a place for lunch and dinner), and I believe shopping stores were closed.

However, most museums were open and only cost 1 Euro entrance fee. There also is a HUGE music festival in one of the piazzas which was televised as well.

The only time I've been to Europe 5-1 was several years ago in London. Most everything was open but there were some violent protests from some left-wing groups with clashes with riot police. In past years I've seen similar trouble from news reports in Rome and other places in Europe. I don't think it happens every year, but this day seems to be a lightning rod for these kind of troubles.

I was in Venice on May 1 - nothing major was closed, restaurants were open, transport was as usual. Rome may be different though - according to this article on Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Labour_Day there were 700k people at a concert in Rome on that day last year. Likely most restaurants and tourist type places (save the Vatican) will be open. As with all things Italian, keep an open mind and flexible schedule - the things you think might be open might not be if they decide to hold a strike in honor of the holiday (or any regular day, as the case may be).

You may try to find the local website for the Rome CVB and see if you can find anything there.

I was in Athens, Greece on May 1st a couple of years ago, and their CVB site was very helpful in saying what was open and what wasn't. ALL of the major tourist attractions (including the Parthenon) were closed there, but Rome may be different. I was in Florence on their Liberation Day (late April) and everything was open there. Good luck!

Just wanted to thank everyone for taking the time to give me their thoughts. There is no one site to advise what is closed. I think the major attractions, banks and some eating places. I hope the stores are open like it is here on Labor Day.

Hi Kit,
One more word on May 1. I was in Rome 10 years ago on May Day. Unless something has changed drastically, it is the occasion for massive parades by all the trade unions, left political parties, and other groups. While I'm sure that you'll be able to get restaurant meals, I wouldn't count on stores being open in the major shopping areas. In general, Europeans take their holidays much more seriously than we do. Often, not only are stores, banks, and government offices closed; but even public transportation may not run. I would check at a TI office.

Hi,
My cruise ship NCL gem is supposed to get to Rome on May 1st, and this is disappointing as I wished very much to see the Vatican and the Sistine Chapel.

There seems to be other shore excursions that my mom & I can sign up for, and hopefully, there will be enough to see and we will be satisfied without regretting what we missed.

I think that we will be taking a tour that includes lunch, so I know the tour guide will be able to take us to an open restaurant, and we of course would not have to worry about public transportation since we are with the ship's own transportation.

Kathy

Hi Kathy,

We will be on the same sailing. Bob and I were in Rome a few years ago and saw the Vatican and when we were planning this trip with our friends I thought since we only had a few hours there we would only visit St. Peters so we could see the other sites. I am still up in the air whether to go into the city via train or take the ships excursion that would bring us into the city center. I am afraid of what the train schedule could be and getting back on time.
What excursion are you taking?

Kit

Hi Kit,

Well, I was thinking of doing the cruise excursion "Rome-Baroque City"....we can see the Trevi fountain, the Pantheon, Piazza Navona where the fountain of the four rivers is, then St Peter's square after lunch....where they are claiming that we can visit St Peter's Basilica on our own....assuming we can get into the Basilica on that day....