We are planning to spend Christmas in Italy, perhaps from the 23rd to the 31st or January 1st. My initial thought was the Amalfi coast, thinking it would be more mild (and I haven't been there yet,) but then I became concerned that it would be mostly closed for the season.
I welcome any suggestions! Thank you!
Rome has always been the obvious choice for me because I'm a Christian. For a Christian, there's nothing quite like spending Christmas in Rome.
I also love Florence and Venice at Christmas. My favorite place to celebrate New Year's is in a fabulous top restaurant in Venice. It's so much fun.
I'm sure there would be plenty of fall-like beauty, but the Amalfi coast would not be a consideration for me at Christmas.
Absolutely, Roma. Do arrive not later than the 23rd as from the afternoon of the 24th through the 25th it gets pretty quiet. Buses and the Metro still run, restaurants are open, but shops and sites all close. Starting the 26th everything is open again. Search this site using the Search box at the top of the page as there has been much written about Christmas in Roma.
Unlike American traditions, Christmas in Italy is a rather quiet family holiday. I agree with the previous comments that you'd be best off in a major city such as Rome, where many restaurants and places of interest are likely to be open, at least on days other than the 24th & 25th.
Christmas Day in a place like Rome, Florence, or Venice is a perfect opportunity to get out and just wander around. Our favorite time of the year for Italy is Christmas time, and the 25th is where we do our exploration. Lots to see, even if the sites are closed.
Many restaurants are closed, but there's always something to find.
See my trip report from a few years back.
If you choose Roma, look out for the motorcycle Santa parade, either on the 24th or 25th. A police escort helps them roll through the city. I found it by accident a couple of years ago. Elves ride in sidecars.
Well, this was Venice for us at New Years, 2010.
This a real time report from your correspondent in Venice, safe behind well sandbagged windows.
The sound of explosions can be heard, a street battle of sorts, munitions provided by the Mini Mart in Campo Margerita, where the shelves have been stripped bare of explosives. The firing seems to be concentrated on Fondamenta Gherardini, west of the Ponte Pugni – surely a fitting retribution for those grumpy green grocers, with the flashes from the explosions lighting up most of the south face of the campanile of the Carmini, which may be serving as an artillery observation post. I think I can see the wires from the field telegraph strung down the face of the campanile from the O.P. Or maybe it’s just the lightning rod.
The heavy ordinance is answered with the rattle of small arms fire coming, I think, from the south of Calle Lunga San Barnaba, single shot sniper fire, and occasionally repeating firearms, the occasional shotgun blast. I expect the battle to move east as the evening progresses, to the Piazza, where a concert themed on “Love” is to be held. With reasonable good fortune, it will sound like the closing parts of 1812.
Bang.
Crash.
It may sound threatening, but Venice is ramping up for Capo d’Anno.
New Year’s Day – Venice 2011.
We went to the Piazza for a look at the New Years Eve celebration put on by the Commune d’ Venezia, had a gelato, and ran away. I can’t believe that a shouting disk jockey, every second word being “allora”, with exhortations to kiss somebody, is the best that Venice can provide. No live music, too stage managed, people saying happy things while reading them from a script. The patrons of Florians, drinking tea, looked somewhat bored. I understand that the disk jockey is a leading radio personality in Italy; in which case, he must owe his job to having the dirt on Berlusconi, maybe some raunchy photographs of the PM. So we decamped to Campo Margerita, where the local civil war was continuing.
It could have been Dublin, the Rising, Easter, 1916, Patrick Pearse leading the defence. The boys manning the mortar battery on the steps of the Scuole Grande d’ Carmini kept up a sustained barrage, despite cracker attack from the lads at the Ex Scuole dei Varoteri, and Madigan’s bar coming under small arms fire from the crew at the adjacent pizzeria. The staff at Madigans are to be commended, Daniel Manin would have been proud of them, for the way that they continued to serve spritzes despite the odd grenade rolling in the door, fizzers and whiz-bangs exploding behind the bar. All the while the bar maid maintaining a conversation on her mobile phone, pouring spritzes one handed.
The cost of spritzes doubled at midnight, maybe a reflection that it was a holiday, maybe a surcharge for the fact that glasses were unlikely to make it back into the bar, or maybe it was an ammunition levy. Hostilities became one-sided when the pizzeria pulled down the shutters, and Madigan’s ammo was exhausted. The smell of powder drifting across the campo, the occasional “whoomph” of H.E. in the distance.
The combatants settled their differences after running out of crackers, but not running out of alcohol, by singing revolutionary songs, a guy on harmonica, and a couple of blokes on acoustic. Revolutionary songs like “Blue suede shoes”, “Twist-a and shout-a”, “Happy Birthday”, “Jail-a House-a Rock”.
A most good-natured bunch of people, I wish them all, I wish everyone, Buon Anno and Augeri. New Years Day is pretty quiet, a lot of shutters not yet opened, even at 1:30 PM.
