Crowds

Hi, it looks like the Pantheon is included in your itinerary. If so, that's good. RS tours tries to visit the Pantheon in the evening or early to avoid the crowds.

Trevi? Laughs in Roman. I was there in April 2009 and again in March 2023. I'm glad I threw my coin in the first time. Just know it's not going to be like 14 years ago. Also no sitting on the Spanish Steps anymore.

Florence--I've only been once--that 2023 trip. To me, it felt more crowded than Venice and Rome but could be because it's more concentrated w/ relatively narrow streets. Being on a tour will help. Short answer to all this is that just about everything will be different than 2014. You'll still have a great time, though.

I go to Florence every year but in the last two I haven’t been downtown. I let my wife deal with the humongous crowds for her shopping. I stay at the pool.

Different people have different perceptions of what constitutes an intolerable crowd or an acceptable one. For sure in May you should expect a lot of people in line near the major sights, even with the possibility that airliners might run out of jet fuel in the next 5 weeks.

Roberto is not joking about running out of jet fuel. We are in Rome now and it has been all over the news here. Flights are being canceled left and right. We just received notice that our nonstop flight from FCO back to Dulles is canceled for tomorrow, Sunday, 4/19, with about 18 hours notice. The only option offered for rebooking was the next day, Monday, 4/20, with a 6 hour layover in Munich. That did not work for us, so we declined the rebooked flight and purchased one-way nonstop tickets on another airline, but again for a day later…Monday, 4/20.
Fingers crossed that flight does not get canceled too!

Thank you both- I’ll be happy just to get to Italy and then back home…but I had to be stuck somewhere, I’d choose Italy!

You can check live cameras of different attractions in various Italian cities. Make sure you look at them while it’s daytime in Italy to get a better feel for crowds.

https://www.skylinewebcams.com/en/webcam/italia.html

Trevi: they're now charging a couple of euro to get up close and personal with the fountain (down to the basin level). The fee only applies during posted hours, which I believe are between 9:00 AM and 9:00 or 10:00 PM, and they clean the thing on Mondays so the basin area is closed until 2:00 PM. They also don't take cash onsite. If you can, go as early in the morning as possible to get close without the mob or the fee. Very late at night might work too.

We were in Rome in mid-March and the crowds were much more than we expected. The Colosseum was packed by 9:30 and lines were long at the Palatine Hill entrances. So much for "shoulder season". It was much the same in Amalfi town, although we were there on Easter Sunday which brings out many vacationers. Be ready.

jconsol- was your flight cancelled specifically because of a jet fuel issue?

Chuck H- the shoulder season in certain parts of Italy haven’t existed since 2022, at least. When we went to Puglia that year the crowds were, ok, depending on the city of course. In northern Italy, where my wife is from, areas like a lake Como see tourists pretty much year round. Yes, even in January tourists go to Bellagio.

OP- 14 years ago my wife and I, along with our dogs and a bunch of our belongings, relocated from NYC to Italy. The crowds, even back then, were horrendous in the large cities, such as Venice, which has had unsustainable tourism for decades. In the north, such as Como, Lecco, Cortina, didn’t have such a high concentration of tourists as it does now. For example, Bergamo, a small city of about 170,000 inhabitants, saw more than 3 millions tourists visit in 2023. We were there last June. To say it was packed would be an understatement. Yes, there were works going on which caused bottlenecks in the old town. Yes, it was mid June. But, I distinctly remember back in 2012 when we were in Bergamo and it was nothing like this. Not in June. Not in October and certainly not in January

Rome and Florence are both deservedly popular, but on multiple trips in the last 4 years, they weren’t overwhelming.

I can’t say the same for the Cinque Terre, especially Vernazza (Rick’s favorite of the 5 towns). The mobs of visitors will make Rome and Florence seem tame by comparison. Your tour will help navigate through the unpleasantness.

kcdav…that is what we were told. Lufthansa seems to be the airline most affected right now and is canceling a large number of flights due to the fuel crisis. We were uncomfortable relying on their rebooked flight home for us through Munich, so we bought new one-way tickets home on United…keeping our fingers crossed that flight goes tomorrow morning.
SkyNews here in Rome is constantly reporting about the fuel crisis…only a 5 week supply left according to their reporting.
https://www.independent.co.uk/travel/news-and-advice/lufthansa-flights-grounded-planes-iran-war-fuel-crisis-b2959522.html#

I know crowds are heavier than in the past, but my advice is if you take a group tour like Rick Steves, that you will be able to visit the key sites despite the crowds.

Don't be afraid to see the KEY sites like in Rome, the Vatican Basilica, Sistine Chapel, Coliseum and Forum.

.... but my advice is if you take a group tour like Rick Steves, that
you will be able to visit the key sites despite the crowds. Don't be
afraid to see the KEY sites like in Rome, the Vatican Basilica,
Sistine Chapel, Coliseum and Forum.

Just in case this is confusing for the OP, or they haven't read completely through the details of the Heart of Italy tour, it doesn't visit the interior of the Colosseum or the Vatican Museums/Sistine Chapel. I can understand the reasoning, and one or the other can be done on one's own during the 1 free afternoon - assuming that's not a Sunday when the museums are closed - or if they arrive in Rome before the tour starts. Advance tickets are a MUST.

dubert74, as you're already been to Rome before (albeit some years ago), it's possible that you've already done both and don't need to do them again?

Thanks everyone for your input. The first trip I went on was the 21 day tour- I loved everything about it and saw so many amazing places and things. I’m continuing to monitor information about the jet fuel and hope for the best!

Tourist season had not yet started when we visited Rome, Florence and Venice beginning of March. However, we did encounter crowds but basically after 10 am. We were the first ones into the Doge Palace, Uffizi, Vatican and had an after hour tour of the Duomo Opera. We were also last there 14 years ago and it has definitely changed. It's like people are on an assembly line in and out with no time to stop and smell the roses. Also, the rapid rise of ordinary retail near all the big sites. HM, Zara, ubiquitous LV and Gucci, etc. cheapens the moment.

We stay away from the tourist corridors. Went to off the beaten path places, shopped at local mom and pop places for food, beverage and locally made souveniers (paper and stationery primarily). We walked around the Borghese gardens, found out of the way shops via google searches that took us into neat little areas. There are amazing places to find away from the crowds, less popular museums/churches. The Galileo museum in Florence, the church where Michaelangelo is buried, The other side of the Arno to name a few spots.

Just be aware of pick pockets. They are everywhere, look like everyone else, and can surround someone in a few seconds. One of our traveling companions was targeted but yelled at the guy and he ran off.

My first day in Rome (After the long overnight flight), I thought a young man was being helpful saying loudly "tourists, pickpockets!" alerting us, but later I read that people yell that to see where people touch, revealing what they're trying to secure, so he was likely working alongside pickpockets. Daughter and I were fine, but I did learn something.

The crowds in Rome are very real already. I would definitely do the Vatican Museums as early as you can stomach, and same for the big sites in centro like Trevi & Spanish Steps--I had a friend here last week who wandered over to the Trevi around 7:30-8am and she said it was not too busy, but any later than that is risky.

I am currently in Europe visiting several countries over a period of six weeks. Yes, expect crowds and lines, even in shoulder season. I was in Rome two weeks ago and it was packed with tourists. I ask myself what it will be like during the summer months when tourism is usually heavier. This was my third trip to Rome. I did not visit the colosseum nor the Vatican museum because I had done that on previous trips, but met up with my travelling companions after their tours. If you go to either, do the earliest tour you can get. It was their first time in Europe and so they wanted to see Rome and Paris and London. We did not go to Florence. Huge crowds in Rome. Lines everywhere. Lots of large tour groups. I mostly walked to places but one morning we decided to take the metro from the Spanish Steps to the Vatican. We bought metro tickets and the cars were so crowded that people just seemed to be wedged in and pressed up tightly against the doors with no wiggle room. We waited for three metros to come by and all were like that. Those overcrowded situations make me anxious and so I refused to get on. We took a cab over instead. Paris was also quite crowded compared to my previous visits.. Notre Dame cathedral was filled with a sea of people and you were just carried along by the crowd. I found it difficult to stop and admire the new interior. Even most of the pews/ seats were filled with people. As an older travel who has travelled a fair amount in Europe I now prefer smaller, lesser touristed towns. My favorite, so far on this trip, has been Tirano, Italy where we caught the Bernina Express. Very attractive small mountain town with great streets for exploring and friendly people.

I was in Rome about 3 weeks ago now. The Trevi Fountain requires payment from 9:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m. I was there at 8:15 a.m. and there is no fee and it was pleasant and they did not kick us out until 9:00 a.m. on the dot. Go before 9am.