Halloween in Rome

Visit Caesar's funeral pyre at midnight (if the Forum is open that late). You'll probably sense the spirits, especially if you've had some vino. Rome goes back a long time, compared to Greenville.

My Italian teacher tells me that Halloween has become more popular in Italy, but focuses primarily on the children, rather than the adult excuse for partying that you find in the US.

The celebration in Italy begins the next morning, All Saints Day, a national holiday with no school and banks closed, as is the Vatican. Even the following day, All Souls Day, is celebrated by many Italians who take the day off to visit the graves of their loved ones. Both days immediately after Halloween are similar to the Day of the Dead celebration in Mexico. Look for the Vatican to be busy with Italian families on that Tuesday, Nov. 2, I understand.

Halloween's origins are Celtic/Druid. It came to the US during the Irish famine. The way the US celebrates Halloween is pretty unique.

There are "some" decorations, but certainly nothing like the USA. The American schools and the US Embassy sponsor Halloween "parties" and the kids wear costumes, and trick-or-treat on location.

We were in Sorrento two years ago for halloween and it was great "dolce scesezi" not sure the spelling is correct. The kids were having a blast dressed in costumes going store to store getting treats and having fun with silly string and water balloons. we will be there this year for halloween as well i made sure we stayed the extra day just to enjoy it again. The best thing was next morning all the store keepers were out cleaning up in front of there store and no one was complaining, like they would here. it was a night a fun mischief

We were in Rome on Halloween. I would say the vast majority of Romans don't celebrate it in any way. We did stumble on to a costumed pub crawl that was organized by Italians but made up mostly of college-age Americans in togas. More like a frat party than anything else. You might look for leaflets posted around town for Haloween event ideas........All Saints Day, on the other hand, is widely celebrated. Plan for some closures of businesses and museums (such as the Vatican museum).

We were in Rome for Halloween a few years ago and although I was not aware of anything special going on, we toured Castel Sant'Angelo at night and it was wonderful. Especially eerie and evocative knowing it was Halloween night.

Jon-I just returned fr Rome on the 24th and to our surprise noticed that many of the storefronts already had Halloween decor up!!We thought that was just for americans!so we asked..they told the same story..many of the students and people who live there have celebrated it just like at home and it seemed to rub off on the Italians now.We just saw this in Rome, not in Florence or Perugia?!!Tho the Baci chocolate company of Perugia does have pumpkin wrapped balls for sale now.So the answer is yes the Italians do Halloween!!hope this is god news