I will be in Italy over Easter. My friend and I are going together and she has no interest in going to any of the church services or church-related activities. We're trying to figure out what options there are from Good Friday to the day after Easter Monday -Liberation Day). Right now our plan would be to go to Naples on Friday April 22 to see the Archaeological Museum there (we're hoping it's open). Overnight at a hostel. Saturday, we are doing a day trip to Sicily (Agrigento) via plane flight. Returning and overnighting in Sorrento. Sunday (Easter) we're waiting to hear from the organization in charge of the sites for Pompeii, Heculaneum and the circumvesuvia train to see if these sites might be open on Easter. Overnighting in Sorrento. MondayNot sure. Overnighting in Rome. TuesdayBeleghese Galleries. Reservations made. If anyone knows for sure of Sites that are open on Easter Sunday and Monday that would be of great help. If you know that Herculaneum/Pompeii are or are not open, please include that as well. Basically, all I've found online is sites where people say "It's Easter in Italy...of course things are closed" but these are comments from people who have never gone during Easter. My friend and I were locked into the dates by another group of friends...we weren't planning on going during Easter, but we now we are and so we're trying to make the best of it.
Our biggest surprise was that Easter Monday was also a holiday - and there was no public transportation going anywhere from the smaller towns. I would guess that you wouldn't have trouble getting out of Sorrento on that day, but I think I'd try to check that out ahead of time, too. Looks like you're already trying to find out about the Circumvesuviana.
We will be in Italy Holy and Easter week also. I was told trains run as normal. We will be traveling from Orvieto to Siena Easter Sunday and on to Cinque terre Mon. Where did you get your information...expect transportation to be more croweded due to the Holiday on Mon.
I found information on http://www.frommers.com/community/forum.cfm/europe/italy/easter-amalfi-vist-pompeii that implies the two sites (Pompeii and Herculaneum) will be open on Easter Sunday as they are only closed three days a year (which seems odd, but if it's true, I am happy).
I too will be in Rome for Easter week and I am planning on going to Pompeii on Easter Sunday with a tour company called Dark Rome Tours. I contacted them and they said that Pompeii will be open on Easter and they are doing their tours as normal business day on Easter. I hope this helps.
" Saturday, we are doing a day trip to Sicily (Agrigento) via plane flight " This doesn't sound too good. A looong day.
I thought the same about the flight, but it was Agrigento or Paestum. It takes 2 hours to get to Paestum (or more) and 60 minutes to fly to Agrigento. We thought it sounded crazy, but it ends up working out in some weird way.