Late night noise?

LOL! I think this is it! I live on Via Urbana in Monti, my part of the street is All rock, lined with old convents and old churches, and you'd think nobody would find us at night, oh but they do. No loud parties all night like at the Monkey Bar in Florence, but there's plenty of activity, travelers rolling their luggage over the jagged stones, laughing, talking, planning, neighbors who choose to stop under my window to catch up on their days, dogs left outside too late.

There are quiet streets and areas in Rome just like in Florence. And if you get a courtyard room, those are quieter than street rooms. If I have any more ideas I'll let you know.

Was this a Friday or Saturday night? Activity/noise level goes up then.

And big-city noise is one reason earplugs are suggested for travel.

A friend and I rented an apartment in Paris this last Spring for 2 1/2 weeks in the 11th, not exactly a high tourist zone but more of a Parisian neighborhood.
Her bedroom was on the inner "courtyard" in the middle of a number of smaller apartment buildings and she was the audience for family conversations and much more through the open windows.
Mine was on the street side with the late night bar/cafe patrons walking home after midnight, talking loudly and even occasionally singing ... There was also designated motorcycle parking at the end of our block ...
We considered all of it just "city living" ambience and it wouldn't have occurred to us to complain!
I hope that your experience hasn't soured you on European cities!

There are no noise ordinances. When we lived there, an exclusive club near did 20-minute fireworks shows at midnight for parties/weddings in the middle of the week. Concerts in parks got started at 21:00 and went on and on. Unmuffled cars? No problem!

Yet the lady who lived above us thought our washing machine made too much noise if I ran it at 7:00 AM before I left for work! Neighbors will confront one another about the "Hours of rest" while the rest of Roma is cacophony!

I never would've thought to actually complain, but it was surprising! We stayed in several big cities throughout our trip and never experienced noise like that anywhere else. Thanks for your replies!

What you describe is my experience in Strasbourg in 1999....yes the noise went to 3 am. I stayed a small hotel near the train station for 3 or 4 nights(?). Every night the noise was due to breaking bottles, yelling, drinking, screaming, etc,...lovely. It ended when the police showed up each night...laughable.

Hi Vitani,

Last night people seemed to be having street parties, music blaring, singing, yelling, etc. This went on until at least 2:30, the last time I was woken up by it. It made me wonder, are there no rules about this here?

It's such a coincidence that I found your post because I've had a similar experience regarding late noise near my window these past couple of nights. On Friday night, my last night in beautiful Lucca, many Rolling Stones fans began to party the night away till the wee hours of the morning! (Big Rolling Stones concert was last night) Last night, my first night in Siena, my host told me that there were ear plugs in my room in case I needed them. I went to bed early as I was tired from my travel day, then was rudely awaken by loud voices at 1AM!
The ear plugs didn't help much but I managed to fall asleep after an hour or so. Then at 6:30AM I was woken up by the trash/recycling collection truck emptying a multitude of glass bottles.

So... I decided to get up and head out into the quiet, peaceful streets of beautiful Siena (before the day trippers arrive) It was the perfect time to take wonderful photos of beautiful Siena.

I hope you had a wonderful trip!

I was in Dublin a couple weeks ago staying in a hotel in the city center and there was some kind of machine that made a constant noise all night long for 3 nights. Ear plugs did not help so I put an extra pillow over my head and that blocked out the noise completely! Peaceful sleep ensued.

I use earplugs every night in cities of any size unless my room faces what appears to be an unused courtyard or air shaft. It's always worse on weekends; few people become more considerate of others after a night of bar-hopping.

I also think this is a cultural issue. Housing spaces in Europe tend to be a lot smaller than ours (the population density is much higher), so people use the public areas as sort of extended living rooms.

Another reason to travel off-season...

This year late February/early March we rented a tiny second-floor apartment overlooking Campo de' Fiori in Rome for almost a week. It being in the 50's and 60's F. most of the time (40's in the early morning), we had our French windows open to the piazza whenever we were there. During the day, we'd hear the happy hum of hundreds of shoppers at the market. Late in the afternoon, the vendors would leave, the street sweepers would do their job and there'd be a 2-hour period or so where it would turn to dusk, then evening, and a few street musicians would come out with a random cacophony of talent--a guitar here, a cello or accordion there. It was not loud but one could hear it from inside the apartment. Later in the evening, we'd be out & about having dinner, then walking the piazza eating our gelato while sitting at the Giordano Bruno statue, and this was very pleasant among the strolling tourists and locals.

We had wondered, with Campo being supposedly a social gathering place, how loud it would get in the 10PM-1AM period when we were trying to settle down for bed--we had heard horror stories about that in high season. And we like to leave the windows open for the fresh air, but if need be, we'd close them. As it turned out, it was not so bad at all--there was the echo-y hum that provided a perfect white noise for us to sack out, a minimum of drunkards and overserved college students.

But the best part, the personal audio file in my brain that I'll remember most fondly, would be at dawn the next morning. At about 5:30 AM, we'd routinely hear the scraping of carts across the cobblestones of the piazza in the quiet. Then a few occasional catcalls in Roman dialect, reverberating back & forth against the buildings facing the piazza, one veteran vendor to another, welcoming each other to another day of business. I grew to love and expect those sounds in the morning, as a personal alarm clock of sorts, truly a wonderful way to wake up in Rome. By 7AM everything was humming again, and I'd shower, dress & walk down the street for a quick caffe before returning to the Campo & locating my favorite fruit vendor to buy my grapes, strawberries and blood oranges for the day.

In the heat of the summer I cannot imagine reproducing this wonderful experience. A pity that so many are focused on summer travel or are limited to visit Italy during that time. There's so much more.

Enjoy your Sunday, and enjoy planning your travels!

New York City is almost never without noise. It is the city that never sleeps. Even if you live high up like I do, there's white noise from all the rooftop machinery that buildings use. I have a fabulous terrace that I rarely use. These days, the city often sounds like a war zone: the sirens are endless as are the ubiquitous helicopters.

I'm spoiled because the interior of my apartment is unusually quiet for a city center apartment with an expansive view. When friends and guests visit, they inevitably say something like, "It's so quiet here, I'd never know I was in NYC." Now that I'm older, I so appreciate the quiet quality.

I've always considered myself a light sleeper, so decibel levels at night really matter to me if my goal is solid, uninterrupted sleep. Those of us who live in big, noisy cities tend to be immune to the sounds of big-city nightlife. The younger you are, the more immune one can be. If you're a first-time visitor from a rural location in the U.S., the sound of Rome at night can devastate.

I will never forget my first night attempting to sleep in Rome. I was a young guest in a clergy community just around the corner from the Trevi Fountain. My dark, bathroom-less room, one flight above the ground floor, had one window, and it faced a narrow vicolo (small alleyway). At 12:30 AM, in a jet-lagged stupor, I shockingly discovered how popular that vicolo was with Vespa owners seeking a shortcut. I didn't sleep well at all that debut evening. The echoed sound of roaring motorcycles bouncing off stone buildings shook my bed frame as if I was experiencing an earthquake while listening to an Imax version of Transformers.

A smart traveler who cares about quality sleep in Rome will eventually learn to pack earplugs. But they won't be just any earplugs, since most of the stuff that's easy to get your hands on does not qualify for suppressing high decibels. For places like Vespa-ridden Rome, you need silicone earplugs, the kind that rock-n-roll sound engineers use when they're on the road with Metallica.

If you're the type of traveler who likes to over plan, a good night's sleep is crucial to a successful trip. Without good sleep, your energy level, your stamina, your attention span, and your memory will suffer.

We have been to Italy a number of times and had some interesting experiences with noise in hotel rooms.
In Naples we had a room with window to an interior courtyard so I thought that it's going to be a good nights sleep. Not so. The courtyard was also the courtyard for many residents and quite a few Grandma's. They would all meet at their window and hold conversations and have a good time late at night. And the echo! At the time I really wished I could speak Italian to listen in and enjoy the conversation. Yeah, earplugs.

In Rome I booked Hotel Abruzzi that is right in front of the Pantheon. We got a room with 2 windows right onto the Piazza Della Rotonda and the Pantheon. It was the exact view I wanted knowing that it would be noisy until early in the morning. Not so, those were the best windows ever. But we enjoyed checking out the view and people watching from the windows. My husband laughed at one point when he saw some other tourists taking our picture at the window. We waved and all laughed. So you never know.

I skimmed through the replies so sorry for not paying more attention, but as per your question - "are there no rules about this here", of course you can call the police anytime after 00.00 (ie. midnight) - there are regulations about the noise and the police can and will intervene after a complaint (or three). Sorry about your experience, hope it didn't taint your memories of Italy.

I've had similar experiences in NYC staying next to Times Square.
Being in the city center of a major city has a lot to do with it.
If one is not used to city noise, then it's a good idea to choose accommodations carefully. There are streets quieter than others in every city.

We had a similar experience in Madrid. The late night street parties segued right into early morning deliveries and trash pick-up. We stayed in a different hotel in Madrid after a side trip to Granada, and it was much quieter.

There are no noise ordinances

According to whom?

I doubt there is a single condo whose regulation allows the use of washing machines before 8 AM; don't you have condos internal rules laid down by residents in Oregon, yet? You should have explained it to your neighbour.

When you stay at a private independent hostel which obviously has no curfew, no lights out policy, you have a good chance being exposed to noise after midnight. In Munich I was at such a hostel in 2009. The dorm room was 4 floors up from the main door entrance, it was the end of June and hot, so much so the dorm room was pretty stuffy. So, the Canadian girls decided to request a fan from the Rezeption, which I thought would be ignored. To the credit of the hostel located ca 6 mins from the Hbf., I was wrong.

A fan was brought up to the room but with its noise the girls said they couldn't sleep. The fan was turned off. They didn't want the leave the room's big window open because of the street noise underneath, almost constant, (this was after midnight), guys drinking and talking right under our window. In the end they decided to shut the window because of the outside noise and not to turn on the fan. The room got hot and very stuffy.

According to whom?
I doubt there is a single condo whose regulation allows the use of washing machines before 8 AM; don't you have condos internal rules laid down by residents in Oregon, yet? You should have explained it to your neighbour.

Darioalb,
In many U.S. cities, loud concerts and fireworks celebrations such as those at Antico Tiro e Volo after 22:00 would not be allowed except in very special circumstances (4th of July, New Years). Even our outdoor concerts have to end by 22:00. I found it ironic that my neighbors would shrug at fireworks at midnight on a work/school night whilst complaining about laundry on a weekday morning when, by the way, construction activities and garbage pick up were already making a racket in the streets at 07:00!

I have never lived in a U.S. property where doing laundry bothered my neighbors nor was it regulated. Perhaps in some places they have such regulations.

I live on the north end of the Via Urbana hill in Monti, opposite the Cavour Metro stop at the bottom of the hill, the south end. The trash pickup here comes at 1:30 AM, and the crashing of the glass and tins is deafening. Then a different trash pickup for the other stuff comes at 4 AM!