Hi all,
My husband and I will be in Rome to bring in the new year. We are familiar with Rome however we've never been in Rome for New Year's eve. We don't know anyone in Rome but want to be able to celebrate. Any suggestions on where we can go and have a great time and ring in the new year?
Thanks!
ES
We have been in Rome for New Years a few times, we like to travel during the Christmas season, and we really enjoyed it. I would suggest walking the route from Piazza dei Popolo down the Via del Corso. Take a left on Via dei Condotti and head over to the Spanish Steps. From there make your way to the Trevi Fountain and then back to the Via del Corso at the Alberto Sordi Mall. Walk across the street through Piazza Colonna making your way past the Pantheon and to the Piazza Navona. There will be tons of people along this route as well as too many bars to count. My only experience is pre-COVID and it was extremely crowded the times we were there. I would also suggest avoiding the Metro after about 10:00pm as it gets crowded and many of the passengers are those who have been "celebrating" a little too hard.
You will need to have a dinner reservation as everyone seems to dine out and the restaurants book early. You might want to try to get something set up now. Be aware that Italians that normally dine late dine even later on NYE. They start about 10PM. The restaurants we have been to (lived there for several years) always have party hats and noisemakers for midnight.
Fireworks start everywhere at midnight: big displays in sanctioned places, private shows off of tiny balconies, and general misbehavior in the streets and piazzas, so be careful. People get carried away -- at least pre-COVID they did - in Piazza del Popolo. You'll want to Google "Rome New Years 2021" to see what official events, if any, are planned. If not, there will be plenty of unofficial revelry.
Plan to walk as by midnight the streets are jammed and the buses stop running in the center. Taxis are rare and as mentioned above the Metro is nuts. I often thought it would be fun to get a hotel room overlooking the Colosseum t watch the show there rather than be in the street, but we just ate in our neighborhood and watched the fireworks from balconies near us. The displays went on for over an hour all over town.
Get some red underwear. It's a thing.
Re: “unofficial revelry”
We were in Rome on NYE in 1984. We watched the fireworks displays going on everwhere. In addition, it seems there was a custom of throwing household items from balconies and upper story windows. Maybe a way to get rid of broken things? We were actually warned to be careful of ufos. The next day the streets were littered with crockery, pots and pans, even furniture!
