Rome during Christmas Holidays

Not much open on Christmas Eve and Christmas day so make sure you have plans.

Rome is pretty much an open air museum, with plenty to see just walking around. We spent Christmas day walking, peeking into churches, seeing outdoor sights like statues and and fountains. Many restaurants were actually open. On the day after Christmas, we watched the Pope speak from his balcony (a real thrill even for non Catholics).The weather was warm enough that we took our coats off in the afternoon several days in Rome, although it was a bit colder in Florence.The Piazza Novana Christmas market was fun to walk through and most churches had lovely Nativity scenes, but Christmas was not as overtly commercial as in America.We checked each museum or site's website to be absolutely sure of the holiday hours and planned our itinerary around them to make sure we were able to see everything we wanted.We thought it was a great time to visit Italy.

We went to Rome last year for Christmas, arriving on Christmas eve and staying for 6 nights. With the help of our hotel, we had a pretty nice fixed price dinner at a nice restaurant on Christmas eve and ate at Alfredo's for Christmas dinner. Dinner at Alfredo's was pretty special as we had Omar Sharif and his family dining a couple of tables away from us.

I concur with the open air museum for Christmas day. Some sights start opening back up the day after Christmas. You can find alot of the hours ahead of time on the museum websites and coordinate your trip accordingly. We spent Christmas day doing alot of the Rick Steves walks around Rome and popped in and out of cafe's all day. Stores didn't open back up until the 27th if you are into shopping.

One suggestion if you are travelling in around Christmas eve/day is to book any necessary train travel ahead of time for that day. We flew into Milan and then took the train to Rome and ended up not getting seats. Fortunately, my wife was able to sit in a seat where someone missed the train for the trip. I stood for about half of the trip.

We went to Florence after Rome and I concur that it was colder there and was pretty packed. Venice over New Years was quite cold last year as well. Venice was also pretty packed at that time.

If I had it to do over again, we would go back and do the same thing in a heartbeat!

Have fun!

We spent Christmas Eve and Christmas Day in Firenze last year, and it was beautiful! You can visit my Italy blog for the full details of our itinerary there (address with my signature on this post), but it's true that most business shut down. We had a delicious and memorable Christmas Eve dinner at Trattoria Gabbi 13 in Florence, though (a number of restaurants and bars are open Christmas Eve, after 7 PM or so). Christmas Day we walked the city, and hiked up to Piazzale Michelangelo. Also a nice group walking at night for the passagiata in Florence. We went to mass at San Lorenzo Christmas Day, also memorable. Finding a place for dinner Christmas Night was not a problem, either; it's just that stores and museums are closed. Weather was about 50 degrees F. Florence was great!

I did Rome and Florence during the holidays and it was great. The weather in Rome was chilly but clear and sunny. Florence was colder and rainy.

Christmas Eve was great for strolling and shopping. We had a long lunch and saw a gospel choir perform on the Spanish Steps. You'll find lots of concerts, especially in churches. Restaurants will close early, so hit a grocery store when you get there.

New Year's Eve in Rome is crazy! Make dinner reservations as soon as possible. If not, you can always walk into a chinese or indian place. Then get ready - fireworks, dishes flying off the balconies and lots of crowds. It seemed that many people came in from other areas of the country to celebrate there.

We had a blast.