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Visiting Rome Aug 14-15, During Assumption Feast/Holiday: What will be open?

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So, I just discovered the supremely bad news that our Rome days are during a major religious holiday, and Vatican is closed. We arrive on a Tuesday afternoon, I leave Thursday evening, and Wed-Thurs is the holiday.

Trying to work around this somehow, well there is no work around, but trying to figure our options. At this point, assuming that changing the days of the entire portion of the Rome trip is impossible/too expensive, will we have restaurants to go to? An online tour guide chat says they do have Colosseum/Forum tours open, but that many local businesses will be closed.

Does anyone have experience visiting during this time and any advice? Switching two of our cities (for example, swapping Venice and Rome) would require re-buying our Venice to Rome train tickets and moving our departure back to the States from Rome to Venice, which at this point looks to be pretty pricey. And making sure we can find hotels too.

Thanks for advice! Trying to stay positive!

Posted by
11827 posts

There will be plenty of restaurants open, especially in the tourist areas. Italians go out to eat on holidays, too, so be sure to make a reservation for dinner. (See many posts here, lately, about the wisdom of reservations.) Shops in residential areas are more likely to be closed and many close for the whole month of August.

You will be able to see on the website for various museums and historical sites whether they are open. Most close only Christmas, Easter, and May 1, so other than the Vatican, there will be plenty to see. I suspect you can still se St. Peter’s Basilica, but if not, there are so many amazing churches you will get your fill!

Posted by
1756 posts

The festive day is only Thursday, Aug 15th, probably in Vatican they tacked also the Wednesday; but Aug 14th should be an ordinary working day. Sort of; in mid August all Italians flock to their holiday destinations and on Aug. 15th the whole country comes at a standstill. As the resident base in cities will be severely reduced, leaving mainly outside visitors, the best places to be are the big touristic centers where services and restaurants will be more likely running.

So, do not switch cities; as long as you understand it is an holiday, Rome is probably one of the best places to be on that day. Maybe it could be wise to reserve the restaurant at lunch time and if you need a taxi to the airport, it could be a good idea as well to reserve one through your hotel. Buses and trains run on a reduced schedule.

Posted by
11 posts

Thank you so much for these wonderful replies! I am feeling a little better about it now. I did have a helpful tour operator chat (with the Roman Guy) who let me know that the Basilica should be open for a bit after the Papal address, and they have Colosseum Tours open over the holiday.

We will definitely make our reservations ahead! And we may just buy an earlier train ticket from Venice to Rome on Wed to get to see more of the Vatican. So yes, I guess this is manageable! And may also be quite special. We weren't planning on seeing a Papal address, but sounds like it just may be in the cards after all.

Thanks also for the tip about special train schedules, wouldn't have thought of that either!

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