Hey everyone, I will be in Rome in a couple days and am worried about the rain. Looking at the weather forecast, it looks like it will rain every day. From your experience, is the rain so bad that it would ruin the trip? What are some tips to deal with the rain?
Posted by
Washington DC
28247 posts
I'm not in Rome now and I'm not a meteorologist, but I just checked the Italian weather website I used when I was in Italy a few months ago, www.meteo.it. It is predicting no rain on Saturday or Sunday. Friday is predicted to have rain only for a few hours in the late afternoon, and weak rainfall at that. I have never found precipitation predictions to be terribly accurate, but this doesn't sound grim to me.
I don't know whether this direct link will work for you: https://www.meteo.it/meteo/roma-domani-58091
Rome is one of the easiest places to deal with wet weather in that it has a lot of sizable indoor museums--and only a very few of them present ticketing challenges. It also has nearly uncountable churches, so many of which are worth a visit. The hours for the non-famous churches are somewhat less predictable that museum hours; there's often a mid-day closing, and it could extend for multiple hours. Still, if it's beginning to rain and you see a church, it's worth a shot. You could also buy a few transit tickets when you initially arrive and use them to hop on a bus for some nearly-free sightseeing if the weather turns ugly. Transit tickets are sold at many newsstands and tobacco stands as well as at Metro station vending machines. They cost only 1.50 euros each, so if you end up not using what you buy, you can think of it as very cheap insurance. Each passenger needs his own ticket, so don't buy a single ticket good for multiple rides, planning to share it. You need to validate the ticket as soon as you get on a bus. Look for the small machine near the rear door of the bus.
Posted by
San Diego, California
5649 posts
We just returned from Italy, (Venice, Lake Como, and Sorrento/Amalfi.) We experienced unprecedented rain. Italy had been in a drought, and now it's raining, with flooding in the north about ten days ago. This is very similar what we just experienced this winter in southern CA. We spent a lot of time making lemonade, so to speak, adjusting for the weather. Use Waterproof spray on your shoes, have a full- length packable raincoat , and maybe even a thin rain poncho. We bought our rain ponchos from the street vendors, as we weren't sure our raincoats would stay dry. Make sure your raincoats are waterproof, not water- resistant. I hope you get lucky, and I agree, Rome has so many great indoor experiences, you will enjoy Rome.
Posted by
32 posts
Hot hot hot in Rome. I am here today.