topeater

We will be in Italy late March, early April, leaving April 2 before Easter. How intense are the crowds the week after Palm Sunday? I really want to firm up our itinerary and can do Rome at the beginning or the end. Those of you that have been in Rome during this time, how crowded does it get?

Thanks for any info.

letsgeaux

We have been to Rome twice during Easter week, 2005 and 2014. With the exception of the Vatican on Easter Sunday, the impression we got is that it was pretty crowded but not unbearably so. It was mostly business as usual.

bvlenci

In the early part of the week, there will be no noticeable difference compared to other weeks at that time of the year. Beginning with Maundy Thursday, there may be a noticeable increase in the number of visitors at the Vatican, but nothing noticeable in the rest of the city. On Good Friday, there is a big evening procession at the Colosseum, in which the Pope traditionally participates, and that will put the Colosseum area off limits for the entire afternoon. Other than that, the city will be normal. There are no unusual closings, not even on Good Friday.

Easter Sunday and Monday are both national holidays, but most museums and archaeological sites maintain their normal hours. On all Mondays, state and national museums are closed, but sometimes they have special openings for Easter Monday.

Since it's a three-day weekend, and many schools are closed for their spring holiday, the week after Easter tends to be busier than usual in Rome, but not extraordinarily so.

sandralist

My experience of that time of year is that the zillions of Catholic pilgrims coming in for Vatican related events are easily absorbed by the size of the Vatican -- however, they do arrive before and after the actual Easter "holy" days and tend to also want to see the very most famous sights of Rome that have nothing to do with the Vatican while they are in town. So the Colosseo and the Forum, the Spanish Steps and the Trevi Fountain can be quite jammed up with foreigners, although places like the Baths of Caracalla or the atmospheric streets around the Portico d'Ottavia and the old Jewish Ghetto can be breezily empty.

Dayle

I can tell you from my experience that the Sistine Chapel will be closed on Palm Sunday. Don't know about other closings during this time. I would definitely check if you plan to try and see it.

We caught a wonderful parade/procession in St Peters Square after the Palm Sunday mass. An unexpected perk of the holiday celebration week. Afterward the Pope, John Paul blessed the crowd from his balcony.

Rome was busy but not crazy.

annhig

we cunningly arrived in Rome on Easter Sunday expecting it to be like the UK ie shut. Not a bit of it - we had no problem in finding places to eat or to do basic shopping. The Colosseum and Forum were open on Easter Monday and virtually everywhere else opened on the Tuesday, except places like Castel San Angelo which usually closes Mondays so had Tuesday off in lieu.

The queue for the Vatican museums was awful on the Tuesday but better later in the week and apart from that we had no problem getting into whatever we were interested in. The thing is, there is so much to see that the numbers get absorbed.

if you want to see St Peter's, [who doesn't] i would leave it til later in the week and try to get there early - before 9.30 am is good.

topeater

Thanks everyone for all the info. We've decided to give it a whirl!

bvlenci

The Sistine Chapel (which is part of the Vatican Museums) is closed on Palm Sundays, but it's closed on almost every other Sunday as well. The last Sunday of each month is the only time it would be open, as long as it doesn't fall on a Catholic Feast day, and then it's open for shorter hours and has free admission.

I once went there on a free admission day, and nothing in the world would induce me to try that again. It was like the seventh circle of hell.

Dayle

Bvlenci,

I sure that was not what Michelangelo had in mind!