We will be arriving in Rome December 30 & departing Jan 3rd. I have been searching books & online & cannot seem to find direct answers. We are trying to plan out our days & are wondering what your experience has been with major sights being opened/closed during those dates because of the holidays. Can anyone help?

This is certainly an out of date reply... the last time I spent New Year's Eve in Rome was in the late 1970s ! It was memorable because, having spent Christmas with Italian friends, we spent new year"s eve sitting in the lobby of the hotel watching television.... everything was closed. Restaurants, hotels restaurants, everything.
Don't know if that's true today, as
I always seem to be there in February in recent years.

PB

We were in Rome this year from 1/4-1/7. I can't speak to NYE in Rome, but in the days after the holiday, everything was open and quite crowded.

The Vatican Museums were open in the afternoons during the week, which was wonderful. Not a lot of other tourists were aware of this, so we actually got to avoid a lot of the crowds.

Our visit coincided with the Feast of the Epiphany, which is a large public holiday in Rome. All of the sites were open, and we got to watch some of the parades and visit the festivals occuring.

All restaurants and stores were open for normal business hours the few days that were there.

hi there. we were in Rome for the last two New Years eves and really enjoyed it, especially the first year as last year it poured rain for the whole night. we went to Piazza del Popolo for midnight where if its fine they have a big outdoor entertainment and firework display. bring a bottle with you. I wouldn't bother eating in a restaurant that night as it seems to be all set menus, quite expensive and you need to book in advance. we ate in Campo dei Fioro- just pizza and pasta, but perfect. all the italians are all over the streets and throw old furniture and crockery out their windows to ring in the new year, so watch out in the cobble narrow streets!! Afterwards we make our way to trastevere where there are late night bars. New Years Day is quiet, so maybe if yo're interested get the Popes blessing and go for a long lunch somewhere or wander up around the roman Forum and Colusseum, where the road is pesedtrianised for the day and makes a quiet change. we love Rome at this time.. not too busy and if you get the right weather, so romantic to stroll around. In fact we are heading back again this year!!! Enjoy yourselves.

Thank you Emcor- it's always fun when an old post gets new feedback! The falling furniture/crockery from the sky is such a vivid picture in my mind... too funny! Thanks for the good information & suggestions. We appreciate it so much.

Well my experience was very different because we flew out of Rome on Jan 1 2005 so NY Eve was for getting to bed early for an early flight. One thing I will tell you, don't expect to sleep much because the BOOMing of the fireworks start at about 9p and end at about 3am and they are very loud. We were stayed steps away from P. Navona.

I stumbled on this post while searching for ideas on where our family and our good friends should spend Christmas '07/New Yrs '08.

Last year, New years '06, we were in Tuscany for Christmas and Rome for New Years. The group was our family of 4 and another family of 8. In total we had 4 adults, 5 teenagers and 3 grade schoolers.

It was not our first trip to Europe but it was probably our best. The kids still talk about how much fun they had. They all really LOVED Rome for NYs eve. We rented two apartments near Campo dei Fiori. We had a 3-4 hr meal on New Years eve. Most restaurants had set menu's and were pretty pricely. Then we wandered towards Piazza del Popolo. It rained most of the night so there weren't as many big fireworks displays as planned. There were folding tables set up all over selling cheap bottles of champagne for drinking/spraying at midnight. New years day most places were closed. We attended mass at Santa Susanna, the American Church in Rom then we just wandered around the main piazzas. Plenty of restaurants were open. It was easy to find a place for lunch without a reservation.

One of the busiest places in Rome is Piazza Navona. The entire piazza is converted into a carnival. It seemed to become more busy with locals after New Years leading up to the Epiphany. As a matter of fact it was still hopping well after 1:00am on NYs eve when we passed through on our way back to the apartment.

A highlight for the teens in our group was watching American football Bowl Games on TV at The Abbey Pub. (located on one of the narrow streets behind Piazza Navona.) They watched the Rose Bowl live at 2:00am. They thought it was so cool to be walking home after the game as the sun was coming up.

We found Rome to be only mildly crowded in most areas except near St. Peters and the Vatican. There it is was always packed.

The weather was mild, similar to the San Francisco area. The only draw back is the short days. It was dark by 5pm. The most closures you'll find are on Dec 25, 26, Jan 1st.

Just tonight we had dinner with our friends that we travelled to Italy with for the holidays last year. We were all wishing we were there again this year. Hence the early stages of a plan for next year!

We were in Rome two years ago for New Year's Eve (see other posting about staying in the worst apt in the world that we called the hole). We were a street behind the Piazza Navona and it was one giant party all night long! Lots and lots of different age groups having a good time. We had an early meal and then just joined the festivities. But we left our wallets back in the hole.

Hi,suziem
Can you share your apartment info, as I'm looking for 2 apartments close together for Christmas 2008. Or are you going to be there again? Thanks

happytotravel-
We rented two of the 2-bedroom apartments at Palazzo Olivia.

http://www.palazzo-olivia.it/inglese/palazzo/index.html

I found them mentioned here on Fodors and slowtrav.com (where you'll find tons of reviews. They are very popular and IMO an excellent location. The photos on their web site are accurate.

If you like them, book soon. There are only 7 apts. We reserved 8 months in advance and some of the apts were already booked. Xmas/Nyrs week is high season.

You'll have a great time in Rome for the holidays. I think Christmas/New Years '07 we're heading to Barcelona and/or Paris.

Thanks, They look nice and I really like the location.