Hi

I am considering planning a trip to Italy in August but I have have been told that this is not a good time for two reasons. Reason #1 has been addressed many times on theis board - the heat. That in and of itself doen't bother us - but reason # 2 is that I heard that many things in Italy are literally closed down - because this is the time most if the Italian natives go on holioday themselves. Is that true? I don't want to spend the money to go if we won't be able to get teh full experience.

I appreciate all of your feedback.

THANKS!

We've traveled in Italy during August several times. Other than the horrible heat, there's little reason not to. In the main tourist centers -- Florence, Venice, Rome, Amalfi Coast -- you'll find little evidence of things closing down. Perhaps a specific restaurant (not aimed at tourists) will be closed. On the other hand when we were in Puglia, specifically Lecce during the two main August weeks of Italian vacation, we found lots of places closed down. I had a list of five or six restuarants I wanted to go to, but only one was open. We stayed in a beautiful hotel that was practically deserted -- usually filled with Italian businessmen, I suppose. So the bottom line, I suppose, is where you are going.

Patrick is right--just about anything a tourist would be interested in is open. After all, not only are they catering to foreign tourists at this time, but Italian tourists stopping off on their way to the beaches as well.

And it can be very, very hot. It's one thing to experience hot weather in one's everyday life--especially in the USA where we go from air conditioned house, to air conditioned car, to air conditioned office and vice versa. It's another thing to be on vacation in a hot, humid city where you want to be out moving from place to place during the day and the sights are often not air conditioned.

But you can combat the heat--plan any activities involving the outdoors or lots of walking for the early morning and the evening. Find air conditioned options for the heat of the afternoon, or take a siesta in your air conditioned hotel room, or spend a lot of time in a shady cafe or bar with the beverage of you choice. Dress appropriately--you're going to be walking a lot, so wear light colored and light weight clothing, a hat or cap, comfortable but light shoes, and don't forget the sun block. Eat sparingly during the day.

August 15th is a national holiday. We were in Florence at that time and the 15th was a Friday. Many stores and restarants were closed that day and for the weekend. Kind of like July 4th here. Holiday means three-day weekend. All major sites were open though. My trip report addresses this holiday in more detail if you click on my name.

And yes the heat is brutal.

We traveled to Milan, Venice, Florence,AC, Naples and Rome in August of 1997 (so it was awhile ago). I personnally would never go in August again. Milan was literally a ghost town. Venice and Florence were open and chock full of tourists. The trains were jammed travelling south anywhere (we started in Milan and took the train to Naples and then up to Rome). Drove to Venice and Florence. In Naples, nothing was opened by the Amalfi Coast was an absolute zoo. All the tourist attractions in Rome were open but all the mom and pop type restaurants were closed leaving only the tourist oriented (and usually more expensive with worse food) restaurants. I definately would not go anywhere coastal unless you love being packed on a beach with thousands of people and sitting in traffic jams or smashed on trains.