Hi, I'm a 20 yr old US male who is travelling to Venice, Italy for 3 weeks during Christmas break for a university-affiliated English Literature course. We arrive January 2, but the general consensus is that we would all like to arrive a few days earlier (Dec. 28th, maybe?) and hit up another city in Italy or surrounding area for New Year's Eve celebrations and then take a train to Venice on Jan 1st. Any suggestions for cities nearby that fit my description? I appreciate the responses!

Hello coopman, here is a website that might get you started regarding NYE in Italy.

Hello coopman, here is a website that might get you started regarding NYE in Italy.
http://goitaly.about.com/od/festival...a/newyears.htm

Your three weeks in Italy sound wonderful, enjoy!

hi, coopman,

out of interest I just went onto ww.trenitalia.it [there's an english site too if you google] and looked up trains for 1st Jan 2008.

As I suspected, the trains from florence and roma don't leave those places til late at night - new years' day is a holiday in italy.

I think you would do better arriving slightly earlier and moving to Venice on the 30th, or do your travelling after your course.

Good luck,

regards, ann

Ann, I think you failed to notice that the Trenitalia site automatically enters as departure time the actual time, i.e., you got trains departing at or after 11:05 p.m.

There are many trains that do travel during the day on January 1st.

Any of the university cities get pretty wild or wonderful depending on your perspective and age.

A work colleague of mine spent NYE in Bologna (arguably the most concentrated university population in Italy) with her boyfriend and was shocked by the ritual prosecco guzzling and subsequent glass-breaking that happened in the main piazza at midnight: the police presence is strong and it is safe as far as that much broken glass can be. My take was that she would have enjoyed the events a lot more if she had been 20 rather than 35!

Venice will likely be much more staid except maybe for the area near the Tre Archi bridge where the campus is, so I second your desire to get there later if you want to enjoy the night with your peers. You might try also try Perugia.

And all trains lead to Venice (or connect to there) so don't worry about that.

Tanti auguri!

I appreciate the responses so far! Bologna sounds fantastic, but so does Perugia. Hmm...decisions decisions.

hi, zerlina,

nope- I put in the times I thought the OP might be travelling - 11am or so.

i just tried to check on bahn.de but they haven't got the timetable yet for that period.

certainly in the UK, the trains are impossible on Jan 1st [and Jan 2nd -Dec 31st, come to that].

regards, ann

Ann,

Apologies for assuming you overlooked the time. I just tried 1 January 2008 as well, and I suspect that, like bahn.de, trenitalia has simply not yet entered the data for Italian trains, since the only trains it shows are international EN trains.

I would be prepared to bet you dollars to donuts that the trains in Italy run on Sunday schedules - somewhat reduced but not by much - on 1 January...

hi, zerlina - no problem.

I just wanted to alert the OP to this potential problem, based on what it's like trying to get a train on New Year's Day in the UK.

it would be a shame for them to arrange their lodgings, only to find that then they can't get to Venice on time.

regards, ann

We did Parma and had a blast.

I too am thinking of being in Venice on January 1. Do you think things will be open - by things I mean tourist sights (jewish ghetto tours, museums, basilica, churches, murano)?? Thanks.

For heaven's sake, most large museums in Italy (except for their regular weekly closing day) are closed three days of the year: January 1, May 1 and December 25.
The Doge's Palace in Venice does not even have a weekly closing day.

Churches are never closed - but they would appreciate it if you didn't sightsee during services. And yes, there will be services in the morning and perhaps one in the afternoon on January 1.

Murano cannot be "closed": it's an island. Yes, some restaurants and many shops will be closed. Live with it!

For heaven's sake, most large museums in Italy (except for their regular weekly closing day) are closed three days of the year: January 1, May 1 and December 25. The Doge's Palace in Venice does not even have a weekly closing day.

Churches are never closed - but they would appreciate it if you didn't sightsee during services. And yes, there will be services in the morning and perhaps one in the afternoon on January 1.

Murano cannot be "closed": it's an island. Yes, some restaurants and many shops will be closed. Live with it!

ok...
I know Murano is an Island, I have been to Venice before. What I mean is will glass blowing shops be open etc... Basically I plan on being there on January 1 so I want to know what my options are!!

Hello rr, I am sure the glass blowing shops will not be open. It is a holiday and I can't imagine any glass blower being willing to work on NY's Day.