Is anyone going to be in Rome on March 27th?
Seems it is going to be a quiet week there and I wondered why?

Helen-I know that you are seeing if anyone can go on your 150 euro / 2 hour closed tour of the Vatican from your company but it is against Fodor's policy to advertise anything. I will be there on the 27th but am not interested.

Actually I have cancelled the tour - and that made me think that it was a very quite time. Some one asked about Rome being full in October and I was trying to work out when exactly the high season is.
I thought May but I didn't think March was so bad! I hope you have a great time.

What I wanted to say in the last message was - I knew September and October were very busy in Rome but I was trying to gage when the busiest month in the spring was.

I didn't realise March was so quite and was curious. I have friends arriving from the US on the 26th.

Of course Easter will play a part in the numbers going to Rome - some can only travel then, others want to avoid that period.

The second part of March is actually a very busy time to visit Rome for most people from the USA. It was somewhat quiet on my flights there the past two weeks(not the massive crowds as usual) but Rome is definitely a number one attraction for the traveling public.

That's what I thought too.

I am trying to organise a group from Ireland/Scotland for St Patrick's Day 2007 and wanted start the visit on the 16th.

I have friends coming over on the 26th and that is why I was trying for a private tour on the 27th but just couldn't find enough people. Then I thought maybe the end of March wasn't as busy as I had previously believed.

I'll be there from the 25th through 28th; it's the beginning of Easter break for some schools in the UK, so there might be more people due to that, not sure.

Easter break 3 weeks before Easter??
The Easter holidays are much shorter here.

I have no idea for other people, but March is usually Spring Break in America for schools and universities. I'm taking my sister next week to Italy for Spring Break and when I was in college I went to Spain. Last year in grad school, I went to Thailand/Vietnam over Spring Break. Gotta love the cheaper airfare in the Spring. Another reason I often travel internationally over Thanksgiving. Americans dont get a lot of vacation - so we try to take our trips over American holidays.

Helen: I'm studying abroad at a British school, and we have 4 weeks of Easter break (it's the time between the teaching semester and the exam period). Kind of a strange way to do it, but it gives me 4 weeks to wander around Europe.

4 weeks is great! If you are anywhere in Umbria you should contact me and we could meet for a coffee.

I will be going down to Rome for the next 2 weeks so I will see what the numbers are like. I am so disappointed that my tour didn't have enough people, especially because one of those who did book works in the Vatican as a researcher, I think she would be a great source of knowledge and everyone in the place knows her so that might have been useful!

Where is the British school you attend and what do you study there?

<< Seems it is going to be a quiet week >>

The Rome Marathon is on Sunday, March 26.

Woody

March 25 & 26 is also the Giornate di Primavera sponsored by FAI. Here in N. Lazio we are opening several unique sites: a huge castle between Tuscania and Vetralla- Rocca Respampani, Palazzo Orsini in Bomarzo, several sites in the towns of Vasanello and ORte. www.fondoambiente.it for full info. Over 190 sites will be opened all over Italy with free tours.

I'm studying at King's College London for the semester, doing War Studies (I do Science, Technology, and International Affairs/Security Studies back at Georgetown most of the time). Don't think I'll be in Umbria, though (this is going to be something of a whirlwind tour; it may be a while before I get back Europe away from the coasts, so I want to see some of everything, meaning Rome, Florence, Bologna (for a few hours), Venice, Vienna, Prague, Berlin, Munich, Paris in those 4 weeks).

Oh - I had forgotten that you call university school!!
I was looking up this thread to see if there was anything useful for the "Rome Marathon" thread and I found your reply!