Christmas, Events, Rome, Shopping, Tips & tricks

Visiting Rome at Christmas (and New Year): The Ultimate Guide (Updated for 2019)

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Ah, Rome at Christmas! With the festive lights a-sparkling and families a-shopping, Christmas trees a-twinkling and nativity scenes a-…um, whatever nativity scenes do — well, it really is the most wonderful time of year.

Want to make the most of it? Here’s my complete guide to Rome at Christmas… and New Year, too.

Rome at Christmas basics: what will be open, what will be closed, and other burning questions

In the short video below, I answer some of readers’ biggest questions about visiting Rome at Christmas.

Here’s the breakdown of what holiday hours (and closures) to expect at museums, shops, restaurants, and with public transport in Rome.

What to do when visiting Rome at Christmas and New Year’s

Rome at Christmas Piazza Navona market
One beloved Christmas tradition in Rome: the Christmas market at Piazza Navona

Rome has lots of special events and activities over Christmas. Here are 9 festive experiences in Rome from the end of November to the beginning of January, from ice-skating to Christmas markets.

And speaking of Christmas markets… here are some of your best bets for the 2019-20 season.

You can always pay the (new!) pope a visit, too. Here’s how to see the new pope over the holidays.

Rome at Christmas
Christmas lights at Piazza San Lorenzo in Lucina

One of the best activities: just wandering the gloriously lit-up streets. In this photo essay, check out what it’s looked like in past years.

Rome at Christmas means nativities
Presepio at the Church of Sant’Eustachio

The presepi (Christmas nativity) exhibit I wrote about for the New York Times a couple of years ago is still going strong. There’s also a whole museum devoted to the craft of Christmas crib-making.

Christmas shopping in Rome

Christmas shopping in Rome - a great part of visiting Rome at Christmas
One traditional Italian gift: a beautifully-wrapped panettone

Get off of Via del Corso (no, really, please get off Via del Corso), and you’ll find tons of hidden independent boutiques and artisanal workshops in Rome — great for finding the perfect gift.

Here are nine of my favorite shops for buying one-of-a-kind gifts in Rome. And here’s one of my favorite streets for shopping in Rome.

  • Are you finding this post helpful? Then you’ll love The Revealed Rome Handbook: Tips and Tricks for Exploring the Eternal City, available for purchase on Amazon or through my site here and now updated for 2020!

Rome’s markets are great for gift-shopping year-round. More on gift shopping at Rome’s best markets in my piece for the New York Times.

Give a great gift — and give back to a good cause — by shopping at Libera Terra, Italy’s fantastic anti-Mafia cooperative.

Not in Rome for your Christmas shopping? Here are some of my favorite artisans in Italy whose work can be shipped abroad (including mosaic from Ravenna, masks from Venice, and more). And here are some authentic, gourmet gifts for foodies, from the best Italian cookbooks to authentic prosciutto and Pecorino. 

Finally, here are the best Italian gifts on the web and the most thoughtful gifts for Italy-bound travelers, both new for 2014. (Check out my past gift guides for Italy lovers here!).

Christmas and New Year’s traditions in Rome and Italy

Not Rome-specific, but fun and useful: a quick guide to how the Christmas season is celebrated across Italy.

One of the biggest Christmas traditions in Rome is la befana. She’s the figure you’ll see across Rome come the holidays — and with her hooked nose and broomstick, she’s often mistaken for a witch. Here’s what to know about la befana, and this super-sweet video, below, explores the tradition further.

If you’re going to be a guest of an Italian family for any holiday meals, or you want to cook (or eat) according to Italian tradition this Christmas yourself, don’t miss this post on how to have an Italian Christmas meal.

Italian food is super-regional. But at every bakery in Rome in Christmas, you will see pandoro (a golden cake originally from Verona), as well as panettone (from Milan). Don’t miss my BBC Travel story about what you don’t know about panettone.

Christmas sweets in Rome - a great part of Rome in Christmas
Tastings of torrone, panpepato and panforte at the pandoro festival in Rome

Want to know about New Year’s? These are some of the main New Year’s traditions in Italy. (Yes, my Italian friends really insist on wearing red underwear. So much so a [female!] Roman friend once even gave me red underwear as a gift… just to be sure I would).

If you liked this post, you’ll love The Revealed Rome Handbook: Tips and Tricks for Exploring the Eternal City, available for purchase on Amazon or through my site here! I’m also free for one-on-one consulting sessions to help plan your Italy trip.

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Food & drink, Museums, Rome, Tips & tricks

Rainy Day in Rome? Here’s How to Spend It (Beyond the Obvious) (Updated for 2019)

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Rainy day in Rome? What to do
A rainy day in Rome… doesn’t mean all is lost!

‘Tis the season… when you’re more likely to experience rain in Rome. And in a city where so many of the sights are outdoors, and so much is meant to be explored on foot, a rainy day in Rome can feel like a deal-breaker.

It’s not.

Sure: There are always the Vatican museums. And if you’re lucky, maybe you booked your Borghese Gallery or Palazzo Valentini tickets for exactly the day the skies opened up.

But let’s go beyond the obvious, shall we?

Here’s what I’d call the perfect rainy day in Rome: one that takes advantage of the weather to hit up spots that are cozy, indoors and interesting. And off-the-beaten-path — so that they’re located in neighborhoods that, while charming, aren’t so cobblestoned-street-picturesque that you’ll be upset to miss the chance to photograph them at their sunny best.

So get your umbrellas ready. (By the way, one good thing about rain in Rome is that, as soon as it starts, umbrella-sellers pop up all over the city. So it’s okay if you’ve forgotten yours. Just, please, barter the sellers down to 2 or 3 euros for a small one; it’ll fall apart by the end of the day anyway!).

Let’s go! (And don’t miss my post on five reasons not to mind the rain in Rome, in pictures!).

Itinerary for the perfect rainy day in Rome

9:30am: Coffee and cornetti at Cafe Barberini

Rainy day in Rome? Have coffee
The morning bustle at Cafe Barberini

No matter where you’re staying in Rome, the neighborhood of Testaccio is easy to get to: You can take the metro (get off at Piramide, then walk five minutes) or a number of buses (including the 3 and 75).

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Art, Events, Museums, Rome

Cleopatra Returns to Rome: New Exhibit at the Chiostro del Bramante

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Cleopatra exhibit in Rome, Italy
A sculpture of Cleopatra done in her lifetime, one of the 180 pieces on display at the Cleopatra exhibit in Rome. Photo courtesy of Foto Musei Vaticani.

Cleopatra, history’s most famous (and possibly fascinating) queen, is the insipiration for a new exhibit in Rome: “Cleopatra: Rome and the Magic of Egypt.”

On at the Chiostro del Bramante until February, the show’s aim is to contextualize Cleopatra’s life and times. It brings together more than 180 pieces from the ancient world, including frescoes, mosaics, jewelry, coins, and, yes, portraits of the major players, including several never-before-publicly-shown portraits of Cleopatra herself.

Read more about the exhibit in my latest article for the BBC.

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Beyond Rome, Outdoors, Shopping

My Favorite Photos of Autumn in Italy

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Autumn in Italy photos in Rome

Ah, autumn in Italy: The weather is crisp, the produce beautiful (don’t you love it when apples and eggplant and truffles are in season?), and the tourist crowds have started to dissipate. It’s also the only time when somehow, inexplicably, I sometimes get a whiff of that countryside woodsmoke-smell—the kind that makes me want to bundle up and go for a hayride—in the center of Rome.

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Rome

The Move to Rome, Four Years Later (Or, What I Learned from Following A Crazy Pipe Dream)

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Via-Appia-for-web

Today marks my fourth anniversary… with Rome.

Of course, it’s been an up-and-down relationship. And will it be “till death do us part”? Too early to say. But, like any epic romance, Rome has changed my life—and changed me—in ways that, just a short time ago, seemed highly unlikely.

And so I’m incredibly thankful that, four years ago, a younger version of myself faced up to some serious questions. Am I happy doing what I’m doing? What might make me happier? And, most crucially, What might I regret not doing?

They are the same questions that, at some point, we all have to face. And the answers I got back were, as they are for so many people, incredibly intimidating. If not downright scary.

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Beyond Rome

The Perfect Island Escape of Procida, for the BBC

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Procida, Italy
The island of Procida, the perfect weekend escape from Rome

I’ve been getting around the Bay of Naples lately. In May, I wrote a story on Ischia, Capri’s larger but lesser-known neighbor, for Canada’s Globe and Mail. When I visited the tiny, nearby island of Procida in August, I didn’t expect it to compare: After all, Ischia has stunning views… and lovely towns… and a medieval castle!

But you know what? Procida blew me away. Here’s my slideshow for the BBC on what makes Procida unique.

Convinced? Luckily, Procida makes a great weekend trip (or even day trip) from Rome. Take the fast train from Rome to Naples (1 hour 10 minutes), then grab a ferry with Medmar (www.medmarnavi.it), Caremar (www.caremar.it), Alilauro (alilauro.it), or Snav (snav.it) to Procida, which takes about a half hour.

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Archaeological sites, Beyond Rome

For the Globe and Mail, the Ancient Town of Taormina, Sicily

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Taormina Sicily
"The ancient Greek theatre of Taormina, Sicily, was designed with serious drama in mind – and not just the costumed kind. Perched 250 metres above the Ionian Sea, the amphitheatre’s 360-degree view encompasses the still-active Mount Etna, the sparkling Mediterranean, the medieval village of Castelmola and, of course, Taormina itself.

From here, the town’s pastel palazzi and pretty cathedrals spread across the lush hillside like icing on a cassata siciliana, a traditional Sicilian cake.

It’s hard to look away—or say goodbye. Which is why I’ve come back to the town for a second time."

Read the rest of my story on the ancient seaside town—out in today's issue of the Globe and Mail newspaper—online here.

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