National Holidays Celebrated in Italy
by icunme
HOLIDAYS
On national holidays you may find information offices closed, museums open for shorter hours and public transport running a limited service. Be forewarned by checking the dates of your vacation against the list below.
(Note that Easter Monday is a mobile feast-day, and changes every year, while all the other holidays keep to the same date.)
January 1: New Year's Day**
January 6: Epiphany
April 17: Easter Monday (in 2006)
April 25: Liberation Day
May 1: Labor Day**
June 2: Anniversary of the Founding of the Republic
August 15: Feast of the Assumption (also known as Ferragosto)
November 1: All Saints
December 8: Feast of the Immaculate Conception
December 25: Christmas Day**
December 26: St. Stephen's Day (Boxing Day)
(The dates marked ** are particularly difficult: practically all museums and monuments are shut and many restaurants too.)
As well as the above national holidays, each town celebrates the feast-day of its patron saint, which differs from town to town.
Dates for the major cities are as follows:
Rome: June 29 (Feast of Sts. Peter and Paul)
Florence: June 24 (Feast of St. John the Baptist)
Venice: April 25 (Feast of St. Mark - but also Liberation Day and a holiday anyway)
Naples: September 19 (San Gennaro)
Catacombs - Introduction
by gasca
In Ancient Rome banned burials inside city walls so early Christians dug hundreds of kilometers of tunnels in an area where the rocks are volcanic and easy to dig.
Later on the catacombs fall into oblivion since emperor Constantine around 3 century A.D. issued the Edict of Milan which stablished freedom and toleration for all religions.
The catacombs where discovered in the 16 century by a farmer who described them as a 'world of the dead'.
Everything in Rome is quite prestablished and touristic, so this is not an exception. Catacombs visit is guided and visits last for half an hour
Get on the Bus
by WheninRome
I personally found the Rome bus system to be a trifle intimidating at first. Especially since I live in an area where buses are not a common mode of transportation (though they should be!). However, once we got used to them the bus system came to be relatively easy to use and made the city a lot easier and quicker to get around.
It was our third day in Rome by the time that we felt like we had the bus system mastered. I downloaded a map, link below, from the Metro system website, which showed the various routes and was extremely helpful. I printed a few out on 11"x17" paper and took them with us in case a couple were lost or destroyed.
For tickets, we purchased a Roma Pass on our first day (the bus/Metro ticket is good for 3 days after validation) and when that expired we purchased another 3-day bus/Metro transportation ticket (11 euros).
Everyone says to be extremely diligent about validating your tickets. I agree and we were, but I didn't see anyone have their tickets checked the entire week we were in Rome and I saw a lot of locals ignore the ticket requirements. However, I would not do that myself and wouldn't recommend it to another tourist.
Note di Birra - Restaurant/Bar
by Webboy about Note di Birra
The 'Note di Birra' is located just 2 minutes walk from the Daniela hotel where we were staying for the weekend.
For those of you not staying in this area, just get the Metro Line A to Manzoni. The bar is right next to the metro station.
We ended up in here for dinner on the Friday and a couple of beers on Sunday. The food was excellent, and didn't seem to expensive. 2 Pizza bread pizzas (over 12 inches wide), q bowl of chips and 2 pints of beer will only cost you around 25 Euros.
Ordering just one glass of beer and one white wine costs as little as 6 Euros. Compare this to a pub we were going to go in earlier that wanted 12 euros for the same order, then 'Note di Birra' is not expensive at all!
The staff are very welcoming, and the atmosphere is very relaxing. We ordered a couple of Pizza Bread Pizza's. They were lovely. Not like the Pizza Hut Pizzas you get all over the world, whoever made these Pizzas hadobviously taken time to make sure it was just right! and just right it was! lovely!
Shopping and gawking
by NedHopkins
Beginning about 8:00 in the morning, vendors set up tables and awnings on and under which they sell fresh and canned foods, fish and meat, household and personal goods, souvenirs, and (especially) flowers.
From lunchtime to late in the evening there are several restaurants with abundant outdoors seating.
In the center of the Campo is a memorial to Giordano Bruno, one of the finest intellects of the late Renaissance. The Church burned him -- alive -- on Christmas Day 1600 for believing, of all things, that the earth revolves about the sun.
At night the Campo is a scene of drinking and partying.
The Campidoglio
Ruins by Circo Massimo
Side view of the Monument
"The Guardians of the departed" - lots of cats
