From April to June there are many feast days in Italy, and particularly in Rome. During these days schools, offices, banks and shops will be closed, and many restaurants and some touristic site would be closed too. If you are in Rome in this period, check in advance if the particular museum or archeological site you want to visit is open!
Christmas of Rome: April 21st
Is the annual birthday celebration of the Eternal City, based on the legendary foundation of Rome by Romulus in 753 BC. Events will last until Sunday 23rd, including gladiator fights, rituals and parades. The main event is a costumed parade, featuring more than 2,000 gladiators, senators, vestal virgins and priestesses, on Sunday 23 April.
Here you can find the program.
On April 21st all city’s Civic Museums (Capitoline Museums, MACRO, Modern Art Gallery, and others) will be open and free of charge or with a little fee where a temporary exhibition is on. All the other Museums and sites will be regularly open.
Liberation Day: April 25th
The Festa della Liberazione commemorates the general insurrection in 1945 and the end of World War II. During the morning the President of the Italian Republic will lead the Ceremony for the Unknown Soldier at the Althar of the Fatherland. Cycling events and processions will also take place in the morning, among the others the ANPI Procession (Italian Partisans National Association), and the cyclist race Gran Premio della Liberazione.
On April 25 th all Civic Museums and Statal Museums will be open, including the Colosseum, and the Roman Forum. Vatican Museums will be open too.
Worker feast: May 1st
This national public holiday celebrate workers’ achievements in their struggle for their rights. All over Italy there will be concerts, parades, processions and country festivals.
Very popular is Rome’s “Concertone” (Big concert), in Piazza San Giovanni.
Many Statal Museums, Civic Museums (Capitoline Museums, MACRO, Modern Art Gallery, and others) and Vatican Museums will be closed.
Sites that will be open in Rome on May 1st: San Callisto’s catacombs, Saint Peter’s and the other Basilicas, like all churches.
Usually on May 1st some Statal museums and archeological sites will be open, like the Colosseum, the Borghese Gallery, the archeological site of Ostia Antica, the National Roman Museum. The list of these sites is in constant updating: check the Cultural Heritage site for further information (www.beniculturali.it).
Saints Peter and Paul: June 29th
This is a liturgical feast in honor of the martyrdom in Rome of the apostles Saint Peter and Saint Paul. The feast is observed in Rome because St. Paul and St. Peter are Patron Saints of the Eternal city.
Civic museums and Vatican Museums will be closed for the solemnity. Statal Museums and Archeological sites (as the Colosseum, the Roman Forum, Castel Sant’Angelo, Galleria Borghese) will be regularly open.
