Dining on Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, and San Stefano

Many Romans will be dining on traditional fish feasts with their families on Christmas Eve, but there are still plenty of options for the kitchenless. Instead of offering an à la carte menu, most restaurants put together special fixed menus for Christmas Eve, likely seafood-based and starting around €40 ($58) a head. Ask to see the menu di vigilia di Natale and book in advance, since seating is generally limited. Christmas Day is a different story. Rome is notoriously buckled up on Christmas Day, with the exception of the Jewish ghetto, where restaurants will be happy to serve you traditional Jewish-Roman cuisine. The Feast of San Stefano on December 26, a public holiday, is back to business for most restaurants, which treat the day like a typical Sunday--meaning lunch is the big meal of the day and should be enjoyed over several hours and courses.

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Notte di Capodanno or New Year's Eve

New Year's Eve in Rome is nothing if not a barrage on the senses. Traditionally, Roman restaurants from the tiniest trattoria to the most elegant ristorante offer fabulously extravagant fixed menus that range from €50 ($72) to well over €250 ($361) a head. Meals start around 8:30 P.M. and finish around 11:30 p.m., just in time for everyone to head to the nearest piazza for the citywide countdown. At midnight the city lights up, with private fireworks displays from balconies and terraces rivaling the official shows put on by both the Vatican and the city government. In the piazzas, Romans burn their old calendars and chug spumante (sparkling wine) from the bottle. All of the major squares will be festive, but Romans will revel on either the Piazza San Giovanni or the Piazza del Popolo, one of which will host an all-night rock concert beginning after the countdown (the location will be announced a day or two ahead). The more subdued should head to Piazza del Quirinale, where the president of the republic hosts a classical music concert outside the official residence.

New Year's Day is a popular day for dining out and walking through the city's picturesque squares. Most stores and all museums will be closed, but many of the churches are venues for chamber recitals, and you often don't need a ticket.

Getting Around

Many places that might normally be open on Christmas Eve or New Year's Eve may be closed this year because the holidays fall on Sunday, traditionally a non- or limited-commerce day in Rome. Likewise, traditional restaurants will tend to be open for lunch and not dinner on Sunday, as is the usual practice, except those offering special Christmas or New Year's Eve meals. In general, the stores in the historical center around Piazza di Spagna will be open, those in outlying districts like Prati, Parioli, Trastevere, and Testaccio will not, or will be limited to a few hours in the early afternoon.

Museums in Rome are generally closed on Mondays; check out romaturismo.it for a complete list of museum hours and closure dates. December 26 is a mixed bag, when the Vatican museums are closed but most of the city museums are open.

Rome's transportation system (atac.roma.it) is extending its hours through January 7, adding more buses and diverting some of its metro lines to better accommodate holiday shoppers and revelers. Still, Christmas Day and New Year's Day will be slow days for buses, so stick to the underground metro, or better yet, go on foot if you can. The three-day Roma Pass (romapass.it, sold at all participating museums, Termini station, and major subway stops, €20 ($29), is a great way to travel before the holiday weekend. The pass offers unlimited public transportation on buses and the metro, free admission to two museums or archaeological sites, and reduced admission to others. (Vatican museums are not included.)

If your visit falls on the holiday weekends when museums will be closed, consider ATAC's three-day €11 ($16) or seven-day €16 ($23) unlimited transportation pass, compared to a regular fare of €1 ($1.44) for up to 75 minutes on a bus or a one-way metro ticket.

Taxis, which are privately owned, are also scarce during the holidays, with the exception of New Year's Eve when drivers will be working normally. Some drivers will try to charge "creatively," so if you hail a taxi on the street, insist that the cabdriver use the meter, or tassametro. Fares are expensive (€8-€15 ($11.50-$22)) for a ride within the city center, and there's a higher rate 10 p.m.-7 a.m. and on Sun. and holidays; add about €1.04 ($1.50) extra for each large bag. If you've called ahead for a taxi, there will be an additional charge on the meter for pickup. Check the placard on the driver's seat for relevant holiday rates, and ask the driver for a receipt when you exit the taxi.