Any Italy residents please?

[MaryMotherOfCheeses]

Hello,

I'm off to Rome for a holiday in a few weeks (hurrah! Can't wait)

I spot it's Republic Day on the Saturday 2nd June. What does that mean in terms of being a tourist? Will everywhere be closed? Will everywhere be chocca?

We're staying on a campsite between Rome and the coast, and obviously, we'll want to see a lot of the city itself, but we'll also have a car so we can have a few days out further afield. Just trying to plan what would be best for that day.

A few years ago, we were at Lake Garda around the same time of year, and the roads around the theme park there were completely mad one day, and then empty the next. I remember being told it was a national holiday - didn't twig which one () but maybe the Italians would head to a theme park where they wouldn't go and see the Colosseum, iyswim.

What do you think?

What happened to all the lovely Little Italy thread people???

you called . I am a Little Italy person in Rome. 2 June if its nice weather means the beaches etc will be busy and so will the roads out of the city and public transport. Eating places in tourist areas will still be open and so will all the main tourist attractions. Shops outside the centre / tourist spots will be mainly closed and buses will be on Sunday times. Hope that helps and have a good time.

Ah, Gio, that does indeed help. Thank you. So, not the day to choose to go out in the car. I was thinking of a trip out to Lake Bracciano one day but definitely not that one in that case.

Does the metro have Sunday hours too? I understand we can get a bus to EUR from the campsite, and then get the underground to get into the city.

Also, generally, would it be madness to consider driving to EUR and then park and get the underground into the city? Is that possible or hugely expensive?

(soooo looking forward to it )

Lake Bracciano is lovely, that's our usual weekend haunt when the weather is nice. There is a car park at one of the EUR stops but not sure which as not my side of town. Cant see it being hugely expensive as I know a lot of commuters park there to travel to the centre. The metro closes a bit earlier on Sunday but the trains are regular, its the buses that can be a pain waiting for.

I haven't been to Rome in ages...If you are camping near the ancient port, the ruins of Ostia antica might be worth a visit on that Saturday (recently featured in the BBC4 documentary about Romans).
Also you might be able to use ' il trenino' from Ostia to Eur. If you're using the car part of the way, you have two main routes from the coast :'the Cristoforo Colombo' road which will take you to EUR Fermi (car park nearby, used to be sign posted) and ' Via del Mare' which will take you to EUR Magliana (car par used to be on site).

If you are based further down the coast the bus is likely to take you to EUR Fermi.

<a class="break-all" href="http://translate.google.co.uk/translate?hl=en&sl=it&u=www.rome.info/it/trasporti/biglietti/&ei=p-agT7KkBeb74QSY0tWOCQ&sa=X&oi=translate&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CCsQ7gEwAA&prev=/search%3Fq%3DPrezzi%2Bdella%2Bmetro%2Ba%2Broma%26hl%3Den%26client%3Dfirefox-a%26hs%3DM7p%26rls%3Dorg.mozilla:en-US:official%26channel%3Dnp%26prmd%3Dimvns" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">ticket prices

<a class="break-all" href="http://translate.google.co.uk/translate?hl=en&sl=it&u=www.apcoa.it/it/parcheggi/informazioni/lazio/roma/parcheggio-lago-eur.html&ei=ruegT_rcPJL78QPwqaCbCA&sa=X&oi=translate&ct=result&resnum=1&sqi=2&ved=0CCEQ7gEwAA&prev=/search%3Fq%3Dparcheggio%2Ball%2527%2BEUR%2BRoma%26hl%3Den%26client%3Dfirefox-a%26hs%3DJWV%26rls%3Dorg.mozilla:en-US:official%26channel%3Dnp%26biw%3D1024%26bih%3D675%26prmd%3Dimvns" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">parking

Enjoy your holiday :)

via del mare is horrendous driving wise I find, way too narrow for the amount of traffic and speed. prefer cristoforo colombo (marginally). But agree if you are on the trenino route then take that in. Go to the end of the line at Piramide and swop to metro b and you are only a few stops from the Colosseum

Mwah! Thank you both.

BBC4 documentary? I'll have a look for that. Just been watching the brilliant BBC2 one with Mary Beard presenting and yes, Ostia Antica is definitely on the cards.

Ostia Antica is fab! I went to a concert held there last year, was one of those perfect Roman, warm evenings, sun was setting, they were playing music from Italian films and we were surrounded by the ancient city - amazing!

Don't rub it in now

I've got just one week for this Rome malarkey, if you could arrange the warm evenings as a starting point, that would be jolly kind.

am sure warm evenings will be starting by June - nicest time of year- before we all start dripping in sweat and (in my case) starting the annual argument re why we havent got air con with Italian DP (it causes fevers, rheumatism and various other ills apparently )
have a wonderful trip!

Another vote for Ostia Antica, really loved it and kids too. We took a picnic and had lunch surrounded by ancient roman columns, fab!

Documentary:you're right is on BBC2, sorry