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Rome’s New Year’s Eve centers on a free concert at the Circus Maximus, which the city has organized for the last four years, starting at 21:00. Last year the metro ran until 2:30, and a city ordinance banned private fireworks from 31 December to 6 January. On 1 January, the Colosseum and the Vatican Museums are closed.

A full ticket to Castel Sant’Angelo costs €18, and visitors under 18 enter free. EU citizens aged 18 to 25 pay €2. The castle is open Tuesday to Sunday from 9:00 to 19:30 (last entry 18:30), and entry is free for everyone on the first Sunday of every month. Book on the official site, especially for weekends.

The Circus Maximus was ancient Rome’s chariot-racing track, about 600 m long, in the valley between the Palatine and Aventine hills. Today it is a long grassy park, free and always open. The excavated ruins at its east end, with the medieval Torre della Moletta, cost €7 and open Tuesday to Sunday from 9:30.

The Castelli Romani are the hill towns of the Alban Hills, south-east of Rome. Frascati is 30 minutes from Roma Termini by regional train, for €2.10 one way. In one day you can taste Frascati wine, look down on Lake Albano from Castel Gandolfo and eat porchetta in Ariccia. To link several towns, a car or a driver helps.

Yes, you can see Rome in one day from a cruise ship, but mostly from the outside. Civitavecchia is about 1.5 hours from Rome, so most port days leave around 5 hours in the city: enough for the Colosseum, the Pantheon, the Trevi Fountain and St. Peter’s Square, but not for the Vatican Museums or the inside of the Colosseum.

The Spanish Steps are a free baroque staircase that climbs from Piazza di Spagna to the church of Trinità dei Monti, built in 1723–1726. You can walk up and down and take photos at any time, but sitting on the Steps, also to eat or drink, is banned, with a €250 fine.

Yes, if you want to see several lit-up landmarks in one evening without long walks: in 2 hours, a private golf cart or vintage Fiat 500 can link the Colosseum, Piazza Navona, the Pantheon and the Trevi Fountain. Prices start at €450 (golf cart) and €590 (Fiat 500) for up to 3 people. Staying near Trevi or Navona? Walk.

Christmas in Rome 2026: Piazza Navona market, Vatican Mass and nativity scenes, Via del Corso lights, what’s closed on Dec 25, and New Year’s Eve tips.

Rome’s villas and parks reveal a quieter side of the city, where nature, history, ancient roads, panoramic terraces, and hidden corners come together beyond the usual monuments.

Walk through Rome, and you’ll see them—if you know where to look. At a street corner, on the wall of an old building, or set into the edge of a palace, you might spot a small sacred image. Most often it’s the Virgin Mary. Sometimes it’s so simple that people pass by without even noticing […]