Entertainment

Rome New Year's Eve: what to do and where to go

12 Dec, 2019

Celebrating New Year 2020 in Rome: events, parties and traditions.

Rome celebrates New Year's Eve and New Year's Day with Festa di Roma, a 24-hour programme of free concerts and cultural events, with 100 events involving 1,000 artists from around the world.

A highlight will be Skin, of Skunk Anansie fame, acting as DJ for three hours, playing a selection of indie rock, electro and techno hits, as well as live performances by Carmen Consoli and Priestess.

The 2019-2020 programme has nature as its theme, with live music and cultural events taking place between Circus Maximus and the area around the Mouth of Truth.

New Year's Eve parties

Some of the best places to dance the night away include Rome night clubs such as Lanificio, Micca, Shari Vari, Vicious, Rashomon and Room 26. There are plenty of parties at well-known pubs such as the Abbey Theatre, Finnegan’s and Scholars Lounge, as well as newer venues such as Alcazar and Drink Kong.

New Year's food

The traditional Italian New Year’s Eve meal consists of cotechino (a product similar to salami), zampone (stuffed pig’s trotter), and lentils which are meant to bring luck for the coming year, all of which is washed down with a glass or two of prosecco or spumante.

Dining out

If you wish to dine out on New Year's Eve it is best to reserve your table well in advance – and be prepared to pay a lot more than usual - for inspiration see Wanted in Rome's restaurant listings.

New Year's Eve traditions

A well-known but almost-extinct tradition (in Rome at least) associated with Capodanno involves people throwing old objects out the window, symbolising their readiness to welcome in the new year.

Getting home

All metro services run until 03.30 on New Year's Eve (early hours of 1 Jan), substituted from 03.30 until 08.00 with nightbuses. On New Year's Day the entire ATAC and Roma TPL network resumes at 08.00 and follows normal festivo timetable.

New Year's Day parade

Some of America's best-known high school marching bands will stage a free, family-orientated parade in central Rome on 1 January to celebrate New Year's Day. The 14th edition of the annual event involves US marching bands joining forces with Italian musical folk groups to perform alongside majorettes, street performers and dancers, starting in Piazza del Popolo at 15.30.

Plunge into the Tiber?

One of the city’s most unusual and popular spectacles on the morning of New Year’s Day is the Tuffo nel Tevere. At midday, immediately after the cannons fire on the Gianicolo, daredevil divers thrill the crowds by making the 17-metre plunge off Ponte Cavour into the icy waters of the Tiber below.

Wanted in Rome wishes all its readers a fun New Year and a very happy 2020.