The complete calendar of the Italian holidays in 2026: the national feast days, the bridges, the regional festivals, what closes and when. How to plan the trip
The calendar of the Italian holidays is fundamental for trip planning, not so much for finding the feasts (which are wonderful to experience), as for knowing what will close and when. Italy in August isn't the same country as in November: Ferragosto on August 15 is the day the whole of Italy stops, more than the most-observed Sunday, more than Easter, it's the day the baker, the mechanic, the pharmacist, and often even the on-duty pharmacy take the day off.
| Date | Holiday | What closes | Notes for tourists |
|---|---|---|---|
| January 1 | New Year's Day | Everything | Fireworks at midnight in the main squares |
| January 6 | Epiphany (Befana) | Almost everything | The Befana brings sweets to the children, a more followed tradition than Santa Claus |
| April 5, 2026 | Easter | Everything | The Sunday; Easter Monday is just as much a holiday |
| April 6, 2026 | Pasquetta (Easter Monday) | Everything | Day trips, picnics, crowds in the natural destinations |
| April 25 | Liberation Day | Almost everything | Partisan commemorations in the squares; many shops closed |
| May 1 | Workers' Day | Almost everything | The big concert in Piazza San Giovanni in Rome, the largest free concert in Italy |
| June 2 | Republic Day | Public offices | Military parade in Rome on Via dei Fori Imperiali; many museums and shops open |
| August 15 | Ferragosto | Almost everything | The most dangerous day for tourists in Italy, read the section below |
| November 1 | All Saints (Ognissanti) | Almost everything | Visits to the cemeteries; high water in Venice |
| December 8 | Immaculate Conception | Almost everything | The start of the Christmas season; Christmas markets open |
| December 25 | Christmas | Everything | Midnight Mass in the cathedrals |
| December 26 | St. Stephen's Day | Almost everything | A day for family visits |
Every Italian city has the day of its own patron saint as a local holiday, on that day many shops and businesses close, and the city celebrates with processions, fireworks, and markets. The main ones: Rome (June 29, Saints Peter and Paul; parade and fireworks in St. Peter's Square); Florence (June 24, San Giovanni; the historic Calcio Storico Fiorentino match in Piazza Santa Croce); Naples (September 19, San Gennaro; the ceremony of the liquefaction of the blood in the Duomo); Milan (December 7, Sant'Ambrogio; the opening of the opera season at La Scala); Venice (November 21, Madonna della Salute; procession on the Grand Canal); Palermo (July 15, Santa Rosalia; the Festino di Santa Rosalia with the triumphal float).
August 15 in Italy is the day the country stops more completely than any other holiday. The history: "Ferragosto" derives from the Latin "Feriae Augusti", the August holidays established by the emperor Augustus in 18 BC as a period of rest for workers after the summer toil. The tradition has survived 2,000 years. What happens on August 15: the majority of shops are closed; many restaurants (including many of the best) are closed for summer holidays; some hotels close for the Ferragosto week; the local public transport runs on a reduced holiday schedule. What stays open: the main tourist sites (Colosseum, Vatican Museums, Uffizi), most hotels, the stations and airports, the restaurants in the highest tourist-density areas. The practical rule: if you're in Italy on August 15 outside the big cities or the main tourist areas, stock up on food the day before and enjoy the country in a silence that exists no other day of the year.
In Italy the "ponte" (bridge) is the working day between a holiday and a weekend, turned into a holiday to create a long weekend of 3-4 days. The April 25 bridge (Liberation Day) is among the most beloved: April 25 typically falls near May 1, creating a week of spring mini-holiday. The December 8 bridge (Immaculate Conception) almost always falls on a Friday or Monday, three days away for the opening of the Christmas season. During the bridges: the Italian tourist destinations closest to the big cities (Tuscany for the Milanese, Umbria for the Romans, Campania for the Neapolitans) fill with Italian tourists, book in advance if you want to visit during a bridge.
The general rule: the Italian state museums (Colosseum, Uffizi, Vatican Museums, Galleria Borghese, etc.) are open on almost all the national holidays, often with the free-entry policy. The exceptions: on December 25 (Christmas) many state museums close; on January 1 some open only from the afternoon. The first Sunday of the month: free entry in all the state museums, regardless of the holiday calendar. Always check on the official site of the individual museum in the weeks before the visit, the seasonal variations are frequent.
The summer-holiday closures (July-August) are the norm for non-tourist Italian restaurants, many family trattorias close for 2-4 consecutive weeks. The strategy: (1) Call in advance to check (the phone call works better than email); (2) Use TheFork (www.thefork.it) which shows the updated closures in real time; (3) In the main tourist areas there's always an alternative, the problem arises in the mid-sized cities and the villages out of season. During Ferragosto (August 10-20) in the non-tourist cities: the open supermarkets (Carrefour, Coop, Esselunga, check the hours in your specific town) are the safe alternative for meals.
Every trip to Italy accumulates layers of understanding that no guide can fully anticipate. But some things can be known before leaving, and they make the difference between a good trip and an extraordinary one. The practical information that follows is what an Italian tour guide would give to friends, not to clients.
In some historic Italian trattorias (the most famous example is Trattoria Mario in Florence, Via Rosina 2) the system is shared tables, you don't have a private table but you sit where there's room, even next to strangers. This isn't rudeness, it's the original system of the Italian osterie where people sat where they found room. The advantage: you often end up talking with the Italian diners who are almost always willing to recommend dishes or tell you about the place. In the trattorias with the shared-table system: go in, say how many you are, the waiter shows you the spot; start eating independently of the other diners. The only mistake to avoid: asking for a private table in a trattoria that works only with the shared system.
For tourists who want to take home quality Italian products at supermarket prices: Eataly (present in the main cities, high-quality DOP/IGP products but at high prices); Esselunga (Lombardy, Piedmont, Tuscany, the supermarket with the best deli department for quality-price); Conad (national chain, good deli departments); LIDL Italia (good for regional products at very low prices). For wines: the independent wine shops give personalized advice far superior to the large retail, search "enoteca" plus the name of the city on Google and choose the ones with the highest number of reviews in Italian.
Italy is formally cashless-friendly (a POS obligation for everyone since 2022) but still dependent on cash in many contexts. The practical rule: always keep €50-100 in cash for emergencies (parking, tips, markets, neighborhood bars). For withdrawals: the ATMs of national banks (Intesa Sanpaolo, UniCredit) don't apply fees to withdrawals with Visa/Mastercard cards, the fees you pay are those of your issuing bank. The currency exchange at the airports: almost always unfavorable by 3-8% compared to the interbank rate. The fintech cards (Revolut, Wise) give the rates closest to the interbank rate without fixed fees, they're the optimal solution for travelers who visit Italy for more than a week.
The anti-inflation strategies: (1) Eat where the Italians eat, the trattoria with the weekday set menu (first course + second course + wine €12-18) costs half of any restaurant with photos of the dishes; (2) Use the regional trains for short routes, Rome-Orvieto: regional €8 vs high-speed €30+; (3) Book the museums for the first Sunday of the month (free entry); (4) Sleep in family B&Bs instead of hotels, the same quality, prices 30-40% lower; (5) Buy food at the supermarket for snacks; (6) Travel in April-May or September-October, the hotel prices crash 25-40% compared to the peak summer months. A 10-day Italian itinerary is realistically plannable with €80-100/person/day (all included) if you follow these rules.
Italian taxis are regulated by the municipalities, every municipality has its own fares. The official taxis are white (in the big cities) or other colors set by the municipality they belong to, with a mandatory meter and a displayed license. How to get them: call the radio number of the city's taxi company (in Rome: 06-3570, 06-4994, 06-88177; in Milan: 02-8585, 02-6969; in Naples: 081-202020); use the IT Taxi app (www.ittaxi.it, the official aggregator of the Italian radio taxis); look for the taxi stands at the fixed points (railway stations, airports, main squares). The fixed airport fares: Rome FCO to the center €50 (a fixed municipal fare, not negotiable); Naples Capodichino to the center €23 (fixed). The Uber and Bolt apps operate in Italy with NCC drivers (not taxis), legal but with some service differences compared to the traditional taxis.
The golden hour (the first and last hour of daylight) transforms any Italian subject into something extraordinary, but in Italy the golden hour has a particular intensity from the quality of the Mediterranean light. The best moments to photograph the main sites: the Colosseum (dawn 6:30-7:30, frontal light; sunset 18:30-19:30, side light); Piazza del Duomo in Florence (early morning 7:00-8:30 before the crowds); the Tuscan Val d'Orcia (morning with low fog October-March); the Cinque Terre (sunset from the viewpoint of Corniglia or Manarola). The best weather conditions for Italian photography: the day after the rain in summer (clean air, dramatic skies, shiny pavements); the autumn fog in the valleys of the Po and the Arno; the rare snow on the historic center of Rome or Florence (an event about once every 5-10 years).
The cooking of northern Italy (Piedmont, Lombardy, Veneto, Emilia-Romagna): fresh egg pasta (tagliatelle, tortellini, lasagne), butter and cream as fats, rice (risotto is a northern first course), polenta (Veneto and Lombardy), beef and pork, fragrant white wines and structured reds. The cooking of central Italy (Tuscany, Umbria, Lazio): olive oil as the main fat, fresh and dry pasta, pork and game, pecorino, legumes (lentils, beans), robust red wines (Chianti, Brunello, Sagrantino). The cooking of southern Italy and the islands (Campania, Puglia, Sicily, Calabria, Sardinia): olive oil, tomato, durum wheat, fish and seafood, Mediterranean vegetables (eggplant, peppers, artichokes), North African and Arab spices (in Sicily especially), buffalo and sheep dairy. The paradox that surprises tourists: the "Italian" food eaten outside Italy is almost always a southern version (pizza, spaghetti, oil and garlic) but the most famous cooking in Italy is the Emilian one (prosciutto, parmesan, tortellini).
The main Italian airports (Rome FCO, Milan MXP/LIN, Venice VCE, Naples NAP) have suffered a significant increase in delays in the summer seasons of 2022-2025, the main cause: European air traffic returned above pre-pandemic levels while the air traffic control infrastructure didn't grow accordingly. In case of a delay over 2 hours or a cancellation: immediately activate your right to refund/rebooking (EU Regulation 261/2004); ask the ground staff for written confirmation of the delay (necessary for the compensation claim). Tools for the claims: AirHelp (www.airhelp.com), ClaimCompass (www.claimcompass.eu) handle the claim on your behalf keeping a percentage (25-35%) of the compensation obtained, convenient if you don't want to handle the procedure yourself.