Italian New Year's Eve (Capodanno / San Silvestro) is BIG. Free public concerts in major piazzas (Rome's Circo Massimo, Naples' seafront). 4-course restaurant dinners at midnight (cenone, €60-150/person). Fireworks over lagoons, bays, and bell towers. And the traditions: lentils at midnight (each one = a coin in the new year), cotechino/zampone (pork sausage for luck), and red underwear (intimo rosso — worn for love/luck, sold at every market in December). Full Christmas guide →
Rome: Circo Massimo: Free concert (major Italian artists), midnight fireworks, 100,000+ people. Piazza del Popolo: Alternative concert + fireworks. Colosseum area: Fireworks visible from multiple viewpoints. Naples: Lungomare seafront: Fireworks over the bay with Vesuvius behind. The most DRAMATIC midnight view in Italy. Free concert on Piazza del Plebiscito. Warning: Neapolitans traditionally throw old furniture from windows at midnight (less common now but DUCK in the centro storico). Venice: Piazza San Marco: Midnight kiss tradition — couples kiss at the stroke of midnight in the piazza. Fireworks over the lagoon reflected in the water. The most ROMANTIC Capodanno.
Florence: Piazzale Michelangelo: Fireworks over the city — the Duomo silhouetted against explosions. Arrive 10pm for a spot. Milan: Piazza Duomo: Free concert + fireworks on the cathedral facade. Turin: Piazza San Carlo + Piazza Castello: Elegant celebrations, Luci d'Artista (light installations). Thermal springs at midnight — some spas offer NYE events (Saturnia, Merano, Abano).
Cenone (NYE dinner): 4-6 courses at a restaurant or at home with family. Restaurant cenone: €60-150/person (fixed menu, wine included, usually midnight toast + music). BOOK 2+ weeks ahead. At midnight: Lenticchie (lentils) — each lentil = a coin in the new year. Served with cotechino (pork sausage, Emilia) or zampone (stuffed pig's trotter). Spumante (sparkling wine) — Italian sparkling, not Champagne. Red underwear (intimo rosso): New, red, worn for love/luck — then THROWN AWAY January 1 (the luck is one-use). Sold at every market and lingerie shop in December. Fireworks: Public + private (Italians set off their own — the sound in Naples at midnight is like a war zone).