January in Rome is low season. It is the ideal time for museum visits, for cheap shopping and for delicious winter specialties.
What’s on in Rome in January?
The winter sales begin at the end of the Christmas season on January 6th. Whether luxury brands or inexpensive goods, you will find the latest fashion at greatly reduced prices.
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January in Rome
January is one of the few months when the life of Romans takes place mainly indoors. Romans like to meet in a bar for an extensive exchange of views and enjoy delicious winter Roman gastronomy in a cozy restaurant.
For visitors to the city, it is also mainly about visiting museums and churches. In January, there is no crowding and pushing. Take your time and enjoy the cultural treasures of Rome and the Vatican at your leisure.
To really get to know the city, choose accommodation in the center between the Colosseum and Piazza del Popolo. Public transport is then rarely needed, possibly for the trip to the Vatican or to the outer districts of the city. You can find out how to find an affordable room and which areas are best in our information on Hotels in Rome.
Rome is a very green city. If you are lucky, there will be fog in the morning, packing the parks and St. Peter’s Square in an atmosphere of absorbent cotton. A walk in one of the Roman villas is also interesting in January. And of course you have to visit a lookout point. Die-hard people combine a visit to the excavations in Ostia Antica is with a trip to the sea. In the wintry Villa D’Este in Tivoli with its water features, there is an interesting atmosphere, especially in the evening. Located in the valley below Tivoli, Villa Adriana is the largest villa that a Roman emperor has ever built. In its ruins, the sun burns mercilessly from spring to autumn and winter is the best time for us to see it.
How cold it is
According to statistics, the maximum temperatures in Rome in January are 13° C / 55° F, the minimum temperatures 3° C / 37° F. Frost is rare. January is the coldest month in Rome.
In January it can rain occasionally. For the most part, the rain does not last long and you can wait in a church or bar until it passes.
Climate data January
| Tmax Ø | 11°C/51.8°F |
| Tmin Ø | 4°C/39.2°F |
| Sunshine hours Ø | 3.7 |
| Days with rain Ø | 8 |
Source: www.wetter.com
Most rarely, there are years when there is prolonged drizzle in January. So it is quite advisable to follow the weather forecast and then adjust accordingly.
It is memorable when there is snow or frost in Rome. That only happens once in three or four years. This particular spectacle then goes through all the newspapers.
Since you spend a lot of time outdoors in Rome, you will need warm clothing and rain protection. Comfortable shoes are also important in Rome, as you will be walking a lot and the sidewalks are often bumpy.
Rome for early risers
Of course, it takes some overcoming to get up in the dark. Nevertheless, We would like to recommend that you start a day early in the morning. There is very little traffic in Rome until six o’clock in the morning and you can take beautiful photos of monuments and squares undisturbed. With a little luck, you’ll find a misty morning that offers beautiful and unique photo opportunities. The sunrise is in Rome in January between 7:38 and 7:24.
The early morning is also the best time to jog.
Mid season in Rome, what you should consider
As soon as the Christmas holidaysare over on the 6th of January, the sights in Rome will be quieter.
There are fewer visitors to Rome in January because it’s pretty cold.
If you would like to visit the museums in Rome and the Vatican, January is one of the best months for you. You are almost alone in the museums and benefit from shopping in the winter sales.
Winter Sales Shopping
Italian fashion is known worldwide and everyone will envy you for your purchases. From January 6th you can find interesting bargains in the winter sales.
The luxury brands can be found around Via dei Condotti, which leads from the Spanish Steps to Via del Corso. Along Via del Corso you will find shops in all price ranges.
A special consumption temple is the department store La Rinascente in via del Tritone. In the basement you can visit the ancient aqueduct which supplies water to the Trevi Fountain and the fountains in Piazza Navona. On the roof terrace you have a wonderful view over the city.
Also in the side streets around Piazza Navona and around Campo de ‘Fiori there are many nice little shops and boutiques.
Other shopping streets are Via Cola di Rienzo and Via Appia. The Via Marconi and the Via Tuscolana as well as the newly built shopping centers are too far away from the center for most tourists. Read about shopping in Rome.
Welcome to Rome Multimediashow
In the center of Rome, between the Vatican and Piazza Navona, a 30-minute multidimensional film show and an exhibition with interactive models await you.
Corso Vittorio Emanuele II 203 
Bus 46, 62, 64, 916 C.so Vittorio Emanuele / Navona
Avoid queues
Keeping your distance is a necessary precaution. Avoid the queues and make a daily schedule. In our category 3 days in Rome you will find suggestions that you can combine with each other.
Since you have to reserve in advance at the most important museums, the risk of queues is low there. Queues are almost always at ticket offices in airports and at the ticket machines. Bookings on the Internet are therefore the best choice.
Arrival
Organize the journey from the airport to the hotel in advance and read our information about the metro and how you can get tickets quickly and easily.
Museums
Many museums can only be visited by reservation. These include the Sistine Chapel in the Vatican Museums, the Colosseum and the Borghese Gallery. You can find information about the museums on our pages
St. Peter’s Basilica
Entry to St. Peter’s Basilica is free.
Priority entry to St. Peter’s Basilica is unlikely to be offered in January. This imposing building is definitely worth a tour. For more information read our pages on St. Peter’s Basilica, St. Peter’s Square and the history of St. Peter’s Basilica.
Opening hours
St. Peter’s Basilica
Basilica 7 am – 6:30 pm – dome 8 am – 5 pm – treasure 9 am – 5:15 pm
More information about St. Peter’s Basilica>
Vatican Museums
Monday – Saturday 9 – 16 Closing 18, Closed Sundays and January 1 and 6. Free admission on Sunday 29 9 – 12:30 closing 14:00.
Details on the Vatican Museums>
City museums and national museums
In Rome, some of the museums belong to the municipality and some to the state. Almost all museums are normally closed on 1 January. However, they are open on Jan. 1, 2023, as admission is free on the 1st Sunday of the month.
The city’s museums include the Capitoline Museums, Trajan’s Markets, Imperial Forums and numerous other museums. National museums include the Colosseum, Castel Sant’Angelo, Borghese Gallery and many more. For the full list of museums, opening times and tickets, see our Rome Museums page.
Free entry
All museums run by the Municipality of Rome, such as the Capitoline Museums and the Trajan’s Markets, have free admission on January 1st. The entry time must be reserved by telephone +39060608. Admission is also free at the national museums, most of which do not require reservations.
Exhibitions
Cinecittà si mostra Visit the dream factory of Roman cinema, Metro A Station Cinecittà Tickets
Galleria Colonna – one of the largest ancient private palaces in Rome. The most beautiful rooms of the palace and the art collection of the family with artists from the 15th and 16th centuries such as Pinturicchio, Cosmè Tura, Carracci, Guido Reni, Tintoretto, Salvator Rosa, Bronzino, Guercino, Veronese, Vanvitelli
Via della Pilotta 17 (near Piazza Venezia) Bus 51, 60, 63, 80, 83, 85, 160, 170, H, n5, n8, n11, n90, n543, n716 (Piazza Venezia) Tickets
Capuchin Crypt – Museum and Crypt of the Capuchins
Via Vittorio Veneto 27 Bus 52, 53, 61, 63, 80, 83, 160, n90, nMA (Barberini) Tickets
The Colosseum tells of itself, permanent exhibition in the Colosseum – with the support of Heinz Beste, DAI Rom
Piazza del Colosseo Metro B Colosseo Tickets
Crazy – Madness in contemporary art until Jan. 8
Madness, like art, refuses established schemes, escapes from any rigid framework, rebels against constraints, so also Crazy, the project curated by Danilo Eccher.
In the Chiostro del Bramante (near Piazza Navona) Via Arco della Pace 5
LUCIO DALLA. Even if time passes
The exhibition is dedicated to the extraordinary human and artistic journey of the popular artist, telling 50 years of history.
Most of the material is exhibited for the first time, documenting the path of a narrator of life and sounds who, with biting irony and poetic vision, has conquered all hearts, not only as a musician, but also as an actor, writer, theater director and lover of sports and motor sports, dance, opera, painting and literature.
Ara Pacis Museum, Exhibition Room – until January 6, 2023
Pasolini Painter
Pasolini Pittore is an exclusive exhibition project, completely new in its kind, conceived on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of the birth of Pier Paolo Pasolini. It aims, more than forty years after the last complete publication on Pasolini the painter in 1978, to bring back attention to an important artistic aspect, often neglected by critics, in the overall context of the work of the writer and director.
The exhibition includes about two hundred works, most of which come from the Gabinetto Scientifico Letterario G.P. Vieusseux in Florence. They reconstruct Pasolini’s artistic career since the early 1940s and document the continuity of Pasolini’s painterly practice and his technical tenacity. In the end, the artist was always more interested in the “composition” – with its contours – than in the material, in line with that painterly phase of Italian art that, especially between the 1960s and 1970s, was increasingly defined also by its civic commitment.
Gallery of Modern Art, Via Francesco Crispi 24 – until April 16, 2023
Domitian Emperor. Hate and love
Domitian was the last emperor of the Flavian dynasty. Although his reign was quite successful, he finally fell victim to a conspiracy. 94 works in 15 halls tell his time and his story.
The exhibition is a co-production of the Sovrintendenza Capitolina and the Rijksmuseum van Oudheden, with loans from London, Copenhagen, Paris, the Netherlands, Karlsruhe, Munich, Rome and Naples.
Capitoline Museums, Villa Caffarelli – until Jan. 29, 2023
VAN GOGH – Masterpieces from the Kröller-Müller Museum
In the run-up to the 170th anniversary of his birth, this exhibition and emotional journey, through an exceptional loan of 50 works – including his famous Self-Portrait (1887) – tells of his human and artistic life.
Special attention is given to the period of stay in Paris, in which Van Gogh devotes himself to an accurate color research in the wake of Impressionism and a new freedom in the choice of subjects, with the conquest of a more immediate and chromatically vivid language.
Palazzo Bonaparte, Piazza Venezia 5 – until March 26, 2023 Tickets
Raoul Dufy – The painter of joy
The exhibition is divided into 13 thematic sections and narrates the entire artistic career of the French painter.
Palazzo Cipolla, Via del Corso 320 – until Feb. 26, 2023 Tickets
Medieval Rome – The Lost Face of the City
The exhibition traces the appearance of Rome between the sixth and fourteenth centuries and its central role for simple pilgrims as well as for kings and emperors.
Put yourself in the shoes of a medieval pilgrim who wanted to see the first witnesses of Christianity and the relics of the martyrs.
Museo di Roma, Piazza Navona, until 5 February 2023
Riccardo Venturi. Childhood conditions – journey in the growing country
With over 80 photographs, the exhibition presents the reportage of the important mission of the social enterprise “Con i Bambini”, addressing inequality and exclusion, social exclusion and school dropout.
Riccardo Venturi, twice Word Press Photo, makes the theme visible with his work.
Museo di Roma in Trastevere, Piazza di San Egidio, until 26 February 2023
Technoscape – The Architecture of Engineering
The exhibition highlights the relationship between structural or avant-garde engineering and the omnipresence of technology in the contemporary world.
The exhibition is divided into technological innovation and structural engineering.
MAXXI – Museo Nazionale delle Arti del XXI secolo, Via Guido Reni 4a – until April 10, 2023
The Colors of Antiquity. Santarelli Marbles at the Capitoline Museums
In two rooms of Palazzo Clementino at the Capitoline Museums, there is on display a broad overview of the use of colored marbles, from their origins to the 20th century, through a fine selection of pieces from the Santarelli Foundation.
The World of Banksy – The immersive experience
Be captivated by the masterpieces of one of the most enigmatic artists of our time!
Tiburtina station – Shop gallery – until 28 May Tickets
The Rome of the Republic. The narrative of archaeology
At Palazzo Caffarelli, the exhibition of some 1,800 works illustrates, through a series of archaeological themes and contexts, the characteristics and changes in Roman society from the 5th to the middle of the first century BC.
Events
Papal audiences and masses in January
General audiences of the Holy Father take place on Wednesdays at 9:30 am.
The Pope’s Angelus prayer takes place on Sundays and on January 6th at noon in St. Peter’s Square.
Papal masses are on January 1st and 6th.
On Jan. 5, 9:30 a.m., the funeral Mass for Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI will be held in St. Peter’s Square.
Traffic-calmed Sunday
January 8, Traffic-calmed Sunday – driving ban for private vehicles with combustion engines in the city center
7:30 am – 12:30 pm, 4:30 pm – 8:30 pm
Sport
6.1. Corri per la Befana – races and games in the Ippodromo delle Capanelle https://www.romaroadrunnersclub.it/
22.1. 9:30 am La Corsa di Miguel 10 km at the Olympic Stadium https://www.lacorsadimiguel.it/
Concerts
Rome has a lively music scene. Many pubs and music venues offer live music, especially on weekends. Classical music can be found in many churches and palaces.
Rome’s Music Park
A jewel is the Parco della Musica, built by the internationally known architect Renzo Piano, in northern Rome on Via Flaminia. See all events here. Events and tickets
Tram 2
There are several auditoriums and an open-air stage in the Parco della Musica. There are performances in all styles.
Some events are also organized together with the Casa del Jazz. Events and Tickets Casa del Jazz
Bus 160, 671, 714, 792
Atlantico
Atlantico is a concert hall in the EUR neighborhood. You take Metro B to EUR Fermi and then bus 705 or 706 to Colombo / Atlantico.
Viale dell’Oceano Atlantico, 271D
Metro B EUR Fermi -> 705, 706
Palazzo dello Sport
The Palazzo dello Sport is a multifunctional hall where concerts are held regularly. It is located in Quartier EUR and is easily accessible by Metro B station Palasport.
Metro B EUR Palasport
Largo Venue
Largo Venue is a cultural center on Via Prenestina.
Largo Venue, Via Biordo Michelotti 2
Tram 5, 14, 19 Bus 81, 412, n5, n543, nMC Prenestina/Gattamelata
Teatro Brancaccio
The Teatro Brancaccio on Via Merulana also hosts musical events.
Via Merulana 244 Bus 16, 75, 714
Amusement parks
In Rome and the surrounding area there are a few parks that offer a welcome change. However, in winter they are mostly only open on weekends and public holidays. The parks are decorated for Christmas and the children can get to know Santa Claus.
Luneur
The Luneur Park offers many rides. It is located in the south of the city in the EUR district on Via Cristoforo Colombo. The opening times in winter are irregular, mostly Saturday and Sunday 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., in summer daily until midnight. On the Luneur website you can see the calendar with the opening days. Bus connections are lines 30, 170, 714 and 791, Colombo / Agricoltura stop. From there it is 750m to the entrance on Via delle Tre Fontane 100.
Cinecittà World
Cinecittà World is a theme park with numerous rides. It is located next to the outlet center Castel Romano on Via Pontina between Rome and Pomezia. The park is open 11 – 18 until January 8.
The park can be reached by car or by regional buses. There is a shuttle bus to the adjacent outlet center from Termini station. Cinecittà World tickets
Excursions around Rome
Rome has beautiful surroundings. The Romans go to the seaside or the mountains for a good meal on weekends.
The seafood restaurants by the sea are also well attended in January. There is a rustic kitchen in the mountains that goes well with the cooler temperatures. When there is snow, the Romans ski in the nearby Appenines.
You can reach many destinations by public transport.
Excursions to the sea
If you want to see the sea, just go to Ostia Lido. A ticket for city traffic is sufficient for the journey and on the way you can visit the excavations of the old port city of Ostia Antica.
Excursions in the mountains
The most famous summer residence of the Romans in Castel Gandolfo. The popes spent the summer here at an altitude of around 400 m. Pope Francis, however, remains in Rome and the palace and gardens at Castel Gandolfo can be visited.
You can get to Castel Gandolfo by train from Roma Termini or from Ciampino with a 3-zone ticket. The train station is located on the volcanic hill between Lake Albano and the village.
Day trips
With the high-speed trains that are punctual to the minute, Florence and Naples are only around 1 ½ hours away. With our tips you can put together your own day tour or book an organized tour. Take a day to stroll around Florence and see the world famous Uffizi Gallery. Or visit the excavations in Pompeii and see Vesuvius, which is still active today and buried the city under its ashes.
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