Holidays in Italy

[see you soon]

Thank you to those who responded to my previous questions. We are in Rome on May 1, Labour Day, Florence on May 2 and Genoa on May 3. When a holiday falls on a weekend day does the holiday period extend to the following Monday. By that I mean would public transit be running on the holiday schedule on Monday. We intend to go to Cinque Terre on May3 but the time schedule will be tight so we need to consider all possibilities.

 

Many thanks

[carlmm]

When a holiday falls on a weekend day does the holiday period extend to the following Monday. By that I mean would public transit be running on the holiday schedule on Monday.

 

AFAIK: No, holidays are celebrated the day they are. There is no rule like the UK one.

[Hlitner]

May 1 (Labor Day in Europe) is a huge holiday which becomes a very extended weekend and is celebrated throughout Europe. The bottom line is that most of Europe is closed on this day (we never could understand wy cruise lines do not try to work around this holiday) and tourists need to think a little like Europeans. On that weekend many locals will head to various vacation places to enjoy their holiday. As an example, the Cinque Terre villages are a great place to be on May 1 as is many other coastal resort areas. If you are in cities like Rome, it will be much like a US city on July 4 with most shops and many restaurants closed for the day (or weekend).

 

Hank

[Red Hat Cruise Cat]

We're on the Grand and will be in Florence on May 1st, how will the holiday impact our visit?

 

Will the museums be open?

Will the trains between Florence and Livorno keep their "normal" schedule or will there be a shortened "holiday" schedule?

Where can I find more information?

[euro cruiser]

We're on the Grand and will be in Florence on May 1st, how will the holiday impact our visit?

 

Will the museums be open?

Will the trains between Florence and Livorno keep their "normal" schedule or will there be a shortened "holiday" schedule?

Where can I find more information?

I don't think you're going to like the answer.

 

The trains will run on a limited schedule, about one per hour. You can see at this site: www.trenitalia.com. The station in Livorno is Livorno Centrale, for Florence just enter Firenze. The station in town in the historic area is Santa Maria Novella.

 

The musuems will mostly be closed; the Accademia, Uffizi and the Bargello will all be closed, I stopped looking after that. You can check for yourself at this site: http://www.firenzemusei.it/

[Hlitner]

We're on the Grand and will be in Florence on May 1st, how will the holiday impact our visit?

 

Will the museums be open?

Will the trains between Florence and Livorno keep their "normal" schedule or will there be a shortened "holiday" schedule?

Where can I find more information?

 

Regarding the museums you need to check their individual web sites for their opening days and hours (you can find the sites on Google). Regarding the trains we know they do run on May 1, but are not sure if they will modify the normal schedule. Knowing Italy I doubt if they even have an answer to this question at this point. You should check the Trenitalia web site for the schedule, but you would be well advised to check again as you get closer to that May 1 date. When we were docked in Livorno on May 1 (I think it was 2 or 3 years ago) we were able to get a local rental car operator to open for the day. However, they did charge us (and others) a premium (nearly 50% higher than their usual rate) for providing a rental car on the holiday.

 

Hank

[euro cruiser]

Knowing Italy I doubt if they even have an answer to this question at this point. You should check the Trenitalia web site for the schedule, but you would be well advised to check again as you get closer to that May 1 date.

It's not a bad idea to keep checking, but the May schedules are loaded into the system now and can be seen.