By Harry Nara · Last updated
- Where
- San Francesco a Ripa, Trastevere
- Tickets
- Free
- Time of year
- October
- Dates
- Around the same dates every year
The first year the feast is a national holiday again after nearly fifty years, but it falls on a Sunday, so the practical effect on a working week is nil. The date is fixed and does not move.
Italy has brought back the feast of its patron saint as a national public holiday, having abolished it in the nineteen seventies for economic reasons. It is the twelfth on the calendar. For a visitor the practical consequence is closures on a day most guidebooks still list as an ordinary one: banks, offices and schools shut, transport drops to a holiday timetable, and many neighbourhood businesses close. The year it falls on a Sunday nobody notices. The year it falls on a Monday it makes a long weekend and the centre fills with Italians.
What San Francesco actually is
The feast of Francis of Assisi, patron saint of Italy, restored to the national calendar by a law passed to mark the eight hundredth anniversary of his death. It had been a public holiday until the nineteen seventies, when a round of cuts removed several religious holidays from the working calendar. Alongside the closures the state has committed to cultural programming around the values attached to him, and the anniversary year carries a heavier programme than the ones that follow. Assisi is the centre of it. Rome’s connection is real but quieter, and it sits in Trastevere.
Where to watch San Francesco
- San Francesco a Ripa in Trastevere, and this is the reason to make a day of it. The first Franciscan church in Rome, on the spot where Francis stayed at a riverside hospice during his visits to the Pope. His cell survives above the sacristy, with the stone he is said to have used as a pillow and his crucifix. It is free, it is almost never busy, and on the feast it is the one place in Rome where the day means something specific.
- The Albertoni chapel in the same church, for Bernini’s last work. The reclining figure of the Blessed Ludovica Albertoni, carved when the sculptor was in his late seventies, is one of the most extraordinary things in Rome and one of the least visited. Most people who go to Trastevere never learn it is there. Ask for the light.
- Trastevere itself, on a day the shops are shut. This is the version of the neighbourhood that is hard to find in October otherwise: quiet lanes, no delivery vans, and the residents out rather than the visitors. The morning is the good half, before the restaurant trade picks up.
- The state museums, which mostly stay open. The Colosseum, the Forum and the national collections generally keep normal hours on national holidays while everything commercial closes. If the closures have wrecked your plan, this is the reliable fallback, and it is quieter than a Saturday.
- Assisi, if you have the day and the appetite for a train. Rome to Assisi is a straightforward journey and the town is the actual centre of the feast. It is a long day and it will be crowded, and it is the only way to see the thing itself rather than its Roman echo.
Tickets and what it costs
Nothing about the day costs anything. San Francesco a Ripa is a working parish church with free entry, and the Albertoni chapel is part of the ordinary visit. What the holiday costs you is access and time. Banks and offices close, many shops and neighbourhood restaurants close, and public transport runs the reduced holiday service, so allow longer for everything. Anything you need to buy, buy the day before. Restaurants that do open in the tourist centre fill early, and in a year when the date makes a long weekend they should be booked ahead.
Official information and booking: www.officeholidays.com/holidays/italy/feast-of-st-francis-of-assisi
Getting there
San Francesco a Ripa sits at the southern end of Trastevere, a walk from Piazza Trilussa across Ponte Sisto or a tram along Viale di Trastevere to Piazza Mastai. Trastevere has no metro, which is part of why it stays as it is. On a holiday the trams and buses run Sunday frequencies, so a walk from the Centro Storico is often quicker than waiting for one. If you are heading to Assisi instead, the train goes from Termini and the connection is straightforward, but check the holiday timetable rather than the weekday one.
Mistakes worth avoiding
Not knowing the holiday exists
It was reinstated only recently after nearly fifty years off the calendar, and a great deal of published guidance has not caught up. Anyone working from an older list of Italian public holidays will plan an ordinary day and find the banks shut.
Assuming the closures are the same as a Sunday
They are broadly similar but not identical. Some businesses that open on Sundays for the tourist trade close for a national holiday, and vice versa. The reliable rule is that state museums open, commerce closes, and transport runs the reduced service.
Booking the long weekend late
In the years the date lands beside a weekend it becomes a domestic travel weekend, and Rome is one of the places Italians go. Accommodation and restaurants tighten in a way an ordinary October week does not.
Going to Trastevere expecting the usual evening
Much of what makes the neighbourhood busy is commercial and takes the day. The quiet is the point of visiting, but if you were counting on a specific bar or shop, check first.
Other Rome events
Frequently asked questions
Is the feast of St Francis a public holiday in Italy?
Yes, again. It was abolished in the nineteen seventies and has now been restored by law, bringing Italy back to twelve national public holidays. The restoration was tied to the eight hundredth anniversary of the saint’s death, and the date is fixed rather than movable.
What closes in Rome on the day?
Banks, offices, schools and much of ordinary commerce, along with many neighbourhood restaurants and shops. Public transport drops to a holiday timetable, which means Sunday frequencies. State museums and major archaeological sites generally stay open on national holidays, so the Colosseum and the Forum are usually fine.
Does it affect a trip to Rome?
Only in the practical sense, and only if you were not expecting it. Nothing you came to see is likely to be shut, but the day runs at a Sunday pace. The year it falls beside a weekend it also brings domestic travellers into the city, which tightens accommodation and restaurants.
What is there to see in Rome connected to St Francis?
San Francesco a Ripa in Trastevere, the first Franciscan church in the city, built where Francis stayed during his visits to Rome. His cell survives with the stone he is said to have slept on. The same church holds Bernini’s last sculpture, the Blessed Ludovica Albertoni, which is remarkable and almost always empty.
Should I go to Assisi instead?
If the feast itself is what you want, yes, and it is a manageable day trip from Rome by train. Assisi is where the celebrations are, and they are substantial. It is a long day and it will be busy, and the anniversary years are busier still.
Is October a good month to be in Rome?
It is arguably the best of the year. Mild days, the summer crowds gone, and the light at its most flattering on the ruins. The holiday is a small complication in an otherwise excellent month, and knowing about it is enough to plan around it.
Sources
- Office Holidays, Feast of St Francis of Assisi in Italy
- Wanted in Rome, on the restored national holiday
- Turismo Roma, official city information
Dates on this page are checked against the organiser’s own listing and confirmed through 2027. Written and maintained by Harry Nara.