At a Glance
Compared to this destination's peak season
Rome in January
By Harry Nara · Last updated
Rome in January offers some of the best conditions of the year, ideal for bargain hunters & museum goers. Expect temperatures of 3–12°C, around 7 days of rain, and low crowds across the city. Daily budgets typically land around €50–110 for mid-range travellers. Rooms are easy to find last-minute and hotel prices stay noticeably softer through the season.
Contents14 sections
#Weather in Rome in January
Rome in January averages 3–12°C (37–54°F) with around 7 days of rain, and crowds are low.
| Measure | January in Rome |
|---|---|
| Daytime high | About 12°C / 54°F |
| Overnight low | About 3°C / 37°F |
| Wet days | About 7 |
| Sunset | 4:49pm on the 1st, 5:23pm by the 31st |
| Frost | Possible on clear nights |
| Crowds | The lowest of the year after Epiphany |
Figures are NOAA 1991–2020 normals for Ciampino, Rome's official climate station.
What that actually means for your trip:
- The first six days and the rest of the month are different trips. Until Epiphany on Wednesday 6 January the city is still on holiday, Italian families fill the centre and Piazza Navona is a fairground. From the 7th, the city empties quickly.
- Clear days are cold, grey days are mild. A cloudless January night can drop close to freezing, then give you a bright 13°C afternoon. Overcast spells hold the temperature between 6 and 11°C all day and all night.
- Sightseeing ends early. The Colosseum's last entry is 3:30pm in January and the light is gone soon after 5pm, so the outdoor sites belong to the morning and the museums to the afternoon.
- Snow is a genuine event, not a hazard to plan for. It settles in the city only once every few years, and when it does, as in February 2018, Romans come out to photograph it.
Is January a good time to visit Rome? For anyone who cares more about the art than the weather, yes. The hotels are at or near their cheapest rates of the year, the queues that define a summer visit mostly disappear after the 6th, and the city's food is at its most wintry and rich. You give up long evenings outdoors and dry pavements; you gain the Sistine Chapel with space to look up.
#What to Do in Rome in January
Epiphany and La Befana (Wednesday 6 January)
In Italy the Christmas season ends with La Befana, the old woman on a broomstick who fills children's stockings on the night of 5 January: sweets for the good, a lump of black sugar "coal" for the rest. The 6th is a national holiday, and Rome's celebration centres on Piazza Navona, where the city's Christmas fair runs from early December to Epiphany (1 December to 6 January in the 2025–26 season). The stalls sell sweets, wooden toys, nativity figures and Befana dolls, and on the morning of the 6th the Befana herself arrives over the square, lowered in by Rome's firefighters to hand out sweets.
At St Peter's, the Pope celebrates the Epiphany Mass in the basilica in the morning and leads the Angelus from the window at noon.
The Vatican Museums in the quietest month
The museums charge €20 at the door, or €20 plus a €5 booking fee online, and they are closed on 1 and 6 January. After Epiphany the queues shrink to a fraction of their summer length, but booking a timed slot is still the way to avoid a wait in the cold.
The exception is the last Sunday of the month, 31 January 2027, when entry is free from 9am to 2pm (last entry 12:30pm). Free Sundays draw a long line even in January; arrive before 8:30am or pick another day.
The Colosseum, Forum and Palatine
Entry is by timed, named ticket only, released about 30 days ahead on the official site, and in January the site is open 8:30am to 4:30pm, last entry 3:30pm. Winter is the easiest time of year to get the underground and arena-floor tickets, which sell out weeks ahead in spring. Book the earliest slot and you will have the upper tiers to yourself while the low sun lights the travertine.
The first Sunday of the month is free at the Colosseum and other state museums under the culture ministry's Domenica al museo scheme, which has run every year since 2014.
In January 2027 that is 3 January. Free Colosseum tickets cannot be booked online: they are handed out on the day, first come first served, at the ticket offices in Piazza del Colosseo and at Largo della Salara Vecchia, so expect to queue.
Sant'Antonio Abate: the blessing of the animals (17 January)
On the feast of St Anthony the Abbot, patron saint of animals, Romans bring dogs, cats, horses and farm animals to be blessed. The main event of recent years has been in Piazza Pio XII, just off St Peter's Square, where breeders' associations set up an open-air stable of cows, donkeys and sheep for the morning; the older neighbourhood tradition carries on outside Sant'Eusebio, on Piazza Vittorio. In 2027 the 17th falls on a Sunday. It is one of the least touristy things you can see in Rome all year.
Solo Travellers
Spend a morning in Palazzo Massimo, the branch of the National Roman Museum opposite Termini that most visitors walk past. It holds the painted garden room from the villa of the empress Livia, the bronze Boxer at Rest and some of the finest Roman portrait busts anywhere, and in January you may have whole galleries to yourself. Eat lunch at the counter of a Testaccio trattoria and walk the Aventine in the afternoon light.
Couples
Book an early dinner and walk back through the centre after dark: the Pantheon, Piazza della Rotonda and the lanes towards Piazza Navona are floodlit and almost empty after 9pm in January. Look through the keyhole of the Knights of Malta's gate on the Aventine, which frames the dome of St Peter's, on a weekday morning when there is no queue for it at all.
Families
Piazza Navona before Epiphany is the obvious family outing, with a carousel, sweets and the Befana's arrival.
Explora, the children's museum near Piazzale Flaminio, is indoors and hands-on. Older children who have read about gladiators get more from the Colosseum's arena-floor tour than from the standard ticket, and January is when those slots are easiest to book.
Groups
Take over a long table at a Testaccio or Trastevere trattoria for a Sunday lunch, which in winter is still the main event of the Roman week.
#Getting Around
Fiumicino connects to Termini on the Leonardo Express (32 minutes, €14) or the slower FL1 regional train (about €8), which also stops at Trastevere and Ostiense.
From Ciampino, shuttle buses run to Termini in about 40 minutes.
In the city, a BIT ticket costs €1.50 and lasts 100 minutes, with passes at €7 for 24 hours and €18 for 72. You can also tap a contactless bank card at the Metro gates. The big change since most guidebooks were written is Metro C: its Colosseo–Fori Imperiali station opened on 16 December 2025, linked underground to Line B, and it is worth a stop even if you are not travelling, because the excavations uncovered during construction are displayed inside it.
Rome's centre is a walking city, and January is a good month for it: cool, uncrowded and rarely too wet for long. The catch is the stone underfoot.
#Budget & Costs
| Travel style | Per day | What it covers |
|---|---|---|
| Budget | €50–65 | Hostel bed, standing breakfasts, pizza al taglio, one trattoria meal |
| Mid-range | €100–160 | 3-star hotel, two sit-down meals, one or two museums |
| Luxury | €270+ | Historic 5-star hotels near their lowest rates of the year |
After Epiphany, January is one of Rome's two cheapest months for a room (November is the other), and the saving is in the hotel line: meals, transport and entry prices do not change with the season.
Costs worth knowing:
| What | Price |
|---|---|
| Leonardo Express, Fiumicino to Termini | €14 |
| BIT ticket (100 minutes) | €1.50 |
| Vatican Museums | €20, plus €5 to book online |
| Roma Pass, 72 hours | €62.90 |
| Pantheon | €5 |
| Trevi Fountain basin, 9am–10pm | €2 |
| Tourist tax, 3-star hotel | €6 per person per night |
- The Roma Pass is worth it only if you use it hard. At €62.90 for 72 hours it covers public transport and two sites free, so it pays off when those two are expensive ones. The 48-hour version is €38 with one site.
- The tourist tax is added to the room. It runs from €4 a night in a one-star hotel to €10 in a five-star and stops after ten nights.
- Free days change the maths. 3 January (first Sunday, state museums) and 31 January (last Sunday, the Vatican) are both free, if you can accept the queues.
#Food & Dining
January is when Roman cooking is at its heaviest and best. Look for:
- Puntarelle, the shoots of a winter chicory, shaved into curls and dressed with anchovy, garlic and vinegar. They are only on menus in the cold months.
- Black truffle from Umbria and the Marche, in season through the winter and a fraction of the price of November's white.
- Tarocco blood oranges from Sicily, piled high on market stalls from December to March.
- The four Roman pastas: cacio e pepe, carbonara, amatriciana and gricia, all of them better on a cold day.
Trastevere remains the obvious place to eat, and in January its trattorias are full of Romans rather than tour groups: Tonnarello on Via della Paglia for pasta and Da Enzo al 29 on Via dei Vascellari for Roman classics.
For supplì, the fried rice croquettes with a molten mozzarella centre, go to I Supplì on Via di San Francesco a Ripa and eat them at the counter while they are hot.
The morning market at Campo de' Fiori runs Monday to Saturday. It is the most photogenic in the city rather than the cheapest; for the market Romans actually use, go to Testaccio's covered market.
#Nightlife
Romans eat late, 8:30pm at the earliest, and the evening starts with aperitivo at around 7pm: a spritz or a Negroni served with small plates of snacks.
In Trastevere, Bar San Calisto is the institution, cheap and unpretentious, where half the neighbourhood stands outside even in January with a coat on.
Pigneto, east of the centre, has the city's most local bar scene, and the wine bars of Monti suit a cold night.
The Teatro dell'Opera is in the middle of its winter season, and the gallery seats cost far less than most visitors expect. Book on the theatre's own site.
#Shopping
The winter sales (saldi) in Lazio start on the first Saturday of January: 4 January in 2025 and 3 January in 2026.
That points to Saturday 2 January in 2027, though the region confirms each year's date only in December. The sales run for six weeks, and shops may not run promotions in the thirty days before, so the first discounts are real ones.
- Via del Corso for the chains, Via Cola di Rienzo in Prati for the mid-range shops where Romans buy.
- Via Condotti has the luxury houses; their sale is discreet and still expensive.
- Rinascente on Via del Tritone runs the most organised sale floors in one building.
#Culture & Etiquette
- Epiphany, not Christmas, closes the holidays. Many families keep the tree up until the 6th, and some small shops and restaurants close from the 1st to the 6th.
- Dress for churches. Covered shoulders and knees in every church; St Peter's turns people away at the security line.
- The coperto is a cover charge, not a tip. It is €1–3 a head for bread and the table. Tipping is not expected, though rounding up the bill for good service is welcome.
- Coffee is taken standing. An espresso at the bar costs about a third of the table price.
#Essential Local Phrases
| Phrase | Italian | Pronunciation |
|---|---|---|
| Happy Epiphany! | Buona Befana! | Bwoh-nah Beh-fah-nah |
| One espresso, please | Un caffè, per favore | Oon kaf-feh, pehr fah-voh-reh |
| Is this in the sale? | È in saldo? | Eh een sal-doh? |
| The bill, please | Il conto, per favore | Eel kon-toh, pehr fah-voh-reh |
| Is it heated inside? | È riscaldato dentro? | Eh ree-skal-dah-toh den-troh? |
| Do you have puntarelle? | Avete le puntarelle? | Ah-veh-teh leh poon-tah-rel-leh? |
| Where is the Metro? | Dov'è la metro? | Doh-veh lah meh-troh? |
#Packing List
- A warm, water-resistant coat
- Scarf and gloves for mornings near freezing
- Shoes with a rubber sole for wet cobbles
- A compact umbrella
- Layers: churches and museums are cold, restaurants are warm
- A scarf or shawl that covers your shoulders in churches
- One smarter outfit for dinner or the opera
- A power bank; short days mean more map and photo use in the dark
#Backup Plans
If it rains all day: start at Palazzo Doria Pamphilj on Via del Corso, a private palace still owned by the family, where the audio guide is narrated by Prince Jonathan Doria Pamphilj and the rooms hold Velázquez's portrait of Pope Innocent X. Then walk ten minutes to the Pantheon, which is at its most striking when rain falls through the oculus onto the marble floor.
If the Vatican is full on the day you wanted: book the Galleria Borghese, which runs two-hour timed slots and is far easier to get in January, or go to the Capitoline Museums, where the Tabularium gallery looks straight down the Forum.
If the Epiphany crowds are too much: go back to Piazza Navona on the 7th, when the stalls have gone and the Baroque square is empty in the morning light.
#Safety & Health
January is one of the calmest months of the year in Rome. Pickpockets still work the crowded places: the 64 bus to the Vatican, Metro Line A at Termini and Spagna, and the Trevi Fountain. Keep bags zipped and in front of you. Fake petitions and "free" bracelets are the common street tricks.
Tap water and the nasoni street fountains are safe to drink. Pharmacies, marked with a green cross, can advise on colds and flu, which peak in January.
Emergency: 112; for an ambulance, 118.
#What's New for January 2027
- Epiphany falls on Wednesday 6 January; the Vatican Museums are closed that day and on 1 January
- Metro C now reaches the Colosseum, at the Colosseo–Fori Imperiali station opened in December 2025
- The Trevi Fountain charges €2 to go down to the basin between 9am and 10pm
- The Vatican Museums cost €20, and the Roma Pass 72 hours €62.90
- The winter sales should start on Saturday 2 January, to be confirmed by the Lazio region in December
#About This Guide
By Harry Nara (founder of WhenToWander), updated September 2026 for January 2027. Climate figures are NOAA 1991–2020 normals for Ciampino. Prices and dates verified against:
- Vatican Museums for tickets and the free last Sunday, and its closing days
- Parco archeologico del Colosseo for the free first Sunday
- Musei in Comune di Roma for the Roma Pass
- Roma Capitale for the Piazza Navona fair
- Roma Mobilità for the Metro C stations
- Regione Lazio for the winter sales
- Basilica di San Pietro for the blessing of the animals
For the season as a whole, see Rome in winter, and for the full-year picture, the best time to visit Rome.
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Frequently Asked Questions
When are Italy's winter sales (saldi) in Rome?
In Lazio the winter sales start on the first Saturday of January and run for six weeks: 4 January in 2025 and 3 January in 2026, which points to Saturday 2 January in 2027. The region confirms each year’s date in December. Via del Corso has the chains; Via Cola di Rienzo in Prati is where Romans shop.
Is January a good month to visit the Vatican?
Yes. After Epiphany on 6 January it is the quietest month of the year at the Vatican Museums, though booking a timed slot still saves a wait in the cold. Tickets are €20, or €20 plus a €5 booking fee online. The museums are closed on 1 and 6 January, and free on the last Sunday of the month, 31 January in 2027, from 9am to 2pm.
How cold does Rome get in January?
Highs average about 12°C and lows about 3°C, with frost possible on clear nights. It is cool and damp rather than freezing, and rain falls on about 7 days of the month. Snow settles in the city only once every few years. Pack a warm coat, a scarf and shoes with a rubber sole for wet cobbles.
What is Befana?
On 6 January, Epiphany, Italian children receive sweets from La Befana, an old woman on a broomstick. In Rome the celebration centres on Piazza Navona, where the Christmas fair runs from early December to Epiphany, and on the morning of the 6th the Befana arrives over the square to hand out sweets. It marks the end of the Italian holiday season.
How much does it cost to visit Rome in January?
Budget-conscious travellers can expect daily costs of €50–110, covering accommodation, food, and local transport. Quieter periods usually push prices toward the lower end of this range.