Page 64 - (DK Eyewitness) Travel Guide - Rome

62  INTRODUCING ROME

Average Monthly Rainfall Rainfall Chart
Fall is Rome’s rainiest
mm inches season, with heavy
100 4 downpours, some-
80 times lasting for days,
3 especially in Nov em-
60 ber. Rain in summer
2 tends to come in
40 violent – but often
1 extremely refreshing –
20
storms. In winter and
0 0 early spring expect a
Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec few gray, drizzly days.
was once the home to luxurious Craft fair (last week September/
Fall 16th- and 17th-century country first week October), Via dell’Orso.
September and October are residences but now is International Festival of
the best – and among the renowned particularly for Cinema (October). New
most popular – months to visit its white wines. screenings and stars
Rome. The fiery heat of July and Throughout the fall and aplenty (see p352).
August will have cooled a little, winter in Rome, freshly roasted Marino Wine Festival (first
but midday can be very hot, chestnuts can be bought from Sunday in October), Marino.
and you can still eat and drink vendors on street corners, and Celebrations include tastings
outside without feeling chilly occasionally there is a stand and street entertainment.
until late at night. Visiting on Campo de’ Fiori where you Antiques Fair (mid-October),
Rome in November is not can sample vino novello, the Via dei Coronari.
recommended: it is the new season’s wine. On All Festival di Musica e Arte
wettest month of the Saints’ and All Souls’ Days, Sacra (October & November).
year and Roman which fall on Concerts by the world’s
rainstorms are November 1 leading choirs and orchestras
often very and 2, take place in Rome’s most
strong and respectively, important churches.
heavy. Romans make All Saints’ and All Souls’
At the pilgrimages Days (November 1, 2),
beginning of to place chry- Prima Porta and Verano
October, an A roast-chestnut stall in fall santhemums cemeteries. The Pope
artisans’ fair is on the tombs usually celebrates Mass
held on Via dell’Orso and of relatives who are buried in in the Verano cemetery.
adjacent streets, while nearby the two main cemeteries of Festa di Santa Cecilia
the antiques galleries of Via dei Prima Porta and Verano. On (November 22), Santa Cecilia
Coronari hold an open house. a happier note, the classical in Trastevere and Catacombs
There are also October antiques concert and opera seasons of San Callisto.
fairs in Orvieto and Perugia, two begin again in
of the loveliest Umbrian hill October and
towns, which are about an November. Details
hour’s drive north of Rome. of performances can
In November, there is yet be found in listings
another prestigious antiques magazines such
fair at the papal palace of as Where Rome, in
Viterbo, 40 miles (65 km) north supplements from
of Rome (see p273). Fall is the daily newspapers,
season of harvest festivals, so such as La
head out to the small towns Repubblica’s Trova-
around Rome to sample Roma (see p346),
delicacies such as local and on posters
cheeses, sausages, chestnuts, around the city.
and mushrooms. Another
reason for taking a trip out of
Rome is the wine festival in Events
Marino, in the Castelli Romani, RomaEuropa
south of the city. There are (fall). Films, dance,
many opportunities to sample theater, and concerts
the wines of this region that around Rome. Fall in the Villa Doria Pamphilj park

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