When is the best time to go to Rome?

With its rich history, fabulous food, layered culture and world-class sights, Rome is one of the top cities to visit on the planet. At any time of year, you'll be spoiled for choice when it comes to things to see and do, but some months are definitely calmer than others in the Eternal City.

The great thing about Rome is that the city is always open for business, so you can come at any time of year and find a city full of warmth and activity. Time it right, and you can also avoid the endless queues and other frustrations of peak-season travel.

From finding good weather and cool festivals to avoiding the crowds, here's what to expect from Rome throughout the year to help you plan the best time to visit.

Spring and fall are magical times to see a calmer side to Rome

When in doubt, aim for the shoulder seasons. Italy awakens from its winter slumbers for the Easter holidays, and while this isn’t officially the start of the tourist season, it is the time when Italians begin to take long weekends to enjoy the delights of their home country. This is also one of the best times to catch great deals on flights and accommodation, and the crowds are much more manageable than in the busy summer.

However, there are still some crowded periods, such as the weekend of the Rome Marathon in April, the Natale di Roma festivities on 21 April, and the Ides of March celebrations on 15 March. If your visit coincides with a major event, you'll need to book ahead for transport and accommodations.

Visiting Rome in the spring means taking part in those first giant bursts of life that creep into the city, from flowers and trees blooming to the first sunny days that draw locals outdoors onto overflowing cafe terraces. You run the risk of hitting a rainy day here and there, but once the clouds part and life resumes, the sun tends to shine even brighter.

The period following the summer is celebrated so enthusiastically in Rome that there is a specific, ancient term for it: Ottobrata Romana (“Roman October”). Corresponding to the ancient harvest season, early fall was the time when Romans would leave the city to soak up the gentle sunshine and clean, fresh air that marked the end of the hot summer.

Romans still rejoice at the arrival of fall today, marking the season with long walks through the city and extended aperitivi sessions to soak up every ray of sunshine, plus visits to movie screens for the Rome Film Fest in October. If you’re looking for a time to enjoy Rome like a local, late spring and early fall are the top times to come.

Summertime in Rome is hot and busy, but it isn't crowded everywhere

There’s no bad time to visit Rome, but the city is notoriously crowded in the summer, and if you visit during the sultry months from June to September, your experience will inevitably be colored by the crush of fellow visitors. And to be fair, it’s not only foreign tourists that are doing the crowding – scores of Italian students march on the capital on organized school trips, swarming the most famous sites.

Additionally, there are concerts, festivals and all manner of public gatherings around the city, many associated with the Estate Romane celebrations from June to October. These events can bring 50,000 people or more to a central location such as the Circo Massimo or Terme di Caracalla, which means even more buses and crowds on top of the buses and crowds that are already here.

Plus, it’s hot. And let me repeat myself to just emphasize how hot it is: It’s hot. The temperature can be blindingly and oppressively warm from noon until about 6pm for much of the summer. Consequently, every human who has to not only be outside but also function in some way as part of society is going to be noticeably short on patience, from the taxi driver to the tour guide to the gelato seller who would really like to be anywhere else out of the heat.

As you inch closer to the sacred Ferragosto holidays on August 15, Romans get ever more anxious to get out of the city and escape the simmering cauldron. If you want your interactions with locals to be more than just transactions, keep this in mind. Moreover, prices on just about everything increase with the temperature, so be prepared to pay a premium if you choose a summer stint in Rome.

But want to see a magic trick? All you need to do is walk about three or four streets away from most of the major tourist attractions in Rome, and poof, the crowds disappear. This is the great thing about many places in Italy – massive crowds tend to cluster around the most popular sights, but step a few blocks away and the multitudes dissipate.

If you do visit the big sights, some spots can feel particularly cramped when crowded with visitors. The Trevi Fountain is tucked into a little piazza and to get there you need to take a route through busy, narrow streets, while the Pantheon predates most of the real estate around it, so getting in can be a squeeze.

And while the Colosseum may have been built for crowds and gladiators, it’s no match for the hordes of visitors brought here by tour buses on the quest for the perfect Instagram shot. If you do find yourself in the city during the summer months, mix up the big sights with visits to quieter neighborhoods where you can escape the crush.

Avoid crowds by heading to Rome in January or February

No matter what time of year you visit, you'll never have Rome entirely to yourself. There will always be traffic jams and some important delegation in town, clogging the streets with dignitaries and their entourages. And you’ll always have to deal with rush hour on the metro or bus, and bustling throngs moving in and out of the major train stations.

But accepting that life is happening all the time in Rome, if you come during the post-Christmas holidays, you’ll find a more muted atmosphere in the city, and your budget will stretch significantly further than at other times of the year.

January and February are ideal months for culture lovers to wander around the city's legendary galleries and museums without the usual queues, and for foodies to make reservations at dining spots they’d never get into at busier times.

No matter the time of year, bring a scarf

The weather is not a subject for small talk in Italy as it is in many other places. People talk about it with a reverence reserved for religion and if you spend any amount of time interacting with Italians they will inevitably have some advice for you pertaining to it.

But fear not – the weather in Rome is by and large very pleasant. The city has a Mediterranean climate with sunny days and cooler nights that rarely dip below freezing, but rainy periods can hit from November to March or April. During summer, it gets hot during the day but the city tends to cool down a bit at night, though Rome in mid-summer still tends toward the stuffy and humid.

However, Romans are locked in an eternal battle against the colpa di aria, crudely translated to a "stiff breeze." Unexpected gusts can strike at any time, be it on a crisp morning in January or a restaurant terrace in mid-summer. They might hit in the middle of an Easter walk through St Peter’s Square, or on an evening stroll through Ostiense, so be prepared.

The answer to very nearly every question about the weather in Italy is "wear a scarf" – or at the very least, keep a scarf handy. It may seem silly at first but I promise that once you get used to it, you’ll wonder how you ever did without one. And hey, in the worst-case scenario, you’ll still look pretty good on your Roman holiday.