Ferragosto

Ferragosto has been a holiday in Italy since Roman times, when it was called "feriae Augusti” in honor of the Emperor Augustus. In later times August 15th become a Christian festivity to celebrate the Assumption of the Virgin Mary.

As a tourist, this is probably the worst time to visit Italy, especially if you're into shopping. You will find many stores with a "chiuso per ferie" closed for vacation signs. It seems that all the locals head out to either the beaches or the mountains for at least this middle week of August with some taking the whole month off and even those who don't actually go away will at least take a day trip to the seaside or go for a picnic in the country on August 15th.

This weekend saw 20 million Italians in 10 million vehicles hit the roads in start of their vacation. Traffic is a nightmare. I remember getting caught up in this the last time I visited. A two hour trip became a 6 hour nightmare due to the bumper to bumper traffic on the highways.

I would never go to Italy in August. Best months are June and September.