Rome by Night: Italy Tests a Cooler Tourism Strategy

In the face of recent heatwaves and the big crowds that saturate the historic tourist sites during the day, this summer Rome is testing a new way to visit the city: by opening tourist sites at night, France 24 reports. The initiative includes museums, parks, archaeological sites, monuments, villas, and historic residences, offering visitors a reprieve from the oppressive daytime heat that has made sightseeing in the Italian capital increasingly unbearable.

The experiment comes as Italy, like much of southern Europe, contends with a summer of record temperatures and visitor numbers that strain the infrastructure of its most beloved cities. The night-time openings are being framed as a potential model for managing the twin pressures of climate and tourism, according to the report.

For a bureau in Tuscany, the trial is being watched with particular interest. Florence, a city whose historic centre is as saturated as Rome's, faces the same problems of heat and crowding, and its museum directors have long debated similar measures. The question is whether the Roman experiment will be judged a success and replicated elsewhere.