Rome's night-tourism trial offers Milan a blueprint

Rome is testing a new strategy this summer to manage the twin pressures of record heat and overwhelming daytime crowds: opening its museums, parks, archaeological sites, monuments, villas and historic residences at night. The initiative, reported by France 24 on Tuesday, is being trialled as a way to let visitors experience the capital's heritage without the saturation that has become a hallmark of peak-season tourism.

The move responds to a season in which heatwaves have made daytime sightseeing uncomfortable, even hazardous, for the millions of tourists who flock to Italy each August. By shifting some of that demand into the cooler evening hours, Rome's administrators hope to ease congestion at the city's most iconic landmarks.

For Milan, the experiment is more than a curiosity. Lombardy's capital has its own tourism pressures — from the crowds around the Duomo and Galleria to the strain on the lakes and hill towns that surround it — and the region's tourism officials have been watching how other Italian cities adapt to the new climate reality.