What's happening in Rome this week?

Rome during the hottest stretch of summer is a different city from the one you'd find in spring or autumn. The temperature reads 27°C after dark, but midday pushes past 38°C, and 79% humidity makes it feel like 32°C even at night. Tuesday through Thursday the residential streets of Monteverde and Prati slow down. Locals who haven't left for the coast eat dinner at 9:30pm or later in Trastevere, where Bar San Calisto still fills with regulars on plastic chairs, nursing a €2.50 Peroni. The smell of frying garlic drifts from trattorias on Via della Scala. Friday and Saturday tip toward visitors near Termini and the Centro Storico. Sunday morning, everything between Piazza Navona and the old center shuts from about 8am to noon, except the pastry bars selling cornetti still warm from the oven for €1.50. You'll hear the bells of Santa Maria in Trastevere and little else until the shutters start rattling back up.

Campo de' Fiori opens its produce stalls by 7am every morning except Sunday, with the best vendors packing up by 1pm. Get there early. By mid-morning the piazza fills with visitors photographing the Giordano Bruno statue from 1889, and the prices creep up. Porta Portese, the Sunday flea market, stretches along the Tiber south of Ponte Sublicio from 7am to about 2pm. It's loud. The air smells like old leather and roasting porchetta from the sandwich trucks, and the crush of bodies generates its own heat. Keep your phone and wallet in a front pocket. Worth noting, the summer holiday closures start hitting hard this week. Many family-run restaurants in Testaccio, Monti, and Pigneto tape a handwritten sign to the door and disappear until Ferragosto passes. The tourist-facing spots in the old center stay open, but the neighborhood places you'd want tend to be shuttered.

The Colosseum, completed in 82 AD, and the Roman Forum, a public center since roughly 800 BC, share a combined ticket at €18. Buy online at least 3 days ahead or you'll stand in direct sun for over an hour. Monday is a rest day for several museums, but the Vatican Museums open Monday through Saturday, with entry to the Sistine Chapel (finished 1473) included in the €17 ticket. Villa Borghese stays open Mondays too, though its 2-hour entry slots sell out 2 weeks in advance. The Pantheon, rebuilt around 128 AD, charges €5 since 2023. Go before 10am. The light through the open oculus hits the marble floor at a lower angle in the morning, and the stone interior stays cooler than the street. St. Peter's Basilica, begun in 1506, opens at 7am with no entry charge, though the cupola climb costs €8 for the full 551 stairs or €10 with the elevator partway.

Between 6:30 and 8:30pm every evening, bars across Rome set out bruschetta, supplì (fried rice balls trailing molten mozzarella), and marinated olives alongside your €8-12 spritz or Negroni. During the hottest weeks, this nightly aperitivo might be the best hour of your day. Salotto 42 near Piazza di Pietra does it well, and you'll taste the difference between a fresh-squeezed bitter orange spritz here and the premixed versions near the Spanish Steps. For dinner, Testaccio is the neighborhood for Roman cooking if its restaurants haven't closed for the holiday. Flavio al Velavevodetto, built into the side of the ancient Monte Testaccio, serves cacio e pepe for about €12. The pasta has a starchy, peppery bite that tourist-trap versions can't match. Da Enzo in Trastevere is another strong option, but expect a 45-minute wait without a reservation, even in peak summer.