Lazio
Rome Christmas Markets 2026: Piazza Navona Dates and Four Neighbourhood Markets
Rome's Befana fair in Piazza Navona is set from 1 December 2026 to 6 January 2027. The dates, the hours and four smaller markets from Prati to Testaccio.
Rome's Christmas fair in Piazza Navona is scheduled from 1 December 2026 to 6 January 2027.
The dates come from the city's own notice for the 2026-2027 edition. In practice the square has sometimes filled a few days later.
Rome is a different case from Bolzano or Trento. It has one historic fair, dedicated to the Befana more than to Father Christmas, and a handful of neighbourhood markets in wooden huts. This guide covers both, with the dates set out in the notices of Roma Capitale and of the first municipality, which governs the historic centre.
Quick answer
Piazza Navona: 1 December 2026 to 6 January 2027, by the city's notice.
Hours: the notice lets the stalls trade from 9:00 until 1:00 at night, and until 2:00 on holidays and the evenings before them.
Entry: free. It is a public square.
The day: 6 January, when the Befana arrives in the morning.
Also open: markets in Prati, Trastevere, Esquilino and Testaccio.
The Befana fair in Piazza Navona
The fair is more than 200 years old. It began in Piazza Sant'Eustachio and moved to Piazza Navona after the unification of Italy, as Rome's tourism office records. The stalls sell sweets, toys, nativity figures, decorations and handcrafts, and the square also hosts a puppet theatre and street artists.
The Befana is the old woman who, in Italian tradition, brings sweets to children on the night before Epiphany. Her arrival closes the fair. In the 2024-2025 edition she came down into the square at 10:00 on 6 January.
For this winter Roma Capitale has published a call for cultural and educational events for children and families, to be held in the square from 1 December to 6 January. The notice is on the site of Zètema, the city's culture company.
Why the first days can be thin
The notice fixes the window. It does not promise that every stall is standing on the first morning. In 2024 the fair opened on 8 December, a week into its period. Plan for that.
For a trip in the first days of December, treat Piazza Navona as a bonus. From the Immaculate Conception holiday on 8 December to Epiphany it is a safe bet.
Four neighbourhood markets
| Market | District | Dates | Huts |
|---|---|---|---|
| Piazza Mazzini | Prati | 1 December to 6 January | 73 |
| Largo San Giovanni de Matha | Trastevere | 1 to 30 December | 10 |
| Piazza Vittorio Emanuele II | Esquilino | 5 to 26 December | 14 |
| Piazza Santa Maria Liberatrice | Testaccio | 5 to 26 December | 21 |
These dates and numbers come from the three-year notice of the first municipality, which covers the winters from 2025 to 2027. Piazza Mazzini is the largest. It stands in the gardens of a residential square north of the Vatican and ran on the same dates last winter, according to the city's tourism site.
They are local markets. Expect decorations, nativity scenes, candles, toys, children's books and food gifts, and expect Romans doing their shopping.
Reaching the squares
All five squares are inside the city. Piazza Navona has no metro station. It is a walk of about 20 minutes from the Spagna stop on line A, or a short ride on the buses along Corso Vittorio Emanuele II.
Piazza Mazzini is around ten minutes on foot from Lepanto, also on line A. Piazza Vittorio has its own stop on the same line. For Testaccio, leave line B at Piramide and walk ten minutes. The Trastevere huts are beside the stop of tram 8 at Piazza Belli, just across the river from the centre.
What December in Rome is for
St Peter's Square has its own tree and nativity scene through the season, and most of the city's churches set up a crib. The museums are at their quietest on weekday mornings. The light is low and golden by mid-afternoon, and dinner starts late.
The mistake to avoid
Do not plan Rome as a Christmas-market trip. One evening in Piazza Navona and an hour in Prati are enough. The pleasure of the city in December is elsewhere: the churches, the empty galleries, the long lunches.
And do not arrive in Piazza Navona on 1 December expecting the full fair.
Related guides
Planning a trip like this?
Send us your brief and we will help you get the bases, timing and route right.
• More from the Magazine
Italy Travel PlanningItaly Carnival 2027: The Dates of Six Big Carnivals, From Venice to PutignanoShrove Tuesday falls on 9 February 2027. The dates of six big Italian carnivals, from Venice and Viareggio to Ivrea, Fano, Putignano and the Sartiglia.
Italy Travel PlanningItaly Strike 20 November 2026: Trains and Flights Run, Rail Stops on SaturdayTrains and flights are excluded from Italy's general strike on 20 November 2026, but a rail strike runs from 21:00 that Friday to 20:00 Saturday. What to know.
Italy Travel PlanningItaly Public Holidays 2027: All 13 Dates, the Long Weekends and What ClosesItaly has 13 national holidays in 2027, and Saint Francis on 4 October is a weekday off for the first time. Every date, the long weekends and what closes.