September to November
The heat goes, the crowds go with it, and the countryside spends three months making things. Autumn is the answer to when to come.
42 things to book23 placesthe nearest is a 33 min drive from Rome
If somebody asks when to visit Rome, the honest answer is autumn, and the reason has nothing to do with the city. Between September and November the country outside it is at work: grapes in, olives in, chestnuts in the woods, new oil on bread over a fire.
The sea is still warm in September and the beaches have emptied. The walking is at its best in October, when the beech woods turn. And by November the thermal season has properly started, which is the point at which this region becomes something no other part of Italy quite has.
It is also the cheapest good season. Nothing is at high-summer prices and nothing is shut for winter.
The harvest is what makes this season different from every other, and it has a shape worth knowing. Grapes come in first, from the end of August into early October, and the estates that open the vendemmia to visitors sell it as a day where you pick. Olives follow, late October into December, and the oil days end with new oil poured over bread in front of you. Both move with the weather rather than the calendar, so the date is a phone call rather than a plan.
The other quiet advantage is that less is shut than at either end of the year. High summer closes some operators and winter closes others; September, October and November are the months when most of this catalogue is running, the water is still warm, the mountains are clear, and the hill towns have their own streets back.
What changes as the season goes on is the light and the length of the day. By November the useful hours are short, which argues for one thing near the city rather than two hours of driving each way — and for finishing somewhere with a fire in it.
Grapes first, olives later, and both moving with the weather rather than the calendar. The estates announce it; their number is on the card.
Best fit for this section first, then whatever you can book today. Closest to Rome breaks a tie. Never by who pays us.
With your handsA Sabina DOP oil producer that opens its mill and its centuries-old groves to visitors with a tasting.
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With your handsA walk through the olive groves, a visit to the olive mill and a tasting session, run by a Sabina oil producer.
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With your handsA walk among DOP Sabina and IGP Olio di Roma olive trees where a technician explains the native cultivars, then the mill where the extraction is shown step by step, and finally …
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With your handsA hands-on day picking olives in the Sabina hills, followed by sorting and selecting the fruit to be sent for milling.
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With your handsA walk through an organic olive grove with the farmer, covering the farming year from pruning to harvest, then an interactive tasting of four Italian extra virgin olive oils led…
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With your handsAn evening at an organic olive farm in the Sabina: a walk through the grove, a guided tasting of the farm's oils and a light supper with olive oil pairings and drinks.
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With your handsA longer day at the farm: the history of the estate and its year-round organic methods, an extended tasting of a range of Italian oils, and lunch.
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With your handsA guided walk through the organic olive grove followed by an interactive tasting of four Italian extra virgin olive oils, led by an olive oil sommelier.
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With your handsA walk through themed gardens and organic olive groves at Collevecchio, ending with a tasting of the farm's oil and local products under a large olive tree.
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With your handsAn advanced tasting session led by an official tasting panel recognised by the Italian ministry of agriculture, ending in the tasting room at Castelnuovo di Farfa.
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With your handsA proper tasting course, not a sales pitch, run by Cristina Falcinelli — a professional taster of olive oil and table olives and a member of UMAO, the Mediterranean union of oil…
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With your handsA ten-hour day out of Rome with a private driver: your choice between Caprarola with the Farnese palace or Sutri with the Roman amphitheatre and Etruscan necropolis, then an oli…
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With your handsThe Suatoni family mill at Amelia opens the Rajo grove, planted with a local cultivar the Romans already knew and now backed by a Slow Food community.
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With your handsThe same Bartolomei oils as at the Montecchio mill, tasted in the middle of Orvieto's old town between the Duomo and the Torre del Moro.
See the dayThe far water, once the crowds have gone: the southern coast and the Circeo, the quieter northern lakes, and the clear rivers out east. September is the month to take this coast if you can choose: the water is still warm, the sand has emptied, and the boats are not fully booked.
Closest to Rome first. Never by who pays us.
On the waterCanoe and stand-up paddle sessions run from the Avventuristicando centre at Colle San Mauro in Rieti, with instruction in the basic technique.
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On the waterHourly kayak and mountain bike hire at the Green Adventure centre on Lake Vico in Caprarola, with an instructor available for kayak outings.
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On the waterA two-hour kayak outing on Lake Vico starting at 09:30 from the Centro Outdoor & Kayak Alchimia at località Scardenato.
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On the waterA three-hour kayak session on Lake Vico run by the Centro Outdoor & Kayak Alchimia, inside the Lago di Vico nature reserve.
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On the waterAn association on Lake Vico renting canoes and stand-up paddleboards and running SUP excursions and SUP courses.
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On the waterPaddling trip in modern kayaks on the clear spring-fed Cavata river, which rises at the foot of the Lepini below the medieval town of Sermoneta and the Monticchio tower.
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On the waterA canoe trip starting at the springs of the Cavata river below the medieval town of Sermoneta, paddling five kilometres along the edge of the Monticchio spring-water nature monu…
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On the waterCanoes and kayaks hired out on the lago di Paola, the coastal lagoon behind the Sabaudia dune inside the Circeo national park.
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On the waterA boat leaves the marina of San Felice Circeo and goes right around the Circeo headland, passing its caves, beaches and coves.
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On the waterDay trips out to the Pontine islands to dive Ponza, Palmarola and Zannone, including the wreck at Punta Papa.
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On the waterThe centre dives the eleven kilometres of coast between Torre Fico and Terracina, on rock formations and posidonia meadows.
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On the waterA guided paddle on the Tirino in stable sit-on-top canoes that do not capsize, inside the Gran Sasso national park.
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On the waterThe boat leaves the port of Terracina at 7:00 and comes back at 17:00.
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On the waterA guided paddle on the Tirino, a spring-fed river inside the Gran Sasso national park whose water is clear enough to see the bottom the whole way.
See the dayBeech and chestnut in the mountains east and south, in the two months when the walking here is perfect.
Closest to Rome first. Never by who pays us.
On the trailA Greek-rite abbey founded in 1004 by monks from southern Italy led by St Nilus of Rossano, the last of the Byzantine monasteries that were once spread across southern Italy and…
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On the trailVisitors wear headsets for a mixed-reality tour through the piano nobile and the Pannini Gallery of Villa Grazioli, one of the Tuscolan villas.
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On the trailA WWF-run reserve of meadows and Mediterranean woodland near Fregene, in the Fiumicino municipality.
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On the trailA wetland managed by WWF near Maccarese, used as a stopover and wintering ground by many bird species: ducks in winter, herons, kingfisher, marsh harrier, and osprey in autumn.
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On the trailClip into a harness and cross the trees: from age four there is a course to do.
€5 per person
Books on ViviAvventura
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On the trailThe archaeological area of the Latin city of Tusculum, on the ridge above Frascati.
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On the trailVilla Mondragone sits on the Tuscolan hills between Frascati and Monte Porzio Catone.
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On the trailThe gardens of the Ville Pontificie at Castel Gandolfo are open as the Borgo Laudato Si', a working site of integral ecology.
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On the trailThe Apostolic Palace at Castel Gandolfo was opened to the public in 2014.
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On the trailA ten-kilometre easy walk from Castel Gandolfo to Nemi between the two crater lakes, through woods and past the villages on their rims.
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On the trailDay one walks from Castel Gandolfo to Nemi between the two lakes, with a brunch stop at a farm bistrot and a floating aperitivo on the lake at the end; the night is spent in ten…
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On the trailA guided walk through Frascati that begins in the Scuderie Aldobrandini — the Aldobrandini stables converted by the architect Massimiliano Fuksas into the Museo Tuscolano — then…
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On the trailA single combined ticket covering the Museo Tuscolano in the Scuderie Aldobrandini at Frascati, Villa Mondragone — the largest of the Tuscolan villas — the archaeological park o…
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On the trailThe civic museums of Albano Laziale and the town's monument circuit can be visited on your own without booking, for individuals or groups of up to ten.
See the dayDriving time from the middle of Rome, on the road network and without traffic. It tells you whether the day stands up; it is not a timetable.
Getting there
The day stays yours: you leave when you want, stop where you want, and come back when the light goes.
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See prices on LocalrentThere is wine at the end of this one. Somebody else driving is not a luxury here.
Affiliate link — you pay their price, never more, and they pay us. You book with Welcome Pickups, and anything about that booking goes through them.
See prices on Welcome PickupsLate September and October, by a distance. The heat has broken, the harvests are on, the sea is still warm and the hill towns have their streets back.
It holds its heat well after the air has cooled, which is why Romans keep going to the coast long after the visitors have stopped. October swimming is a matter of temperament.
Yes — several estates run harvest days for visitors, and there is a separate guide on this site for them. The dates move every year with the weather, so ring rather than plan from a calendar.
In bursts, usually heavy and short. The caves, cellars, mills and thermal pools carry on regardless, and there is a wet-weather guide here for the rest.
From the end of August into early October, earlier on the coast and later up in the hills. Several estates open it to visitors and sell a day where you pick and then eat. The dates move every year with the weather, so the cards carry the operator's own window and their phone number.
Late October into December, with the Sabina — the closest olive groves to Rome — usually running through November. The harvest days end with new oil on bread, which is the whole point and does not survive being bottled and shipped.
If you get to choose the month, take October: the heat has broken, the sea is still warm, the harvests are on and the woods are turning. The city itself is busier in October than in August, which is another argument for spending a day out of it.
The olive harvest, the thermal springs, which come into their own once the air is cold, the caves, which do not have a season, and the hill towns, which are at their quietest. The days are short, so pick one thing within an hour.
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