Even though the center of Rome is very walkable, so much so that most visitors don’t even set foot on any of the public transport available near the main sights, those wanting to come to the Urbs Aeterna better be armed with some… Eternal patience: August will be a trying month for people wanting to commute to and from the city center with the subway, both locals and tourists!

This in spite of the fact that 2019 will go down in history as the worst year for the A line (AKA the orange one), particularly, with the “Repubblica” stop having reopened after an 8 months-long closure and the “Barberini” one being currently shut down.

The city administration has in fact announced a number of closures along that very line, distributed throughout the summer weeks, to allow “important maintenance works that have been waiting for decades”, as per the statement of Linda Meleo, Rome’s transport councillor.

A cruel summer, indeed!

While in the past weeks some of the stops in the suburbs have been closed, the month of August is the time for the works to approach the ones that are closer to the most important landmarks and monuments.

The remaining planned closures will done in installments, if you will, and are scheduled as follows:

From August 4 to August 13

The whole A line from “Vittorio Emanuele” to the terminal at “Anagnina” will be closed, affecting such stops as Vittorio Emanuele itself, “Manzoni”, “San Giovanni” – crucial for those wanting to visit the Colosseum only traveling on the A line, or the Basilica of St. John Lateran, or St. Mary Major. Do note that the B and C line will work as usual.

From August 14 to August 19

Maintenance works will result in the closure of all stops of the A line between “San Giovanni” and “Lepanto”, affecting all the stops typically used by tourists: “Flaminio” for Piazza del Popolo and the Tridente along with the fashion district there, “Spagna” for the Spanish Steps, “Repubblica” for the connections to the bus going to the Vatican (and more destinations), and obviously “Termini”. Again, the B and C line will be working at this time.

From August 20 to August 25

The A line will be closed from its other terminal at “Battistini” up to “Termini”. One more chunk of works that will impact locals as well as visitors, particularly those wanting to reach the Vatican Museums (the “Ottaviano” stop will be affected).

Travelers won’t be left stranded

ATAC, the company running most of the public transportation network in Rome, has already put into operation a number of shuttle buses that will be connecting all the different subway stops that will be closed.

They will look like regular ATAC coaches and will make a stop right outside the subway entrances – or down the road from them, when not possible. They will be marked clearly on the front (usually with “MA1” or “MA2”, depending whether they are moving north or south, respectively).

Please note: when getting on the shuttle buses, tourists as well as Romans are expected to stamp their tickets just as they would any other bus!

For more information on the shuttle buses, you can head on to this site (Italian, only, but using Google Translate will help you!).

As far as alternatives go, we at From Home to Rome always suggest to look into the urban service provided by Trenitalia.

On top of being one of the main high-speed operators in Italy and connecting Rome with all major areas of the country, Trenitalia also runs a very efficient system of urban trains, marked FL1 to FL8 (you guessed it: it’s 8 different lines).

Foreigners usually are aware of the FL1 as it connects some boroughs of Rome with the airport at Fiumicino, however these trains can be boarded with a regular bus ticket to move within the city. Major stops include Roma Ostiense, Roma Trastevere, Roma San Pietro, Roma Tiburtina and even Roma Termini.

So, for instance, someone relying on the subway to go from Termini to the Vatican could very well use a train from the FL5 line and travel from the train station at Termini to Roma San Pietro – the rest of the journey can be easily done by bus or simply on foot (the Basilica is that close!).

Whether you use a tablet or a smartphone, we also recommend using one of the most popular transport apps to calculate your routes within the city by using the public transport network: Probus, Moovit or Citymapper, as well as Google Maps, all monitor the different transit available and show you maps of Rome as you go.

More disruptions coming

Starting in September (but the exact schedule hasn’t been released yet), the B line will also undergo some maintenance: the subway will stop running earlier in the evening, with the last trains departing from each terminal at 9PM.

This way, works will be done to connect the Colosseo subway stop with the C line of the subway. A minor disruption, but not ideal in that area of the city (which includes the hip Monti neighborhood!).