Piazza del Popolo is the center of Roman celebrations: traditional Fiesta di San Silvestro goings-on cheek by jowl with concerts and fireworks, with celebrating well into the wee hours. About.com’s Guide to Italy has the scoop on all of Italy’s New Year’s Eve haps… read up on Italian new year’s traditions, too. And that red underwear thing? Brings you luck.

There’s always a free concert going on in piazza del popolo and there’s the club La Maison which is just off via governo vecchio in the centro storico which will be putting on the best night in the city. For accommodation try out StayRentals.com and Homelidays and  for the best food in Rome, chica boomba again on the via governo vecchio. Their hand made pasta is the best.

When the grown-ups go to bed on 1 January, the New Year’s Eve in Rome celebrations turn to the children with papier-mâché masks, performers on stilts, clowns, acrobats, fire-eaters and all sorts of other attractions.