Thanksgiving in Italy: What to expect and how to celebrate. All you need to know for a day you’ll love

All you need to know to spend Thanksgiving in Italy: what to expect, what you will find, what you won’t, how to make this day special.

US Thanksgiving break is a popular time for visitors from the US to come to Italy and a lovely one for an Italy trip.

Italy, of course, does not celebrate Thanksgiving, so you will not find here anything that is specific to the festivity.

However, there are many reasons that make end of November a nice time to come here!

The crowds tend to be lower than at other times, prices are often better than during Christmas or Easter and temperatures are usually still mild enough for days out sightseeing to pleasant.

Also, while we don’t celebrate Thanksgiving as such, you will be pleased to learn you don’t have to forego the festivity entirely, if you don’t want to!

In Italy, you can still make your own special meal, in some places you may even find Thanksgiving events in restaurants, and you can lean into the festive atmosphere making the most of the pre-Christmas decorations and events, often already up at this time.

I have written before an article about Italy in November, and I recommend you have a look at it to get a general sense of weather and what to expect from crowds etc.

Today, I want to complement it with a specific one about Thanksgiving in Italy, to answer specific questions about this festivity and how, if at all, if affects your trip to Italy and what you can do if you want to still make the day while being here. I hope it’s helpful!

Thanksgiving in Italy TL;DR

Thanksgiving 2026 falls on Thursday 26 November

Italy does not celebrate Thanksgiving; therefore, Thanksgiving doesn’t cause nationwide holiday closures. 

That said, individual businesses, museums and restaurants can still have their normal closing days which may, randomly, overlap with Thanksgiving. So, like always, check opening days and times of anything you know you want to visit on any given day.

For the best chance of Thanksgiving celebrations, the best places to be in Italy at Thanksgiving are places with a large American expat community, for instance Rome, where you do find some events open to the general public.

Other good places are around American bases, although events in the bases themselves may not be accessible to the occasional visitor.

In more local and smaller centers, you may not find Thanksgiving specific options.

In all cases, if you want this day to have a taste from home, you will need proper planning.

If you want to cook Thanksgiving dinner while in Italy, it it good to know that not all traditional Thanksgiving ingredients are easy to source in Italy. However, there are many local fall ingredients that can work as alternatives, still giving a sense of celebration (see below)

Does Italy celebrate Thanksgiving?

Italy does not celebrate Thanksgiving.

We know of the holiday, and we have an Italian translation for its name: we call it it Giorno del Ringraziamento (lit Day of Thanksgiving in Italian – if you watch any American show dubbed in Italian, you’ll hear it!), but it is not a day we mark and also not a day we are specifically aware of, for the most part.

However, this does’t mean you cannot celebrate Thanksgiving in Italy! And it also doesn’t mean that the many Americans who live here don’t celebrate it.

While it won’t be the same as back home, there are ways to make this day special, should you want to, and if you have Italian friends, they’d be very happy to celebrate with you! It will be like being in a movie for us 🙂

Where to have US style dinner at Thanksgiving in Italy if you want to eat out

Thanksgiving lunches in restaurants are not a very common offering in Italy but they do exist in places with large American expat communities such as bigger cities.

However, since the offering is rather specific, I do recommend you do a search ahed of time for the location you are in and book a table ahead.

While you won’t be competing with large local crowds, we do have a lot of Americans living in Italy and also a lot of US visitors specifically at this time, so planning ahead is paramount.

Places you may want to check out, as they have hosted Thanksgiving meals in previous years are:

In Rome, the Hard Rock Cafe, Boutique Hotel 47 and Bakery House (always a good address also for American Style breakfast in Rome any day of the year) usually have Thanksgiving dinner specials.

To watch the football (within the limits of what can be accessed from Europe), good pubs to check out are the Abbey Theatre, the Highlander Pub and Trinity College Pub, all in the center.

In Florence, the Hard Rock Cafe and The Four Seasons hotel (they are also fantastic for a Christmas meal, if instead you are in Florence at Christmas!) are usually good addresses, but there are also several other places that offer American comfort food and can be a taste of home and a way to meet the local American expat crowd: Melaleuca Bakery, Rooster and Djaria are all worth checking out.

In Venice, the truly luxurious Gritti hotel regularly offers a decadent Thanksgiving package complete with dinner and Gio’s is also usually a good address for a turkey meal, although these are more along the lines of hotel stay packages than just lunch.

As well as establishments in the big cities, you may randomly find places in other areas offering Thanksgiving meals. For instance Tenuta Torciano in Tuscany (lovely winery, I usually recommend it as one of the best places to go wine tasting in Tuscany with kids, since it is so family friendly!) often offers a Thanksgiving event.

So, as you can see, while not something you stumble across all the time, it is something that may be worth researching specifically for the city you’ll be in as something may be on.

Realistically, the smaller the place and the least amount of Americans it sees, the harder it will be to find a place with a full on US inspired meal.

Can you make Thanksgiving dinner in your Airbnb?

Of course, if you prefer to cook at home, it is also possible to have a full Thanksgiving meal at your rental, although in this case there are a few things I recommend being aware of.

First of all, what rentals provide you with varies immensely from property to property. Check well ahead size and type of oven, oven dishes and even things that may seem obvious but often miss in places for occasional stays, like big oven gloves, heat protector for the tables etc.

Also, it is important to be aware that what you find in shops may differ quite significantly from what you find at home.

Basics like potatoes, green beans, carrots, oil, butter, salt etc are all easy to find. Whole turkeys are available, but you may need to order one from a butcher or supermarket butcher counter in advance.

Items that are particularly associated with an American Thanksgiving can be trickier to find: canned pumpkin, cranberries, cranberry sauce, pecans and even marshmallows can difficult to source. Pumpkin pie and pecan pie are likely things you’ll need to make yourself.

However, there are local alternatives you can still use for a satisfying feast!

For instance it is easy to find pumpkins and squash (zucca) for soups, or whole chicken to roast (very common for Italian celebrations, easy to find everywhere, easy to cook in a standard oven).

Apple pies are usually homemade rather than purchased but you do find apple tarts in patisseries, or ingredients to bake your own are ubiquitous. If you are happy to departure from tradition but still want cake, Italian pasticcerie won’t disappoint!

Where to find ingredients

Italians go grocery shopping in supermarkets (the most common way), local markets if they have one nearby, local shops.

The decision is usually logistics as there is no advantage in going to the market vs the supermarket or the small shop vs the big one: it entirely depends on the specific shops you are comparing.

When looking at what exists near you, look for:

Supermarkets – Carrefour, Conad, Coop are only come of the most common names and they are ubiquitous.

I recommend you check a few close to you to see which one has the biggest selection and you like the most: they are chains and they are very similar to one another, but branch size changes so it is worth to see how each is where you are.

Supermarkets have everything you need for a meal and more: a chicken to roast, potatoes, vegetables, fresh bread etc.

As mentioned above, specific American ingredients may not be available though and you will need to work with local alternatives. You can read all about Italian supermarkets here

Markets – a lot of US visitors love the idea of markets thinking they will be a better and cheaper alternatives to supermarket chains but in Italy, it is not always the case.

Some markets are nice, some are full of overpriced items from the very same sources as the big distributions – so just like with any other shops: compare first!

The best things to get in markets are usually fresh vegetables, cheese, bread and, often, cooked things like parmigiana or stuffed tomatoes etc. It is less likely however to find things like full roasts etc: those you normally need to make at home.

Shops – if you prefer to buy in specialises shops, in Italy you can often find craft butchers for meat (macellaio), delicatessen (alimentari) shops for cured meats etc, patisseries (pasticcerie) for cakes, bakeries (forno) for bread and biscuits and so on. The quality and price of each depend on the shop so, just like for the markets, local research is a must.

Rosticceria – Rosticceria is the name of a specific type of Italian shop selling roast chicken to go.

Traditionally, you’d spot a rosticceria by the many chickens turning on a roasting stick in the window (not entirely dissimilar from the setup up of a kebab shop) and by the delicious smell coming from it: they used to be simple, no nonsense shops with low prices and highly satisfying food.

Now, real rosticcerie are becoming rarer and rarer, the name often being used for deli shops that do not, actually, sell roasts anymore; so you may need to research a little, before finding one. However, if you do find one, they are great places to get a roast dinner without spending hours watching the oven!

Italian thanksgiving dinner ideas

While a full on US style meal may be hard to replicate, in Italy, you may be happy to hear that there are a lot of wonderful Italian fall and harvest ingredients and dishes that can work well for Thanksgiving and give, if not a taste of home, a sense of celebration!

Late November sees a lot of delicious harvest products that feature in amazing Italian dishes: pumpkin risotto is wonderful, warming soups are popular at this time, chestnuts are seasonal and feature in pasta dishes, meat dishes and dessert, mushrooms are the star of many fall dishes, a filling and warming roast is a popular dish art this time, and the precious while truffles are in season in November too. 

So while these are all local dishes, it is easy to see how they can work for a Thanksgiving feast!

Just for fun, these are some ideas for an Italian festive dinner to celebrate thanksgiving with Italian flare!

Pumpkin risotto – very local, seasonal, warming, easy to make and the quintessential Italian comfort food, but with a star ingredient perfect for the occasion!

Butternut Squash and ricotta stuffed crespelle – delicious Italian take on savory crepes/pancakes. Easy to make, seasonal, local and fun

Roast chicken with chestnut stuffing – a great and very Italian fall alternative to a large turkey

Stuffed Turkey breast – this often needs to be ordered in advance but it’s a great way to keep the roast turkey tradition even when you don’t have a large crowd to feed

Rosemary roasted potatoes – a classic for a roast dinner, and rosemary in Italy is so fragrant!

Roasted cauliflower – a simple, seasonal and nutty flavored side dish

Italian apple pie (recipe here) or apple strudel: the cooked apple and cinnamon make it really seasonal!

I hope you found this post helpful, and the ideas for Thanksgiving in Italy a bit of fun. Buon Ringraziamento!