Julia 2.5: Rome’s new AI assistant that makes city life easier for visitors

Rome has always had something overwhelming about it for first-time visitors. Not because it’s hard to understand — quite the opposite, it’s one of the most legible cities in the world — but because it’s dense: every alley hides something, every service has its own logic, every administrative process requires a little navigation.

Since yesterday, 8 June 2026, navigating it has got a little easier. Rome’s city government unveiled Julia 2.5 at the Campidoglio — a new AI assistant built directly into the city’s official institutional portal.

What Julia is and what it does

Julia isn’t a generic chatbot. It’s a conversational assistant trained on the entire archive of Rome’s official portal: over 160,000 items of content and 90 online services. You ask it a question in plain language — the way you’d talk to an information desk — and it takes you directly to the official answer.

Built in partnership with Microsoft, NTT DATA and Fastweb, Julia stays active as you browse the site, so you can keep the conversation going without losing context. It doesn’t replace the city’s offices, but it cuts down dramatically on the steps needed to find the right information.

Why it’s useful if you’re visiting Rome

The portal’s 18 million annual visits don’t all come from Romans. Tourists, expats and international visitors regularly consult the city’s website for information on civic museums, permits, transport, events and much more. With Julia you can do it conversationally, without having to decode the structure of an institutional website.

A few practical things you can ask:

• Opening hours and tickets for the Capitoline Museums
• How the ZTL restricted traffic zone works in the historic centre
• Nearest emergency services to a given address
• Information on short-term rental rules (useful for understanding your rights as a guest)
• Calendar of municipal events and public ceremonies

The portal is at comune.roma.it — Julia appears as a conversational widget on the main page.

Rome, closer than you think

Tools like Julia change the way you move through an unfamiliar city. They don’t remove the joy of getting lost — that stays intact — but they clear away the bureaucratic friction, leaving more room for the experience itself.

If you’re planning a stay in Rome, our apartments in the historic centre are a short walk from the Vatican, Piazza Navona and the city’s main landmarks. Everything you need — with Julia or without — will be ready for you when you arrive.

Check availability at deluxeapartments.it/roma.