What is Ferragosto and does it close everything?

Ferragosto is August 15th, the peak of the Italian summer holiday, and yes — a lot closes. It's a national holiday, and many independent restaurants, bakeries and shops shut for the surrounding week or two while their owners go to the sea or the mountains. Major museums and tourist-facing businesses stay open, so you won't be stranded, but the neighbourhood trattoria you'd wanted is likely to have a handwritten sign on the door. Beaches and lakes are at maximum capacity, roads out of cities are jammed on the 14th, and back in on the weekend after.