Certainly, July and August can be almost unbearably hot and humid in most big cities, but some find an odd, ghostly pleasure in being in Rome on Ferragosto (on and around 15 August) when the city is abandoned to the cats and the crazy. 
Rome is almost devoid of tourists in August, but it gets crowded again in the fall.
mnli hypothesis: Rome is almost devoid of tourists in August, but it gets crowded again in the fall. premise: Certainly, July and August can be almost unbearably hot and humid in most big cities, but some find an odd, ghostly pleasure in being in Rome on Ferragosto (on and around 15 August) when the city is abandoned to the cats and the crazy. 