When is the Best Time to Tour Italy?

When is the Best Time to Tour Italy?

What are you looking for on your Italian vacation? Each of the four seasons offer something different for your Italian holiday.

Spring Best for Food and Religious Ceremonies

Spring in Italy is colorful and full of festivities. Spring flowers usually mean spring showers, so make sure that you pack an umbrella.

Easter in Italy is a big holiday. You will find ceremonies all over the country from Sicily to Sorrento.

Celebrating Easter in Rome with the Pope is a really special experience. People wait for the Stations of the Cross chaired by the Pope around the Colosseum on Good Friday.

A cardinal walks through the crowd during the Stations of the Cross on Good Friday.

Spring dining choices include fresh artichokes and strawberries.

On May 1, it has been a tradition to snack on fresh fava beans and chunks of salty pecorino cheese.

Late spring can be a wonderful time of the year to visit the Amalfi Coast and Capri.

You will find warm, sunny afternoons, an explosion of colors and no crowds.

Summer Best for Beaches and a Slow Pace

Summer in Italy means going to the beach. It is sunny and hot and it is also the busiest time of year to visit.

If you’re not a beach person, head north to the Alpine towns and look for cold clear lakes and soft green meadows.

Rent a villa in the country and spend your days lazing by a pool and cooking long lunches after market shopping trips in pretty hill towns.

In the major cities, prices are highest and sites are most crowded in the summer.

Plan your sight-seeing early in the day and have plenty of stops for gelato.

Winter Best for Skiing and Empty Spaces

Outside of the Christmas and New Years holidays, prices are low and crowds are thin.

Winter in Italy is the time to come visit if you would like some breathing room during your Sistine Chapel tour. Lines are shorter and popular sites are much less crowded.

Ski in the Alps in ritzy resort towns such as Cortina D’ampezzo.

A ski resort Madonna di Campiglio in the Trentino province

See the striking Monte Bianco peaks and do some shopping in Courmayeur.

Farther north in towns like Bolzano and Trento, Christmas markets will have mulled wine and fine handicrafts.

In Naples, a walk along the Via San Gregorio Armeno, known as Christmas Alley filled with nativity scene figurines.

Substitute gelato stops for cups of thick hot chocolate topped with fresh whipped cream.

Winter is shopping season. Early January is when the sales known as saldi in Italian begin. Prices are slashed from 20-35% from the largest designer names to small boutique shops.

Fall Best for Village Festivals and New Exhibitions

Fall in Italy means olive harvests and novello wine.

Wine grapes in autumn which are ready for harvest

Look for festivals in small towns celebrating fall gourmet treats like chestnuts, newly pressed oil and porcini mushrooms...

You can often enjoy the beach well into October since you are likely to encounter mild and sunny days as summer lingers on, particularly the further south you travel.

On a nippy day, a visit to the hot springs near Rome or in the Tuscan countryside will warm you up.

Be prepared for wet weather if you visit in November. In Venice it is the season for Acqua Alta when tides rise and occasionally flood parts of the city.

For more information about travel to Italy,

visit our website www.touritalynow.com or call our travel experts

at 800.955.4418.