Who Else Wants More Sunshine and Unicorns?

-The Weather in Italy-

Warning: Be cautious of other internet posts that may contain outdated information. This post has been updated for the 2025 season.

Before I dive into my romantic story below, I have a question for you: do you get affected by the weather? If you said yes, you’re like most people.

We all have weather preferences: some like it hot, some like it not.

Save time researching Italy’s weather, right now.

For a trip to Italy, don’t bother looking up the weather for each city.

The good-looking folks at Italian Fix have created this cheat sheet to help you decide when to go to Italy.

Save it for yourself and help others too: post it to Pinterest or Facebook. (Oh, and thanks!)

This info-graph is pretty handy, and I’ll tell you why, all the while wrapping it up in a deliciously romantic story for you.

Because a little romance never killed anyone.

When I first met my husband, he did something totally nuts: he bought me a (pricey-ass) plane ticket so I could visit him.

When we first met, we only spent ten days together basking in the Italian summer (here’s the full story). After that time, we got on with our lives: I flew back to Canada (my home), and he stayed in Italy (his home). We kept the summer-love-spark going by chatting on the phone. Within a few calls he had decided that I should … yes, I MUST … fly back to Italy at Christmas to see him. His very low, very soft, not-very-good-at-speaking-English-voice was incredibly convincing. As you can imagine.

I shot his idea down because I was a student (another way to say penniless), and it just seemed — nuts. And far away.

Well, he bought me a plane ticket anyway. Why I think he was super brave/cool/nuts is that a) he just met me and b) it cost him one month’s paycheck. Needless to say, I was floored, and I counted down the days until Christmas.

I was obviously in a love-fog and decided to not Google, “weather in Milan.” That was not smart. I showed up in a jean jacket. You would think a Canadian knows how to dress for cold weather, but I just imagined Italy being … warm. Woops!

From the airport in Milan, we drove to Lake Como in the fog. It was freezing, and I remember my teeth chattering while we walked to dinner. I just wanted a massive lumberjack coat. And some ski boots. But I didn’t pack any of those things.

Your weather in Italy lowdown

So, enough of the love story (but it’s fun to reminisce!). The truth is we’ve developed this handy cheat sheet cause:

• you don’t want to arrive in Milan in December in a jean jacket (like me)
• you don’t want to arrive in April in Florence without a rain jacket
• you don’t want to arrive in Cinque Terre on August 15th without a room reservation

Those are things to avoid.

In the end, you can’t control the weather. The only thing you can control is yourself. On that note, I love this quote:

Trade your expectations with appreciation and the world changes instantly. Tony Robbins.

Happy travels!

P.S. Share in the comments below your “woops” travel moments.

Check out our digital guidebooks, Gigi Guides, updated for 2025. It’s chock-full of insider recommendations for the Cinque Terre, Venice, Rome and Florence. (More cities coming soon too!)

OR

You can join one of my group trips. It’s a week of heaven with zero stress and I plan the whole shebang.  Click here to read more.