Deciding which month would be best to travel healthwise as we're asthma patients and PMI 2.5 is particularly harmful. I know it's bad in the north and I can see the current AQI reports, but trying to find historical monthly data has evaded me. Anyone have a good resource? I saw these articles and am trying very hard not to despair, but.... whoa!
https://www.politico.eu/article/italy-eu-air-quality-guidelines-yearns-to-breathe-polluted-air/
ARPAT is the Tuscany Region environmental agency that monitors all kind of environmental pollution including air.
I don't know if they have month by month data, but you can click on any dates below since 2018 to see what PM2,5 was on that day.
https://www.arpat.toscana.it/temi-ambientali/aria/qualita-aria/mappa_qa/index/pm2.5/tutte/16-10-2023
I think generally (just based on the Italian news I see daily), the bad months are especially in winter (Dec-Feb) when I guess the pollution from traffic and house heating combined to high atmospheric pressure (typical of winter) on dry days, make the situation worse. July/August is probably bad too, on those high pressure days. I think your best chances are in early spring, where the occasional rains clear out the air.
Also it varies with location. The worst area of Tuscany is the valleys west of Florence all the way to the coast, and the Arno Valley between Florence and Arezzo. If you stay in the mountains/hills outside of those spots, the air quality seems to be below the warning level all the time.
Here’s another to check out, there’s an app you can use on your phone. Won’t help with past daily info, but may allow you to plan for alternate activities when PMI is bad.
Thank you both, this is EXACTLY the info I've been searching for! We have no choice but to go in summer due to school unfortunately. Been looking at the AQI map for tuscany at the link mentioned above for June, July and August past few years and noticed that it tends to get very bad the 3rd week of the month, especially in June and July - I wonder why specifically that time of the month? At any rate, AQI seems comparatively best in early August according to this data, so I think that makes the decision for us, we'll need to plan for around that time as far as possible. Here we travel with an air purifier in case there isn't one in our rental and also have the air cabin filters changed out regularly so worst case scenario we have good air in the car if AQI isn't great on our adventures [like this past summer with the awful wildfire smoke!], but not sure how that would be feasible when renting abroad. I highly doubt the rental company would ensure the filters are changed fresh for us lol! Perhaps I can pick up a room purifier when we land somewhere for a decent price.
I'm pretty sure it relates to meteorology. Even here in the San Francisco Bay Area, where the Air Quality is generally very good, we have some bad air days when the high atmospheric pressure reduces the wind coming from the Ocean that generally sweeps away the pollution. High atmospheric pressure is typical in the Mediterranean region during days in the peak of winter and the peak of summer, but it has nothing to do with a specific week of the month. The fact that in the years you checked it happened in the third week of July or June is totally fortuitous. Next year it could happen on another week of the same summer months. In any case, particulates tend to accumulate in the valleys of large urbanized areas, which in Tuscany happen to be in the plain in the Florence-Prato-Pistoia metro area (almost 2 million pop.) and the plain on the western side of the region, in the Pisa-Lucca-Livorno-Pontedera metro area (about 1 million pop). The hills and mountains outside those valleys have better air quality, also because they have lower population, lower vehicular traffic, and less industry. If Air Quality is important to you, instead of staying in Florence, you should rent a car and stay in the Chianti hills or in similar more rural areas of Tuscany.
Tuscany outside the aforementioned Arno plain (Livorno-Lucca-Florence triangle) really shouldn't be worse than many urbanized areas of the US: take Roberto's advice above. If you do so, then unless you are, perhaps, COPD sufferers, pollution risk should not be a factor in your plans.
Thank you for this info, very helpful. Not COPD, but chronic asthma unfortunately - the particulate matter really kills me if it's high, especially like we had this summer from the wildfire smoke. We don't plan on staying in the city for long - just a few days to see some of the things we really want then heading for the countryside, ending with some time in Lucca before we fly home, at least that is the plan so far. Perhaps June/July wouldn't be so bad then after all, which would easier on the wallet as well. Will keep this all in mind :)
