Flight to Italy from Seattle

Recommended landing city would be closest to wherever your itinerary starts or ends
Could be Rome Venice Milan etc

You can look up past weather at
www.timeanddate.com

If you are going to Venice and Rome - it is always best to fly into Venice and home from Rome.

We had a week in Rome in December 2012, just before Christmas, followed by a little more than a week in Sicily, and a final week (including New Year’s) back on the mainland. Highs were in the low-to-mid 50’s Fahrenheit. No rain, no snow, but being a jacket, especially for evenings.

I dont believe you will find a non stop flight to anywhere in Italy from Seattle. You'll be looking at (at least) one connecting stop in a major European hub. That being the case, look to land in one of the cities you want to visit. Consider all the cities you want to visit and lay them out in a logical sequence. So, you might want to start by landing in Venice, then going by train to Florence and Rome ( the classic first time triad), and flying home from Rome. This would be done on a multicity flight ticket - not 2 one way tickets.

Weather in December- well you can look at historical weather in your various cities, but that's no guarantee of what you will find next Dec. But cities, with their abundance of indoor options, make more sense than visiting rural areas. The crowds will be somewhat lower than in summer. And you can pretty much count on not getting sun stroke or needing air conditioning. Pack layers and an umbrella,

If you are going to Venice and Rome - it is always best to fly into Venice and home from Rome.

May I ask why?

Many of the flights out of Venice are early morning, so many prefer to fly home from other cities. There are later flights, I have one at 11:40am with Delta. (I believe it is a KLM codeshare)

It’s a bit of a pain to get to Venice airport and many flights depart early in the Am
So you end up having to spend money on a water taxi to get to airport on time-or leaving Venice proper to stay at an airport hotel the night before departure

Not all flights are early -those that are going direct to US leave around 11 but there won’t be direct to Seattle from VCE

Venice is also a really great place to get over jet lag

Rome is a bit chaotic so not usually a good starting point for first timers

And Venice's airport is well outside the city, taking longer to reach than most because part of your journey is likely on water. (Edit -- like Christine said.)

I think the OP might be looking for the best European hub airport from Seattle -- last time I looked, the choices were London Heathrow, Paris CDG, Amsterdam, and Frankfurt. The choice should be based on schedule, price, any "points" considerations, and who serves the Italian cities you want to start and end at. Each leg should be one ticket if possible, to allow luggage to be checked all the way through and obligate the airline to get you on a later flight if the first one is delayed. I'd recommend at least a 3-hour layover time at any of those hubs. They all have reputations, shaded to the negative because we report bad experiences more often than good ones. But they all move millions of people with no problems except the discomfort we sign up for when we travel this way.

I don't know Italy in December but I'd guess the major cities there are good to travel weather-wise, as well as much less crowded. Based on my November time in Rome, I'd recommend a raincoat. And of course some other layers for cold.

As Dick noted, there are no direct flights to any city in Italy from SeaTac. you are going to have to change planes somewhere, and in December it would be best to make that change at a European airport, not in the US. That means flying a European Airline, not Delta or American. That way if the weather interferes with the connection, you will at least make it to Europe with your first flight, not get stuck in Atlanta or New York.

Choices include British Airways, Lufthansa, Condor, Aer Lingus, Icelandair, Air France, and more. Most will offer connections to major airports in Italy (Venice, Rome, and/or Milan), but British Airlines also offers many smaller Italian airports such as Pisa, Bologna, and others.

Flights are personal preference but as someone who also lives in Seattle, my wife and I like taking the British Airways flight that leaves SeaTac at 7:40 p.m. and arrives at Heathrow at 1:00 p.m. (13:00) London time when we fly to Europe. The flight allows us to fly when we would normally be sleeping which enhances our chances of getting some sleep, allows us time to catch a flight to wherever we are going in Europe and allows us to arrive in the evening and begin adjusting to a new time zone by going to bed. We are flying to Palermo in September on the 7:40 p.m. BA flight and will get into Palermo at 7:00 p.m. after catching a connecting flight at Heathrow then we fly home from Rome in October again via Heathrow. The only cities you can fly directly to Europe from Seattle are Reykjavik, Dublin, London, Paris, Frankfurt and Istanbul. Your itinerary will dictate where you fly into and out of in Italy but there are things to think about as you decide where you want to go in Italy. Smooth travels.

Much excellent advice and information has been posted above by all. Adding, departing from SEA, LHR (Heathrow) is often the priciest entry point than other European airports. Icelandair jets are single aisle Boeing 757s and you pay for meals. I want a minimum 2 hr 30 min layover duration for all international inbound airports and would gladly allow more for both LHR and CDG. As an economy to premium economy flyer, I prefer an Airbus jet that is multi-aisle with 2-4-2 seating meaning I can choose a 2-seat row. Having Global Entry really improves the processing time when inbound SEA. FCO (Rome) is a big airport, MXP (Milan) FLR (Florence) VCE (Venice) are much smaller and easier to navigate.