How crowded is Italy in 2022?

Yes, Italy has been very crowded in 2022. Those three cities were always crowded pre-Covid anyway, but no doubt there has been a lot of pent-up demand.

You should read the thread started by Acraven from October 28 titled “This is Why Italy Seems Overrun This Year.”
It seems that Italy 🇮🇹 was one of the most popular destinations this year if you read the tea leaves and simply looked at the avalanche of questions about Italy asked by people posting questions on this website.
The Italian Tourist Board, ENIT, confirmed this was a banner year when it released the numbers it has collected: from January to July of 2022 Italy saw a 172% increase in international
visitors above the number it saw during all of 2021-when the pandemic affected tourism. But ENIT reported that during 2019–the last typical year for tourism before the pandemic hit— 96 million international visitors went to Italy, and there was a 57% increase above the 2019 numbers just through the first half of 2022.
Those numbers are staggering because it means Italy 🇮🇹, which has 60 million residents, already had hosted more than 150 million international tourists through the first half of 2022!

I agree with the thought it’s linked to pent up demand. I was planning to return in 2020, tried in 2021, and ended up going twice this year to catch up on lost time. I think that Covid has taught us in a very real way that we don’t know what might prevent us from traveling, and being in my 60’s, I want to travel being active before that’s not an option.

I was in several (10 of them) cities off the regular tourist path in June, and there was plenty of room on trains, no issues with crowding at many restaurants, etc.

Then I went to the tourist cities with my daughter in September. Venice was very busy, but nice as we roamed away from main paths. Florence was busy; we couldn’t get into the cathedral, unfortunately, because of the long lines. But, we had fun activities, instead. Amalfi was SO busy. Rome can handle the crowds, so it wasn’t overwhelming.

In September 2022 we stayed in Tarquinia, Pitigliano, Massa Marittima, and Volterra --- every one was far more crowded than we expected and with European tourists almost exclusively. Pisa and San Gimignano were even busier, but we expected that. Sure, pent-up demand, and probably the people visiting the first four towns had wisely (so they thought) waited until the summer tourists were gone.

Venice - super crowded. but step off the beaten path. life is good.

so plan accordingly. try to see smaller cities or even areas outside the main hubs

It is pent up demand. But if you go to all the same tired places most tourists go like Rome (the Capitol of the Catholic world) Florence (over rated art history school place where you only here Italian spoken among service industry workers and not in the streets) Venice (beautiful but a cruise ship stop that was already over run before the pandemic). You should have gone in summer fall 2021 when things first opened up and testing was required. I went August 2021 and again May 2022

56 million people or so... :)

I think that, at least partially, it depends on where you are. We were in Sicily in September, and didn’t notice too many tourists/people there at all. Agrigento was a bit busier than other sites, but that’s probably pretty normal. I would imagine that Agrigento is on a lot of “must see” lists. But, even Palermo and Catania were perfectly manageable.

Most places I have been this year (France, Belgium, Spain and U.K.) have been significantly busier due to the pent up demand caused by Covid. For many people, it’s the first time they have had the confidence to travel since 2019.

For the past 2 years, we have travelled abroad but have stayed away from people and therefore cities until this year.

I was in Italy in September and didn't find it any more crowded than on my previous visits.
You can easily get off the beaten track in any place you want to visit.
See the important monuments...they will always be crowded... then walk away or take a local bus into the side streets and lanes and explore the farther reaches of wherever you are.

And I have to completely disagree with Artificial Intelligences 's opinion that "Rome is tired" and in Florence: "No Italian heard except from service workers", and "over-rated art school place".

What??

I went to Ravenna (3 nights), Padua (3 nights) and Venice (10 nights) in September. There was no crowding whatsoever in the first two cities. In Venice the heavy crowds were mostly around Piazza San Marco and along the walking route from the train station to the Rialto Bridge, plus on the vaporetti (nearly all of which were standing room only). There was a 30-minute line at St. Mark's if you hadn't pre-purchased a ticket online, and the Guggenheim also wasn't a walk-up-and-enter situation. Otherwise, things weren't super-crowded. That said, I'm fairly crowd-tolerant except in small towns, and I spent a lot of time walking along back canals in areas tourists simply don't go; someone on a really short visit who didn't get away from the station-Rialto-San Marco axis would no doubt have had a very different overall impression. All in all: Not really as bad as I (a well-informed traveler) had feared.

The ticket situation at the Vatican Museums, though: that's grim. Maybe this year's surge in Italian tourism is affecting Rome--and perhaps also Florence--more than Venice.

If you limited your trip to the so-called "must sees", places were probably very crowded.

On our April trip, Pompeii and Herculaneum were crowded, but Oplontis and Stabiae were practically deserted, and equally amazing. We spent 4 nights in Pompei - the "main drag" across from the famous ruins was crowded, but otherwise the city was busy, but not unduly crowded.

Salerno was a busy town, but not overwhelmingly so. The tomb of Saint Matthew, unlike those of Saint Mark and Saint Peter, was uncrowded and magnificent. The ruins of Paestum were crowded, but the beach where Allied troops landed during Operation Avalanche, was empty. We explored a German bunker on a beautiful beach, with only a few kite surfers in the distance.

The interesting thing is, all the travel "experts" said that things would quiet down and airfares would drop after Labor Day.

Now they have reversed themselves and find that travel is still at record levels and they're not sure what the new normal is going to be. And unfortunately avgas prices have skyrocketed so any desire to drop fares has itself dropped.

Also don't forget the Tucci effect, that guy's been crawling all over Italy for several seasons now just whetting appetites.

We were there mid September. We found Venice VERY crowded, even the out of the way areas. I think it does have to do with people not traveling to Europe for the past few years and the dollar to euro exchange rate.

If you really want to be in Italy, avoid the holy trinity of Rome, Florence, Venice. They're way too crowded and cynical, unless you go out to their suburbs. Le Marche, Umbria, cities like Ravenna, Ferrara, Bologna, Perugia, and Ascoli Piceno will give you a better feel for the country, and cost less to stay and eat. Go out to the country, drive to a mountaintop or beach, stay in an agriturismo. You won't be bothered by crowds and you'll have a better vacation.

Hmmm, I haven't been back to Venice for many years but certainly wouldn't label Rome or Florence 'tired' or 'cynical'. Our dearly departed Rome lover, Zoe? Oy. She'd be in vehement disagreement if still among us!

As some others have expressed, planning stays at either one long enough not to spend all of one's time in the middle of the mob can help manage feeling constantly overrun. Those mobs are particularly thick on the main tourist tramp inside the Vatican Museums (there are sections far less visited than the Sistine + the route most tours + indy visitor take). St Peter's, Uffizi, Ponte Vecchio, etc. More recent timed-entry ticketing mandates, such as at the Colosseum, have been implemented at some to try and ease internal crowding. Galleria Borghese? Has had limited ticketing for 2-hour times slots for a long time. As well, there are those attractions which the bulk of the tourists haven't allowed time for or which don't suit their particular interests.

Oh, and getting an early start to the day helps as well.

Anyway, I don't know if your friend fell victim to not enough time/not enough interest exploring away from the Top 5, or felt trampled even at less-visited attractions or on less traveled but plenty atmospheric streets? I'm interested as well in how more recent visitors are finding these two cities, especially in the months bordering the traditionally busy months of May thru September or even October.

Search for a specific city on YouTube and filter to uploads for this week to see what the crowds are looking like.

And here are the webcams for Italy: https://www.skylinewebcams.com/en/webcam/italia.html

I was in Rome in March and September. We stayed in Pantheon/Navona area both times.

March was a once-in-a-lifetime moment. We had most of the rooms in the Vatican museums to ourselves-literally. The coliseum was still busy, but the line was mostly due to security checking everyone's vaccine status. Inside it was reasonably easy to walk around and take photos. You could wander around the Forum uninhibited. There were plenty of tours going, but we could walk into pretty much anywhere to eat. The Sistine chapel had maybe 45 people inside and none waiting to enter. We strolled into the Pantheon without a line and ate at the cult favorite sandwich shop All'Antico Vinnaio with no wait. We never waited in a line of more than 2 people for gelato no matter how popular the place.

I braced myself for a very different situation in September and it was different... but not at all as bad as I thought. In September, the queue for popular tourist places like Tonnarello or Osteria da Fortunata was maybe 20 minutes and you could walk right in if you didn't mind sitting inside in nice weather. We also never waited more than 5 minutes for gelato, pastry, or sandwiches. The Roman Forum was not overly busy by any stretch. I would think that's unheard of in high season or even September pre-pandemic by the previous stats?

The Trevi Fountain was busy in the afternoon/evening both times, but also empty in the morning both times. In September we also strolled right into the Pantheon with no line.

In March, we rode a few busses with every seat taken, but never stuffed. In September, we absolutely squished on busses during rush hour, but it was as many locals as tourists at that hour. We rode relatively empty busses to Testaccio and back. The piazzas (Navona, del Popolo, San Pietro, etc...) were relatively quiet evenings in September but the atmosphere was more lively than in March.

Of course that's all very feelings based... hard to tell numbers month to month until all the data is in. Either way, I will never forget strolling around Venice at night and stumbling into a practically empty Piazza San Marco. As amazing as it was, I hope we never have reason for it again.