Planning help in early Spring

My suspicion is that the beginning of spring may not be the most pleasant time in the Lake District, though you could do something like Venice-Padua-Vicenza-Verona.

Although you could head straight to Sicily and see part of the island in the time you have, it really needs more time.

Therefore, I'd suggest Puglia. The weather should be pleasant at that time of year, whereas it can be brutally hot if you visit in mid-summer. The Wikipedia page for the lovely Baroque city of Lecce has a temperature summary chart, but it would also be good to take a look at day-by-day temperatures for your travel period in recent years; those you can find on wunderground.com by selecting History - Monthly.

There are lots of attractive towns in Puglia, though I'd expect the small coastal villages to be relatively quite during your visit. Although the website is in English, the Excursions page of the Lecce tourist office's website lists the destinations covered by the van trips it organizes. I don't know that any of the trips would be offered in early spring, but the listed towns will give you an idea of what places within day-trip distance of Lecce are considered top tourist targets.

Puglia is an excellent idea, but think altitude as well as latitude. We hit scattered snow on April 24 last year at Monte Sant'Angelo on the Gargano in Puglia , but it's at 2600 feet. When we reached Matera, they had no inkling the weather had been cold. Monte Sant'Angelo, by the way, is fantastic for views, the pilgrimmage cave / church complex, the castle, the hermit caves, and medieval neighborhoods.

And an excellent restaurant, Madre Terra, is not far from Castel del Monte.

Should I even bother bringing a swim suit if I head to the southern coast or Sicily?

And thanks for all the advice!!!

I'm not a beach person, but here's a graph of average water temperature at Capri, by month. Looks like early April would not be over 60F.

This website indicates that it could be 2 to 3 degrees warmer around Catania, Sicily.

That sounds frigid to me (but reread the beginning of this post).

You can check averages for other places by Googling something like "water temperature Palermo April".

Weather-wise, it could be early spring in the north (muddy, slushy . . . ). I've been to Italy several times in February from Venice to the Amalfi Coast and the weather was mild, a little rain, some cloudy days, but mostly sunny and often no need for a jacket. I would be more concerned with crowds because of Easter weekend. Sicily might be a very good choice.

Swim suits take up very little room; but for your dates, I wouldn’t bother. Even if the air temps are considerably above the averages, the water will be quite cold, even in Sicily.