Sicily in February

We went in early March one year, at the urging of Italian friends. We packed spring clothes and were VERY cold when a storm moved across the whole country with low temps and punishing winds for about 3 days. Our only consolation was that Rome, where we lived, was just as bad. Ithink Jan and Feb would be risky for any outdoor activities.

I think we have a few folks who've visited Sicily in the winter. Hope they'll spot this thread and respond. In the meantime, you can take a look at actual, day-by-day historical weather in Sicily for January/February 2018, 2017, 2016, etc. I like to do that before a trip to a new area, and I go back at least five years to be sure I have a pretty clear idea of the range of temperatures I may experience. I use timeanddate.com. I've linked to Palermo's stats for February 2019. Sicily's a rather large island, and there may be some variation from place to place. Certainly if you're at elevation, it will be cooler.

I'd think tourist sites should generally be open, but the safest thing to do is Google the name of the site and add the word "official". Look carefully at the results, and you'll usually be able to pick out the website you want. With luck you'll find information about days and hours of operation year-round. I think it's possible some places may close an additional day each week, but I'm basing that on the pattern in southern France, which doesn't necessarily tell us anything about Sicily.

Even in mid-summer, you have to be very careful if you plan to take a bus to a different town on a Sunday or holiday. Not much is moving on those days, except for some trains. This won't be an issue if you plan to rent a car, but in that case you'll need to check carefully on road conditions through the interior.

Rick Steve’s used to offer his Sicily tour in Feb and March so the historic sites must be open to the public then. There may be trip reports from those tours.

rwangelo1 look for recent trip report from Lizthemadhatter under the Trip Report forum. We just did Sicily tour in mid February. Weather was in the 50s (F) during the day, 40s at night. Not ideal but doable. We did need jackets and sweaters. Everything was green and beautiful, and yes all the tourist things we visited were open. I think I would recommend March as likely better, but February was fine.

I took the RS Sicily tour in February 2017. The weather was cool to mild and generally quite pleasant. I don't recall any daytime closures at sights (except for any regular days closed), but hours might be shorter (especially at outdoor sights) due to early sunset.

We landed in Sicily on March 21 one year and, like Laurel, had lots of cold rain and froze nearly to death in some areas. Restaurants and lodgings were very cold. Every morning I would put on most of the clothes I had with me! (Cuddle-dud pants, plus two pairs of slacks, a long-sleeve tee, a button-front shirt, a cardigan and then my jacket. A couple of weeks later we were in Agrigento and were boiling hot. Take lots of layers!

Stan and I were both on the Sicily tour that began on February 12th. It was between 50 and 60 degrees every day with clear, sunny skies. I personally loved the weather but then again I am from polar vortex country so every day was like a beautiful spring day in Minneapolis. It was very comfortable for all the walking, the many stairs and scampering around on ruins we did. Everyone is different regarding weather preference and tolerance. There were members of our group in jackets/sweaters and then those of us in shirt sleeves with our jackets tied around our waists. Layers are key. Would I go again in February? Absolutely!