Slippery in Winter?

Great start to 2026 for you two, kinda jealous. I was in Rome end of this past February and did experience rain. My footwear all had good tread on the soles and I proceeded with the usual caution of walking uneven surfaces, plus in wet conditions. I didn’t have trouble but I was diligent about being focused, utilizing what railing or structure that might be available for safety. I might have felt a slipping motion underfoot once or twice but kept to ‘slow and steady wins the race’ and was fine. When walking down steep stone steps I really took my time. Enjoy your travels!

Hiking boots and layered clothing including a raincoat should do fine... Weather.com and Acccuweather.com can be consulted for weather variations in each month for European cities. Florence in January seems to be about 10C-15C daily. Venice floods most often during its winter depending on full moons (January 3 and 4, 2026), tides, south winds blowing water up the Adriatic etc. More common these days than decades ago, and still not too common... Otherwise it may be rainy in Northern Italy and cooler winds can blow down from the Alps. Have a great time.

Thank you both for the great advice! Your clothing suggestions look quite reasonable, and match what we were planning to wear. Would a taking a waterproof parka alone do, instead of taking a separate raincoat? We have only two carry-ons to hold sufficient clean clothing for thirteen nights, and we don’t want to spend valuable time hand-washing laundry in the hotel, so I only can take the parka that I shall take onto the plane.

It will be cold and sometimes rainy but the only possibility it will be slippery is if it snows, which is a rather rare event in all of those 3 cities. I’m not saying it doesn’t happen, but it is very rare. Just worry about cold and damp, especially in Venice. Rome is more like California weather, so be ready to peel off some clothes during the day because you might feel warm otherwise. Florence is only slightly colder than Rome.

Thanks for the advice! It looks like I’ll need to cram a second, lighter jacket into my carry-on for Rome in order to avoid overheating in the parka in places like the Vatican and other museums.

Mid-January could be cold in Venice so it might (or might not) be almost icy during the night in some untread corners and therefore slippery. But you should be fine with hiking boots. I always take a tiny thermometer on my winter trips. If you put it on your outside windowsill before going out it can be useful. Yes, I'm aware you get the 'official' temperature on your smart phone, but there are many microclimates depending on whether places are in the sun or in the shade.