Travelling to Italy in Sept/Oct v May/June

All other things being equal, I have an extremely strong preference for spring rather than fall because the days are so much longer. I am energized by daylight. Most people do not have that issue and don't mind fall trips, but I've learned that I'm ready to come home by mid-September because of the shorter days. I simply do not see as much on a fall day as on a spring day because I'm not out walking around until 9 PM.

One intangible factor is the tourist fatigue that some folks in the service economy may experience at the tail end of the season. Sometimes they are more willing to go the extra mile in May than in September or October. But that is a rather minor consideration.

As for the far more important issue, weather:

I haven't visited your northern destinations recently, but Puglia and the valley cities near the Dolomites (practically in Austria) were very hot in July 2015, and people often complain about summer heat in Florence and Rome as well. Alas, that misery is not limited to July and August. Be sure to start in the south if you travel May/June and start in the north if you travel September/October.

The Wikipedia entries for most Italian cities include a large weather chart. You might use Bari and Lecce to get statistics for Puglia. Although I'm not a great fan of monthly averages (they can hide some pretty miserable extremes), when I see that Lecce's average highs for May and October are just over 89F, that's pretty much all I need to know. (At least rain is very rare.) That tells me it would be critical to hit that area in very early May or late October (note that November gets rain). And even then it may not be terribly pleasant. (But Puglia is great; I even managed to enjoy it on the 95F days in July, I just don't recommend the experience to others.)

In the north, I think there may be more temperature variation, and it can be rainier, so I'd want to look at day-by-day historical stats over a period of years, not just averages. You can find that information on wunderground.com after identifying a city and choosing Historical - Monthly. There's a temperature graph as well as a chart showing several types of weather information. I've linked to May 2017 data for Treviso, which is what wunderground coughs up when you ask for Venice. There's more than 20 years' worth of data available, so you can see what happened over the course of as many years as you have time to look at.

My husband and I usually travel in Oct/Nov, that is a slow time for both of our jobs. I honestly would prefer spring. With fall, you can have more rain and as one writer mentioned there is fatigue in the travel industry. Since this is when we can take a longer trip, we just take what it gives us and dress for the weather. I would opt for Sept before Oct if you can.

This may not matter to you but the flowers are blooming in the spring, as opposed to the fall. I find it is better for photos. When we travelled to Rome, we took the Pope's Garden tour, it was beautiful, but the guide did tell us it was spectacular in the spring.

Mary

I spent 3 weeks in Italy in September 2010 and 3 weeks in May 2016. I never got south of Rome. I preferred traveling in September, and generally speaking find September and October to be my preferred season to travel in Europe. In September I found the weather to be nicer than I did in May. I was surprised at how cool and rainy many May days were. I also found that everywhere I went in May I encountered many school groups, ranging from elementary age to high school age. I presume it was due to being near the end of the school year. It was very disruptive in some places, to the extent that we were sometimes prevented from doing an activity we wanted to do.

I agree with the previous poster that if you travel in May/June you should go south to north, and for September/October go north to south.

May , I too like the daylight till 9 pm

I never thought about the daylight, but that is a really good point.

And I hadn't really thought about the school groups in May, which is odd considering that I live in Washington DC. It's probably just as well that there are arguments for and against both time periods, otherwise the winner would be about as bad as mid-summer.

In terms of rainfall expectations, it's a good idea to check stats for the individual destinations. It may not vary within Italy, but I've noticed when looking at the Wikipedia charts that some places in Europe are wetter in the spring, whereas others are wetter in the fall.

Thanks everybody for your feedback.Much appreciated.

No time is perfect, and nothing is guaranteed, but I would say, and have done, May or October.

We were in Italy in the 2nd half of May 2014. Temps were low 70s; only 2 days of rain. We returned in 2017, Sept. 20 - Oct.4. Temps were upper 70s, only 1 rainy day. You can't go wrong.

I really like fall! It's cooler and I don't mind that the daylight is a little shorter. Another thing that is great is the airfare! It can be really cheap in Sept/Oct...1/2 to 1/3 of the cost during summer.

We have done both and much prefer Sep/Oct - especially Oct. It is generally drier and warm. Earlier May is OK temp wise but it can be rainy and June can be hot and humid.

We have always traveled in May and this year is the first time we visited Italy in late Sept/early October. In May, we always went from Venice to Rome and this Sept, we went from Sorrento (visiting Almalfi coast, Capri, etc) to Verona via Florence. Although it did get darker earlier, we found the weather and crowds(especially Florence) to be more favorable in the fall. We also encountered school groups several times during our May visits and that did not occur this year. It is a difficult decision for such an extended time and I would also suggest the weather charts over the years knowing that no one can predict the weather you will encounter when you go.

I don't do well in the heat, so I'd avoid both June and September. I'd prefer April/May because of spring flowers and long days, though long days are only a plus when you want scenery (Cinque Terre for instance). In places like Rome, Florence and Venice, shorter days mean hours to enjoy the floodlight buildings and bridges. My only other suggestion would be to consider the Amalfi Coast instead of the Cinque Terre.

Like Chani, my wife & I are not heat (or crowd) type people. But you gotta think that in six weeks you're going to get a little bit of everything weather-wise, and at least encountering some crowds is inevitable as well.

The 'tourist fatigue' factor for locals is an interesting concept that I hadn't thought about. In three times to Italy, our first trip was in mid-October and then twice in late February/early March. That initial journey, I didn't know what to expect but I thought the locals were nice enough. However, I will say that in March when the residents are not even close to gearing up for tourist season yet, they just seemed to be more themselves and it led to almost immediate assimilation, which I really enjoyed and must have been what traveling to Italy was like a couple generations ago before all the tourism. Especially in Rome, I never thought that folks were treating us like tourists, although they had to know. Waiters, market vendors, baristas or hotel clerks seemed to have extra time to shoot the bull with us at a leisurely pace, which is possibly my favorite aspect of off-season travel.

For that reason, I think I would recommend an April/May trip if possible, if not earlier. Start in Bari & Lecce in Apulia. Knock around there (and Basilicata) by car for a week or so, then drive to Rome and drop off the car. Other than maybe in Marche you won't need it the rest of your trip. Stay in Rome a week, train to Orvieto for a couple days, train to the Adriatic coast in Marche for a few days, then over to Florence/Tuscany for a week or 10 days, maybe taking a 2-3 day trip to the Cinque Terre in that time. then up to Como, then to Venice to finish off your trip. South to north, and no doubt you'll start seeing the crowds by the time you reach Venice. If you do this April 1-May 15, you should have great temperatures most of the time, with maybe a little rain.

Sounds absolutely wonderful, enjoy your planning!

We love to travel in the fall. September to first week of October. Weather has always been warm enough to swim but not too hot. The nights were just a little on the cool side. Light sweater or jacket. In the last four years each trip we had only one day of rain/ showers out of three weeks. Two of those years we were in Italy one Spain and this past year Greece.

Another vote for September but I never even thought about the hours of daylight...which makes a ton of sense so all of May and June maybe but start south and move north. Consider Bologna when you are in Florence for at least a day.