What kind of weather can we expect when in Italy Oct. 20-31, particularly in Florence, Venice and the Cinque Terre?
It will be fall weather just as it is here in the USA. Florence being a little warmer than CT or Venice. Take a light jacket or sweater.
Weather will vary in October. Impossible to predict.
Florence and Venice will be mild. CT will be cooler and a little rain, but not enough to keep you from hiking the trail.
We had lots of sun and a few days it was hot as we hiked. Some days at CT it was too cool to swim.
you can see the weather history for your dates at weather underground http://www.wunderground.com/history/airport/LIRF/2007/10/15/DailyHistory.html?req_city=NA&req_state=NA&req_statename=NA
You can plug into the search engine for any airport and date/
We were there during the same time frame. I really enjoyed the weather. It was warm but not miserable. We had very light rain one night in Venice and one night in Rome. Neither rain was enough to disourage going out for a walk.
It was great in CT. They had had heavy rains the week before so you may get the "week before" weather rather than the great weather we had. It was warm, not quite enough for laying out on the beach but enough to for us to get very thirsty on our hike. We stopped for drinks at every village but would have carried more water if we had thought about it.