The best time to visit Rome and Florence

Duomo di Firenze

Rome and Florence, along with Venice, are the top cities that people visit in Italy.  As a result, throughout most of the year, you will experience massive crowds and long lines.

This is with good reason, as all three cities should be on every traveler’s bucket list of places to visit in their lifetime.

Venice is most notably overrun with tourists, so much so that you must now pay to enter the historic parts of the city that everyone wants to see.

Furthermore, they now discourage sitting anywhere outside, except at the restaurants and cafes.

Venice is now effectively a theme park.

Rome and Florence are experiencing high levels of tourism as well, as they always have, but they are more spread out, with more things to see, so it is not on the same level as Venice.

With that said, there are certain times of year where you want to avoid visiting Rome and Florence.

The absolute worst time to visit either city is during the summer months.  It gets brutally hot in these parts of Italy, with temperatures above 95 degrees occurring regularly.

Combine that brutal heat with massive crowds and you have a recipe for a lousy vacation.

Many people know this, so they shoot for the shoulder months… April, May, September and October.  I would argue that these are the months when the crowds are the largest.

So this leaves us with November, December, January, February and March.

Within these months there are a couple sweet spots where the weather is generally pleasant and the crowds are not quite as large.

These two sweet spots are mid to late November and mid to late February.

My first trip to Rome and Florence was in late January 2023.  We started in Florence and ended in Rome.

Inside the Colosseum

In Florence, we ran into some brutal weather.

The average high at that time of year is in the low 50s, but we experienced a cold spell when we were there, and the wind was brutal, especially around the Duomo.

With that said, while it was still crowded, we never had an issue with waiting in line to eat or gain access to any of the sites we wanted to see.

However, I did purchase tickets to climb to the top of the Duomo in advance, and when it was time to go, the line that formed was somewhat long.

You’ll always want to be sure to purchase tickets in advance to such sites as the Duomo, Uffizi Gallery and the Accademia Gallery (home of the David).

The same can be said for the main attractions in Rome… the Colosseum and the Vatican.

Now, back to the sweet spots.

In late November, the average high is still in the upper 50s in Florence and slightly warmer in Rome.

Given how much walking you will do as you explore both cities, that seems to be a perfect temperature.

In fact, the absolute best way to visit these cities is to simply give yourself plenty of time to wander and soak it all in.

But, I digress.

In late February, it will only be slightly cooler.

I like the late November period because you’ll have fewer American tourists due to the Thanksgiving holiday.

That should result in smaller crowds by default since Americans represent the largest contingent of visitors to both cities among foreign countries.

Well, I will let you know about that officially as I am heading to Rome and Florence in late November!