When is the best time to travel to Italy?

I suppose it might depend on where you would like to go. For instance, the last time I went to Italy in was in late October. My friend and I were bent on going to Cinque Terre, but as we arrived we discovered that it was freezing, not exactly beach weather. So we headed to Rome which was pleasant. I was told that if we wanted warm/hot weather that we could find it in the south.

Depends which part you’re going to. The north is much cooler than the south. If you’re not used to warm weather, I’d avoid the south late June- early Sept (which is also tourist high-season so it’d be very busy and expensive).

Summer, really it is very nice, a little bit hot but nice, and if you can go to south italy, go all real italians go there during summer

The best time for me is May the last two weeks or beginning of June no matter if you go up north or down south the weather is pleasant the big city are not overly packed with tourist. I personally had a great time in Florence liked the food and the architecture. But it depend what you looking for shopping culture beach food can easily be found there.
PS if you travel from a city to another rent a car it’s far more reliable

you have two major factors to consider: 1) weather and 2) tourists.

1) the summer is extremely hot pretty much anywhere, at least for my taste. i agree with DS that may is nice overall. don’t go anywhere north in the winter months, including october. i was in venice this march and it was in the 40s and low 50s some days. i think anytime in may is the best option, maybe even late april.
2) summer months are bad for tourists in any of the major cities (rome, florence, venice). being in venice in the summer is like being at disneyworld (i.e. overheated, overpriced, and overcrowded with americans). again you can avoid most of this in april or may probably. or you can visit some of the lesser-known cities. for example, padua (padova, in italian), is a gem of a city about 45 minute train ride outside venice. unlike DS, i rely on train travel in italy which i find to be overall reliable…having been a passenger in a car in italy, i can’t imagine having the guts to drive myself around; plus, i’ve heard (but can’t corroborate) that thieves can spot rental cars to single you out as tourists.

as an odd sidenote: if you get to italy in the summer and you can’t sleep because of the heat (even with fans and open windows) i found that i slept like a baby (in southern italy in july/august) when I wet a light-weight towel, rung it out a bit and draped across my back when I slept on my stomach.

this is helpful information for sleeping anywhere without AC really.

I live in Italy and I would definitely discard november, as well as october. It happened in the last years those months were quite cold. September is cool, and may/june as well. If you want to avoid big masses then you should not come in july-august (august in particular).

I agree that May and September are lovely months to visit, May being my favorite because after the rains of winter, everything feels clean and fresh. It gets way too hot for my taste in the summer; the real heat begins in June and gets gradually hotter through August, which is also the busiest tourist month (when most Europeans take their vacations). In my opinion, 90 degrees and 90% humidity + crush of people != fun.

You do also have to contend with the tourists, which can be a bit maddening during the summer. We went to Florence last September and it was difficult to walk around some areas because there were so many damn people. I think in the bigger cities, there will almost always be a lot of tourists from spring to fall, but in places like the Cinque Terre, where my mom lives, May and September are great because the village is a lot calmer and quieter.

If you go in feburary the prices are cheaper all around but the weather is much colder but there is not some many tourists, may is a beautiful month everywhere but the tourists are begining to come,