Best time to visit Florence, month by month: weather, daylight, holidays, closures and what is on

💡 The Short Version: April to early June and mid-September to October are the months to walk the city: highs of 19.9°C in April, 24.5°C in May and 29.1°C in June, then 27.1°C in September and 21.6°C in October. July and August average 32°C and the airport station has recorded 41.3°C. November is the wettest month, at 118 mm, and December has under 9 hours of daylight. The Christmas market runs 14 November to 20 December 2026, Easter Sunday is 28 March 2027, and the Uffizi and Accademia are shut on Mondays all year. Or book a guide: the Highlights Walking Tour with Expert Guidead is from €28 for 1.5 hours.

Florence month by month

The weather is the 1991 to 2020 average at Firenze Peretola, the airport on the western edge of the city, from the Italian Air Force Meteorological Service via the Tuscan consortium LaMMA (LaMMA). Highs and lows are the average daily maximum and minimum in °C, rain is the monthly total and the number of days with rain, and daylight is the length of the day on the 15th. Peretola stands 40 m above sea level.

Florence from Piazzale Michelangelo. Photo: PROPOLI87, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0.

The weather in numbers

• Warmth. July and August are the hottest months, with highs of 32.2°C and 32.5°C. The record at the airport is 41.3°C on 1 August 2017, and the station averages 24 days a year above 34°C, up to 69 in 2003.
• Cold. January is the coldest month, with a mean of 6.7°C, a low of 2.1°C and 29 frost days a year on average. The lowest reading is -10.2°C on 30 December 2005.
• Rain. 821 mm falls in a year over 86.1 rain days. November (118 mm) and October (104 mm) are the wettest, July (26 mm) the driest.
• Daylight. The day runs from 8 h 56 min on 15 December to 15 h 25 min on 15 June. On the shortest day, 21 December, the sun rises at 07:45 and sets at 16:40.

Florence under snow, with the Duomo and Palazzo Vecchio on the skyline. Photo: Caius bonus, Wikimedia Commons.

Holidays and dated events

• Public holidays. 1 November 2026 (Sunday), 8 December (Tuesday), 25 and 26 December (Friday and Saturday), 1 January 2027, 6 January (Wednesday), Easter Sunday 28 March and Easter Monday 29 March, 25 April (Sunday), 1 May (Saturday), 2 June (Wednesday) and 15 August (Sunday). Florence’s patron saint’s day, San Giovanni, is 24 June, a Thursday.
• Christmas. The Santa Croce market runs 14 November to 20 December, and the Duomo, Uffizi and Accademia are shut on 25 December and 1 January: see Christmas in Florence.
• Easter. The Scoppio del Carro is on Easter morning in Piazza del Duomo, and the whole Duomo complex is shut that day: see Easter in Florence.
• Calcio Storico and San Giovanni. The 2026 matches were two semi-finals on Saturday 13 and Sunday 14 June and the final on Wednesday 24 June, all at 18:00 in Piazza Santa Croce, and the final was sold out (Nove da Firenze). The draw for the next tournament takes place on Easter morning, and the final is always on 24 June. On 24 June the Fochi fireworks go off from Piazzale Michelangelo at 22:00 (the 2025 programme).
• Pitti fairs. The trade fairs are Pitti Immagine Uomo on 12 to 15 January and 15 to 18 June 2027, Pitti Taste on 6 to 8 February and Pitti Fragranze on 10 to 12 September 2027 (Pitti Immagine).
• The marathon. The Firenze Marathon is on Sunday 29 November 2026, with its expo on 27 and 28 November (firenzemarathon.it).

Closures that follow the season

• Mondays. The Uffizi, the Accademia, Palazzo Pitti, the Bargello and the Medici Chapels are shut every Monday. Palazzo Vecchio, the Duomo complex, Santa Croce, Santa Maria Novella and San Lorenzo are open: see what to book before you go to Florence.
• Free first Sundays. State museums are free on the first Sunday of each month, plus 4 November 2026, with no booking and a queue: 1 November and 6 December 2026, 3 January, 7 February and 7 March 2027.
• The Boboli Gardens. They close at 19:10 from June to August; at 18:30 in late March, April, May, September and until 24 October; at 17:30 in early March and from 25 October; and at 16:30 in November, December, January and February. They can close at short notice for a weather alert, as they did from 17:00 on 7 October to 17:00 on 8 October 2026. See Pitti Palace and Boboli tickets.
• Heat. Palazzo Vecchio restricts access to some areas during a heat alert.
• August restaurants. A June 2026 survey of 300 bars and restaurants in Milan, Turin, Rome and Florence found 58% planned to close for at least a few days in August, and 42% to stay open all month (Food Affairs).
• The Giardino dell’Iris. It opens for about 20 days in spring. In 2026 it ran from 25 April to 20 May, 10:00 to 18:00, free, with the entrance at Viale Michelangelo 82 (Il Reporter).

Irises in flower at the Giardino dell’Iris. Photo: Sailko, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 3.0.

Which month for what

• Walking weather and long days. May, with a high of 24.5°C and 14 h 41 min of daylight, and the first half of June before the heat. April (19.9°C) is cooler and has 8.6 rain days. September (27.1°C) is warm and has 12 h 34 min of daylight on the 15th.
• Midsummer. June has 15 h 25 min of daylight and 5.3 rain days, but its highs reach 29.1°C and the fairs and the football fill the city. July and August are for early starts and a long lunch.
• The Christmas market. 14 November to 20 December, when highs are 15.7°C in November and 11.4°C in December.
• Cool months. January and February, with highs of 11.2°C and 12.7°C, 7 to 8 rain days and about 9 to 10 hours of daylight.
• A wet day. The Bargello, the Uffizi and the Opera del Duomo Museum are indoors: see Florence’s museums.

Umbrellas on the wet paving in front of the Duomo. Photo: Jon Rosenoer, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0.

Where to stay in Florence compares the areas and hotels near the Duomo lists the closest. For a plan once you have your dates, see Florence in one or two days and 3 days in Florence. Florence public transport and Florence airport to the city cover the way in, day trips from Florence the trips out, and where to eat in Florence the meals.