My family came to Tuscany in 1973 and moved into a derelict house with no running water or electricity in November. I was 5, my sister 6 and it was tough, (and yes, my parents were bananas!) but I still remember our first Christmas, sitting around a table on the terrace outside our front door, eating roast duck and vegetables in warm, bright, terse sunshine. It was fantastic and this off season warmth remains one of the delights of traveling to Tuscany out of season.
I sketched the view below from the town walls of Volterra on an autumn evening that coloured the forested hills of Berignone into a dark brooding purple, as a scooter whizzed past with a brightly coloured scarf trailing behind. Dark skies and bright sunlight are one of the pleasures of the shoulder seasons, as storms gather and rumble away, shafts of sunlight piercing the dispersing clouds.
We're often asked what the weather is like in Tuscany in different months, or when is the best time to visit Florence, or Siena, so here is my run down, month by month.
As a general rule, the weather in Tuscany is mild, with the coldest months being January and February, the wettest usually being November, though March can sometimes steal that crown.
It can snow, though it's unusual, and it has even snowed in April sometimes. The mountains - Apennines and Apuan Alps - are all high enough to have ski resorts and you can ski in the morning and go to the beach in the afternoon in some areas, like the Lunigiana or the Garfagnana.
Selling seasons for Villas are normally high in July and August, mid season runs in May, June and September, and the rest of the year is low, except for Easter, Christmas and New Year. As you can see, that leaves plenty of scope for those who can travel 'out of season' to get a good bargain AND have the museums and historical towns a little emptier, so traveling off season makes a lot of sense if you can do it.
Here's my rundown of the months and seasons in Tuscany:
Christmas and New Year in Tuscany can be fantastic - the light is clear so you can see for miles, the sun is still warming when it's out, and it's chestnut season. There are little carts with chestnut sellers on the corners of lots of city and town streets. But you will need a house with central heating - or a large fireplace - as the evenings arrive sooner and the nights can be cold. February is one of the least pleasing months, with short days; good if you're coming out to visit museums and want to avoid the crowds but not for country living.
Time to visit the Uffizi? February is ideal - particularly if you're staying in Piero's Place, practically next door.
Easter kicks the world back into life: April, May and June in Tuscany can be almost comedically exuberant with life. Gambolling lambs, warming sunshine and a feeling of the winter being over. By mid May the weather is getting properly warm, though the evenings are still chilly. This is an excellent time for exploring hill towns, for going walking or cycling, for painting (it's my preferred painting season). Prices are still low, restaurants are delighted to see you as they lumber out of hibernation, and the museums are still easy to visit. By June things can start to get much warmer; in 2017 June was a scorcher and much more like July or August.
By Tobias from Germany [CC BY 2.0 ], via Wikimedia Commons
This is peak season. School holidays and stable weather mean that this is when many people must come, and it's also (particularly August) when Italians are on holiday too. However, if you're staying in a villa, you won't really notice this much. The honeypot cities like Florence or Pisa might be crowded but you're in the countryside, lying by your swimming pool, perhaps strolling into your nearby village for an evening meal. This is when country living reigns supreme.
Villa Rapale south of Siena.
I've already said that May and June are my favourite months, so I can't say it again, so I'll have to place September and October as close seconds. The crowds are thinning, the heat is diminishing, the light is coming in at a lower and lower angle giving some fantastic long evening shadows. I imagine that the famous Etruscan statuette "Evening Shadow" was conceived and made in these October evenings, sitting on a hill near Volterra, over 2000 years ago. The same light and feelings are still there today.
Villa da Vinci, between Pisa and Florence, in a photo taken on the 22nd October.
November is a rainy month. Like February, best left for serious museum visiting. But in December the Christmas lights go up, the Christmas services and processions start and it is a wonderful time, whether you're visiting the big cities or smaller villages. In Casole d'Elsa, where I grew up, they still have a Nativity celebration where the whole village dresses up. We put Shepherds' tents up, even hired Camels, and re-enacted the nativity over 3 days, charging the other local villages to come and see us! There are plenty of events like this going on around Tuscany in winter - if you'd like to find out more ask us for more details - it's house-dependent.
My step-father Alan playing the part of a Magi from the Orient in Casole d'Elsa's "Presepe Vivente". For more information on local festivals and events, have a look at this "Medieval Re-enactments in Tuscany"
