Climate of Italy
The climate of Italy is Temperate in the North and Subtropical/Mediterranean in the center and southern regions.
The diversity of the Italian climate is determined by the territorial stretch across many longitudes and the mountainous landscape of the largest part of the country. The Padan Valley features a transitioning climate from subtropical to temperate - hot summers (+22°С to +24°С in July) and chilly winters (January - around 0°С). The central regions of the Apenine peninsula have a subtropical climate with very warm (from +24-27°С in the north tо +26-32°С in the south) summers and a warm (on average above +5°С) winter. Due to the peculiarities of the country's landscape the air temperature is strongly correlated with the altitude - even the suburbs of Rome or Torino, smoothly climbing uphill, are always 2-3 degrees behind downtown. In the pre-Alpine regions this rule manifests itself even stronger - at the bottom of glacier-covered mountains orange trees bring fruit year round.
The character of precipitations' distribution is rather uneven. The pre-Alpine regions receive up to 1200mm, which are quite evenly distributed throughout the year. Heavy snowfalls are not uncommon here during Winter and at elevations above 2000 meters there is snow 200 days in a year. The central regions of the Apenine peninsula gets less than 750mm and the most of it falls during the winter months - during summer the overall precipitation is rarely above 100mm. The South of the peninsula, including the islands of Sicily and Sardinia is even dryer - the total amount of rainfall barely reaches 500mm per year and in Cagliari and Palermo summer months without rain are not uncommon events.
The south of the peninsula is penetrated by hot dry winds from the Sahara desert from March until October - called sirocco, or shirocco. During this period the air temperature often reaches the mark of +35°С; in the same time the dryness and dustiness of the air increase dramatically. Cold northern and northeastern winds - "Tramontane" blowing from the Apenine mountains are also very common, mostly in the winter period.
Sardinia has a typical Mediterranean climate with a hot summer and a short warm winter, which is very favorable for island visits at any time of the year. The summer heat (in Cagliari the temperature in July often reaches +32-38°С, in winter +18-22°С) is reduced by the stable sea breezes. The only drawback of the local climate is the small humidity (the short time strong rainfalls only happen during winter, there is often no rain at all during summer, and the average monthly precipitation are seldom above 70mm). The tourist season last here from May until September, but in April and October the weather conditions are perfect for spending time at the beach or enjoying various activities.
The climate in Sicily is also Mediterranean and very similarly to the one in Sardinia but even hotter during the summer and slightly colder in winter. There is not much rain during the year (about 500mm), predominantly from October till March. The variation of weather conditions is very evident (in terms of both temperature and humidity) from a comparison of the island's midland to the coastal regions -the mountains are always somewhat cooler and more rainy than the coast, and the western slopes receive on average twice as much precipitation as the eastern ones. Such a considerable variation of weather conditions across the island can make a visit pleasant at any time of year.
