July in Italy: Weather, Holidays & Festivals

July is the time for music, and there are tons of festivals throughout Italy this month to keep all kinds of music lovers happy. Some of the best are highlighted below.

What is the Weather in Italy in July?

July in Italy is typically hot and dry from north to south. On average, July is the driest month in Italy. But rain is possible.

Rainy days are more likely in July in northern Italian cities—Bologna, Milan, Turin, Venice—where the climate is more humid and subtropical. The average high temperatures in northern Italy in July are in the mid-80s °F/low 30s °C with about five days of rain during the month.

Afternoon storms are typical during July in central Italy—particularly in Florence and Rome—but they usually come in bursts, providing a brief cool-down before the sun pops out again.

July in southern Italy, from Naples to Sicily and Sardinia, tends to be hot and very dry. Great for beach days and cooler nights. Southern Italy averages around two days of rain during July.

If you’re traveling to Italian hill and mountain towns during July, expect daytime highs around 84°F/29°C and evening lows in the upper 50s and low 60s (14-15°C). This holds true for the cities in the alpine foothill towns of northern Italy (Aosta, Belluno) as well as the towns in the foothills of the Apennines (L’Aquila).

July Average Temperatures

July in Italy: Holidays, Festivals, and Other Events

July 2 – Palio Horse Race, Siena

The first of two runnings of Siena’s Palio takes place on 2 July. Tickets are free for the central part of the Piazza del Campo. But if you want to actually see anything, then you will want a ticket for a view from one of the private balconies that overlook the square. Tickets for the Siena Palio (as well as hotels in the area) are very hard to come by if you haven’t planned well in advance.

Mid-July – Festa del Redentore, Venice

In Venice, the Festa del Redentore (Festival of the Redeemer) in mid-July celebrates the Feast of the Redeemer and the end of the plague in 1577 with the opening of the Thanksgiving Bridge to Giudecca and a major fireworks display over Piazza San Marco.

Mid-July – Jazz and More in Umbria

Umbria Jazz, probably the most important jazz event in Europe takes place in mid-July in Perugia. Concurrently, Spoleto hosts the Festival Dei Due Mondi (Festival of Two Worlds), one of the world’s best known and longest running summer music, arts, and theater festival.

July 26 – Festa di Sant’Anna, Ischia

The feast day of Saint Anne is especially vibrant in Ischia, where fireworks explode over the sea and the island’s Aragonese Castle.

Summer Music Festivals in Italy

The following music festivals typically take place throughout the month of July, if not the entire summer.

Opera in Verona

If you’ve never seen Verona’s arena, which easily rivals Rome’s Colosseum, July is the perfect time to visit. The annual Verona Opera Festival, which runs throughout the summer, is in full swing in July.

Music in Rome

The capital has numerous concerts in July. The Teatro dell’Opera di Roma offers the opera-archeology combo at the Baths of Caracalla. Meanwhile, Rock in Roma features concerts from Italian and international rock and rap artists at various locations in the city, primarily at the Ippodromo delle Capannelle, but also at the Circus Maximus and the Auditorium Parco della Musica. The latter also hosts its own festival – Roma Summer Fest.

On the smaller, more alternative scale is the Incontra Il Mondo (Encounter the World) festival set among the Roman pines of the Villa Ada park. Here you can see acts ranging from reggae to metal, depending on the night.

Torino Estate Reale, Torino (Turin)

Classical music, ballet, theater, and other sophisticated performances make up the Torino Estate Reale, a music festival that takes place in Torino (Turin) at the Piazzetta Reale.  This festival is part of a grander collection of performances grouped under the heading of Palchi Reali (Royal Stages), which puts on shows at various royal residences around the Piemonte region.

Puccini Festival, Tuscany

The long-running Festival Puccini, held in Torre del Lago and Viareggio, is considered one of Italy’s most refined opera events. It celebrates the works of Tuscan son Giacomo Puccini (born in Lucca in 1858). Concerts begin on 6 July and run through August.

Saldi – Summer Sales

If you love to shop, July is a great time to be in Italy. The much-anticipated summer sales (saldi) usually begin around the first week of July and go until mid-August — or until shoppers and shop owners have cleared out last season’s goods.

During the first week of sales, items will be immediately discounted from between 30 to 50 percent off the original price, with discounts getting deeper with each passing week so as to move the old merchandise and get ready for the new. Just about every place with something to sell, from small boutiques to designer outlets, gets in on the saldi bandwagon in order to capture shoppers’ attention.

July Calendar: Italy Anniversaries and Events

July 1

• L’Osservatore Romano, the newspaper of Vatican City, publishes for the first time (1861)
• Martini is founded in Turin (1863)
• Milan inaugurates Milano Centrale, the central train station and one of the main train stations of Europe (1931)
• San Giovanni Rotondo in Puglia inaugurates the Shrine of Padre Pio (2004)
• Italy ends compulsory military service (2005)

July 2

• First of two yearly races of the Siena Palio. The event is also run in August.

July 4

• Birth of Giuseppe Garibaldi (1807)

July 5

• Italy awards the first Strega Prize to Ennio Flaiano for his book Tempo di Uccidere (Time to Kill) (1947)
• The first Fiat 500 goes on sale (2007)

July 6

• Death of composer Ennio Morricone (2020)

July 7

• Death of architect Giacomo Barozzi da Vignola (1573),famed for having designed Rome’s Chiesa del Gesù and the Villa Farnese
• Birth of director Vittorio De Sica (1901)
• Birth of Gian Carlo Menotti (1911)

July 8

• Birth of Artemisia Gentileschi (1593)

July 9

• Birth of composer Ottorino Respighi (1879)
• Italy’s national football team Gli Azzurri wins its 4th World Cup title (2006)

July 10

• Death of Hadrian (138)
• Birth of Giorgio de Chirico (1888)

July 11

• Fiat founded in Turin by Giovanni Agnelli (1899)
• Birth of Giorgio Armani (1934)

July 12

• Birth of Julius Caesar (100 B.C.)
• Birth of Amedeo Modigliani (1884)

July 13

• The Carabinieri, Italy’s national gendarmerie, is established in Turin (1814)

July 15

• Dedication of the Temple of Castor and Pollux in the Forum (484 B.C.)
• Death of Annibale Carracci (1609)
• Fire destroys church of Saint Paul Outside the Walls in Rome (1823)

July 16

• Birth of Saint Clare of Assisi (1194)
• Birth of Andrea del Sarto (1486)

July 18

• Death of Caravaggio (1610)

July 20

• Birth of Petrarch (1304)

July 21

• Birth of San Filippo Neri (1515)

July 25

• Antifascist Pasta Day recreates the Cervi family dinner from 1943 which celebrated a brief fall of Mussolini’s Fascist regime

July 26

• Feast Day of Saint Anne

July 28

• Death of Antonio Vivaldi (1741)
• Rome inaugurates the Tempio Maggiore (1904), the main synagogue in the city

July 30

• Birth of Giorgio Vasari (1511)
• Death of Michelangelo Antonioni (2007)

July 31

• Birth of Primo Levi (1919)

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