We'll be in Italy (Rome, Florence, Venice) for the first half of October. Is the weather likely to feel like summer or early fall? What should we pack?

For historical weather patterns see
www.wunderground.com, for one website.
For 15-day extended forecasts just prior to your departure, see accuweather.com
I've experience quite warm weather in Rome in early October (daytime temps low 80s F) but there is just as likely someone to tell you that weather was chilly when they were there. Venice is likely to be rainier than Rome, except when it isn't.

It's really early fall Though you can still have some very sunny days and even hot..you can have rainy days also and sure it gets colder in the night.

If you are in fact Canadian it will probably still feel like summer to you. If you're from FL you'll probably think it;s almost winter.

Also Canadian here ... my experience last year in the first half of October was that when we were in Rome, it still felt like summer - hot and humid, temps in the mid to high 20s (celsius), and I wished I had more tank tops. Then we went to Venice, and it definitely felt like fall there, quite chilly ... I was cold pretty much the whole time we were there despite the fact that I wore long-sleeved sweaters or a turtleneck with a light soft shell fleece. So there you go. Our photos are kind of funny ... we've had a few people ask, "Were these from the same trip???" because of the stark differences in our attire - the Rome photos look like photos from a hot summer trip, the Venice ones look like photos from a cold and windy fall trip. I don't know if this was a difference in weather patterns between Rome and Venice, or if a cold front just happened to descend on the whole country the day we trained to Venice ... but I'd say pack for both eventualities just in case!

Thanks everyone! Looks like we'll need to bring a little of everything even though we're aiming to pack light. Based on your advice (and since we are Canucks), we'll add a few more summer items than originally planned (including sandals + T-shirts) and pare down on the warmer items. If wrong, we can always buy nice Italian sweaters

Hi Canadian, my experience in northern Italy (the region of Veneto including Venice) these last years is that sometime around the first part of October one can experience rainstorms, electrical storms and really cold weather. Shopping for sweaters in Italy is fun btw!! Wishing you a beautiful time in Italy.