kelbo

I'm looking at apartment rentals in Venice, Tuscany and Amalfi and want to reserve apartments that have air conditioning. My husband and I were in Rome a couple of years ago in September and it was very warm and we would have miserable with no AC in our bedroom. A few of the places I am looking to book says that italian law states that there can be no AC after September 3. Can this be true, I have never heard of this before?

jamikins

I don't know the dates but I believe that may be true. Something to do with regulations on energy I think...

jamikins

Here is another post about it

http://www.fodors.com/community/euro...y-224360-2.cfm

Christina

That's interesting, but it makes sense that some things could be restricting to save energy (or water, they do that sometimes in the US in drought areas). Where I live, they only restrict electricity use some real hot days, and then it is eletricity in general, not a particular appliance.

But I read that it was the end of September in Italy for the law, not the beginning of Sept when it must be turned off. I have no idea myself. That former post doesn't really give any specific links or information, unfortunately. The quoted information from Venere doesn't make sense as it says you can't use AC in the summer months when it must be the opposite.

jamikins

Perhaps it's a very local thing? Some regions or areas do it and not others??

HappyTrvlr

We sweltered in a few hotels in Italy in early Sept because their A/C was turned off

Dayle

I visited Naples in mid Sept and had to ask for the ac to be turned on in my room. I had to sleep with the window closed due to street noise. I had to pay extra for it but evidently the was no law against it. This was back in 2005.

MaineGG

Some years ago we rented through initaly.com and believe them to be a reliable source of information. Here's what they say about heating and a/c:

"Italy, like many other European countries, has nationally-regulated heating, which means that all lodgings, from 5-star deluxe hotels to modest farmhouses, are subject to strict federal energy restrictions and can switch their air systems from hot to cold only when the government tells them to. So if you suffer in cold weather, we advise you to bring sweaters in spring and fall, in case there is a short cold spell and the owners cannot turn the heating on for you. Likewise, air conditioning is never available in May or October, so since there can be hot spells in those months, please be prepared for this."

http://www.initaly.com/useful_faq_italy_lodgings.htm

When I lived in Italy, I well remember being very cold in our apartment building when the heat was turned off during a cold snap in the spring, and sweltering during a warm week in the fall when the heat was turned back on. It seems this rigid schedule persists.

bvlenci

The law is national, but the dates that it can be turned on or off varies from place to place (even from city to city) based on average historical temperatures. Local government can override the law if there is an unusual cold snap or heat wave.

I really don't think any place requires turning air conditioning off as early as September 3rd. Which city was this? I can check the local law for you. It certainly couldn't have been Rome, which is much hotter than where I live; here it's sometime in late September or early October.

kelbo

Thanks everyone...the one with the earliest date was Venice for Sept 3rd. Early September is quite warm so I'm a bit concerned ...thanks for all of the links, I'm trying to get to the bottom of this!

kelbo

- Could I switch on the heating today (May 10th)?
According to Italian law (D.P.R. n. 412 1993) for the Venice area, and also to agreements we have with the apartment’ managers, heating may be on from October 15th until April 15th (between 5am and 11pm) and the temperature must not exceed 20 degrees Celsius (=68 degrees Fahrenheit); air conditioning (if available) can only be on from June 6th to September 3rd



This is the q&a section of the apartment rental website for www.veniceapartments.org. They reference both italian law and agreement with the owners so it is still a bit unclear. I will look at other agencies as well . Any other recommendation for rental in Venice would be appreciated.

tuscanlifeedit

I'm just going to laugh a little at veniceapartments.org. I've rented from them and their documents and agreements are very specific, full of rules, and painstaking in laying out all the dos and don'ts.

Then, when you arrive, you walk to their office, get your keys, and never see them again. Before we arrived, I sent a list of questions based on their lengthy rules document, and received an email that said, "too many questions!" Later, I was concerned that I broke a glass coffee pot in their apartment, and made sure they knew, but never heard from them.

Now, I'm not telling you to break the law, but the AC police aren't apparent in Venice. I was dying of the heat last September and our apartment had fully working AC and no one told us not to use it.

Perhaps in a building where the units are central, someone could turn off the AC on a certain date, but that is unlikely to happen in Venice, where most AC units are for rooms only.

In any case, I can dig up our apartment contact if you would like. The cost was 150 euro and it was a great apartment with very good AC.

kelbo

Thanks so much tuscanlifeedit...I figured if they were referencing a specific law it was quite rigid .IMHO the weather is so unpredictable and September can be much hotter than June, and I just can't deal with no AC ! I guess I will have to take this with a grain of salt and if you are able to locate your apartment rental that would be great.

tuscanlifeedit

kelbo, I found it!

We loved this apartment and it is way nicer than the photos. The courtyard is gorgeous, and it is right at the Giglio vaporetto stop. I didn't find this an advantage, because only the #1 stops there, and it was hugely crowded, but apartment itself made up for everything. I would stay there again.

http://www.venicerentals.com/apartme...artments68.htm

tuscanlifeedit

I should have mentioned that venicerentals.com was great to work with. We enjoyed them very much; nice nice people.

kelbo

Tuscanlifeedit , thanks so much!

asps

As far as I know there are definitely national rules for heating periods, but I never heard about rules about AC. There could be local regulations, but I am not aware of a national regulation about allowed periods; maybe in some cases safety rules may apply limiting the the difference between external and internal temperatures. It is severely forbidden to keep the motor on for AC when your car is parked.

nytraveler

Interesting the high temp for heat is 68 degrees. In NYC the heat laws require a minimum of 68 degrees from 7 am to 11 pm (and 55 from 11 pm to 7 am) anytime the outside temp is below 50 degrees (do dates).

As for AC - there are no rules or regs and since many (most?) residential AC is controlled by individual tenants - it's how much you are willing to pay in electrical bills. (Our AC is generally on from early/mid May to sometime in Oct (but our apt has a lot of sun and is very hot).

But no one has ever accused the US of being energy careful (since we all know energy sources are endless and global warming is a fantasy).

Bamaman

There are some regulations in Florence, however I don't remember what they are. Obviously electricity is very expensive in Italy, and the rates enough ought to be a reason for hotels to limit their hours' usage.

I have seen some timers and motion detectors on a/c units in Florence to cut off the a/c when nobody was in their rooms.

If the a/c wasn't running in Venice, Italy, my young rear would be in that other great island city--Stockholm.

bvlenci

Here is the law for heating in Italy. As I said, the dates depend on the climatic zone. This page is in Italian, but it's easy to figure out without knowing the language. At the top of the are the seven zones with the dates when heating can be used. Then there is a list of the regions of Italy, further broken down by provincial capitals, with their respective zones.

http://www.helpconsumatori.it/data/d...caldamento.pdf

There is no national law about the use of air conditioners, and I can't find a local law on the matter for Venice. However I notice that the note Kelbo quotes says, "According to Italian law (D.P.R. n. 412 1993) for the Venice area, and also to agreements we have with the apartment’ managers ..." That makes me think that the use of air conditioners in these apartments is governed by the agreements with managers, not the Italian law.

In my search, I found that Torino has a rule that air conditioners can be used in public buildings only when the indoor temperature is over 28 degrees (82 F).