We are a family with 2 teens, flying into and out of Florence this July and have never been to Italy before. We will have 3 weeks. First will we be sweltering? Are there out of the way places we should not miss? We want to go to Tuscany and other surrounding areas and prefer train and public transport to a car. We are considering house exchange. Any information would be most appreciated.

Hi estern,

In my experience of being in Florence in July, it will be hot/warm, but not sweltering. There are always many shady and cool places you will encounter in your touring during the day. I actually needed a light sweater in the very early mornings in Florence in July.

Also, if you are considering a home exchange you might also want to look into apartment rentals. I can highly recommend www.sleepinginflorence.com.

There are many things to see and do in the historical center of Florence, but I can also recommend a day trip to Fiesole, which is about 15 minutes away, as well as a few day trips into the Tuscan countryside. Trains should not be a problem as they are easily booked, even upon arrival in Florence.

Happy planning! I'm sure you will get many more recommendations.

<< First will we be sweltering? >>

Well, in a short answer, yes. At least 60-80% of the time, if you are outdoors, 11 am to 6 pm, in Florence and other lower-elevation locations.

I would personally plan on trying to spend 5-15 days of your 21 in the northernmost (higher elevations) of Italy... which is a great (bunch of) place(s) to visit,

There are numerous references to home exchange here on this forum, and a number of people with considerable experience with doing it.

Welcome to the forum.

Best wishes,

Rex

Florence itself is one of the hot spots in Italy, and it gets inversions so it is often more humid than most of the rest of Tuscany.

It's not unusual to hit 100 F. in July, and about half the days of the month are over 90 F--in an average year.

Of course these are averages. You could get lucky and have a cooler year in which the temps never get to 90 while you are there, or you could get unlucky and have a hotter year when it'll be around 100 almost every day.

But it does usually cool off well late at night--and July is the least rainy month of the year in Florence.

Hi estern,

You will definitely need a car for Tuscany, especially if you plan to do a house exchange that will be outside of a town or city (as most are). Driving in the countryside is easy, I've done it twice for 2 weeks total, all around Tuscany & Umbria. No problems at all.

Hi e,

Are you planning on staying 3 weeks in Florence and Tuscany?

Tuscany is best seen by car.

You might find this thread useful:
Helpful Information: Italy 2
http://www.fodors.com/forums/threads...p;tid=34568596

If you enjoy gourmet food, consider going to the Parma area and taking the www.parmagolosa.it tour of the cheese, vinegar and ham concerns. Our teens enjoyed it as much as we did.

i lived in florence in the summer(art school).july was brutal.if you can rent an apartment,you will be able to shop in the marketplace for bread and cheese,etc.an airconditioner is essential..our apartment had none and it was impossible to sleep.we used to go to fiesole at night to cool off.but florence is beautiful,so i don't want to discourage you.i loved it!!

It depends on where you're from, what temps you're used to - and what you mean by sweltering.

If you're from Houston - Italy probably won;t be any hotter - but many places have no AC.

If you don;t like heat (and, like me, can;t sleep if you're sweating) either pick another time of year - or be sure your hotels have really good AC - and plan on plenty of rest stops during the day for cold drinks.

Bringing your original question bak up to the top...

It is often more useful to add to an earlier question - - we will be able to follow the evolution in your planning, and formulate better answers based on your earlier information.

And I would be distrustful of the reply from "Henry" on your "other" question. This forum is successful precisely because of public answers to publicly asked questions.

The information that Hnry has to share - - assuming he is not trying to solicit you for promoting his own business - - will be useful to you if it is publicly shared here. The "cross-examination", add-on information and tangential replies that usually follow any tips... are an essential part of this forum.