2idocs

Looking to book our Italy vacation for next summer & have the option of the last 2 weeks of June or first 2 weeks of July. Any difference in terms of crowds? Is July significantly hotter/wetter?

SUMMAGOLD

imo no difference. it might be a tad hotter in july. it will be crowded either way with tourists because school will be out, at least for americans. but if i must pick a date, the sooner i get there the better, so June it will be for me!

Cyberia

School holidays across Europe start early to late July, so numbers of tourists and prices of everything will go up.

June should be better.

suze

If there is a difference in crowds or weather, it would be a pretty tiny one imo.

Mimar

Late June has slightly smaller crowds and slightly cooler weather.

MyriamC

I would not go on holiday to southern Europe in July if I didn't have to. It will definitely be more crowded than June and it will be hotter, too.

nytraveler

July will probably be slightly hotter (but either way expect heat and humidity_ and probably more crowded.

We go in May for pleasant beach weather and fewer mobs.

kybourbon

Sometimes, hotel prices drop a bit for July before their bigger drop for August.

charnees

The later in summer you go, the hotter and more crowded it will be. Avoid July and August.

A_Brit_In_Ischia

A lot depends on what you'll be doing, and where...

Weatherwise, although things warm up as the summer continues, there's no simple guide to the progress of the temperature and humidity mix during those 4 weeks - but you might try the "History" feature here for an idea from previous years...

http://www.weatheronline.co.uk/Italy/Naples.htm

One pretty constant thing though is how hotel prices in holiday spots ramp up from July 1st!

Italian schools are some of Europe's first to close for summer - in mid-June - but the preceding weeks are a favourite time for class outings, so museums and sites often have more kids milling around then than later in the season.

Family holidays here begin from about the 15th or 16th, with the increasing tendency for people to not simply go away for all of hot, crowded and expensive August!

The majority of tourism in Italy is actually done by Italians - who clock up 4 nights for every three registered by foreign visitors, whose own makeup goes like this...
http://www.pbase.com/isolaverde/image/130860390

This is how in Rome the presence of visitors DOESN'T change much over the season...
http://www.pbase.com/isolaverde/image/126202609

... but - if you're still thinking of coming south, towards Sorrento (one place where, unusually, foreign visitors do outnumber Italians!) etc - then these may also be of interest...

http://www.pbase.com/isolaverde/image/130860386

I'd be inclined to say that June makes more sense, particularly if you'll do more than just lounge on the beach!

And, if they add anything, here are photos of Ischia taken during those two months over several recent years....

http://www.pbase.com/isolaverde/recjun

http://www.pbase.com/isolaverde/recjul

Peter