Tuscany end of July air conditioning?
 

We are going to Tuscany the last week of July and looking at places to stay. We are a family of 5 with children ages 16, 13 & 11. Is it really hot then? Is air conditioning necessary? It looks like most places do not have it. We live in Virginia and can tolerate heat but do not want to be uncomfortable. Suggestions of places to stay are welcome. Thanks

>>>Is it really hot then?

Yes.

>>>Is air conditioning necessary?

Yes.

It will be at least as hot and humid as the VA coast. Would you be comfortable at home in July with no AC? And remember that sights and restaurants usually don;t have AC either. I hope the place you're staying has a beautiful pool for those uber hot afternoons.

If "Tuscany" means Florence, you need a/c. Since the city itself isn't a/c'ed, personally I'd avoid it from mid-July to late August.

If "Tuscany" means a villa in the hills, you don't need a/c and almost certainly won't find it anyway. Natural ventilation and heavy walls make properly built country houses tolerable in midsummer. The trick is still to avoid Florence, and to have a sensible, carefully managed, number of excursions out to the towns in cars big enough to be comfortable and for the a/c to work properly. Most of the time, though, should be spent - as is the normal practice throughout Chiantishire - reading, writing or arguing by the pool or under a tree.

If you get so little holiday time you think this is wasteful, and feel you have some moral obligation to drag your children round every Sienese Madonna, you really oughtn't to be in Tuscany at such an unpleasant time. I've lost count of the number of children turned off art for life by being forced to encounter the Renaissance for the first time in 100-degree temperatures.

DON'T go to Tuscany and AVOID Florence because of the humidity. Plan on doing things early in the day and then in the afternoon.

We were very glad to have it in mid June. We did not have trouble finding fairly reasonable rates for rooms with AC in Rome, Siena or Florence.

Rick Steves does a nice job of listing hotels at different price levels and with asst. info including AC and bathrooms.