Lolo

I will be in Tuscany and Rome in early May. What type of weather should I expect?

MarkY

I was in Tuscany and Rome in May of 2001 and will be there again this May. Rome highs are in the mid 70s (I'm not a Celcius guru) but the sun can get to you if you're waiting in lines, so sunscreen should be available to you. Tuscany weather shouldn't be much different.

Nights can be a little "cool"... for us. There was a night or two when my wife had on a light sweater, but we're from Phoenix and are used to much warmer temperatures. So a night in the 60s is "cool" to us.

BTW, there were 2 nights of rain in the three weeks we were there. Small showers that didn't last long.

CleoB

I was there last May, and Mark's comments are on target. We did have one day of HEAVY rain. You'll notice on street corners that the handbag vendors disappear at the first drops of rain, and the umbrella sellers pop out of nowhere with $5 umbrellas!

Regardless, it was comfortable. You can always check out weather.com for international destination weather.

MarkY

Cleo, one of the days it rained, we were in Florence. You're right about those umbrella sellers. Those people came out of the woodwork at the first drop of rain. It looked like somebody kicked over an ant hill.

Deloris

We were in No. Italy last year the end of April and left Florence May 3. there was really wierd weather in NO. Italy last year at that time with torrential rain (2 inches a day) and flooding until the day we arrived in Milan and spent 10 days between Como and Orta. Then to Venice and Florence. Gorgeous.The day we left Florence, the clouds were gathering and another huge influx of weather after we were safely winging our way back to California!!Great luck, eh?! It was windy and cool on the canals around Venice and a wind breaker type coat came in handy for boat trips on the lakes, but the worst thing you will face is pretty bad if you are in any big European city May 1.
PEOPLE..MILLIONS OF THEM...MARCHING AND RIOTING!!! Florence was a zoo and it is the day the "left wingers" take all their gripes to the streets as well as a national holiday.(Paris, Rome, Etc.) If May 1 is going to hit during your trip, plan to lay low and stay away from city squares. Stay near the hotel and watch CNN instead.Much safer.
Especially this year if you are American.