OCTOBER
For at least the first
three weeks, the weather can be a continuation of late summer. Some of our
guests haven't even turned the heating on. You will get rainy days, but also
days of delightful sunshine.
NOVEMBER
True winter in Venice:
mists, fog, storms and tempests. Sometimes you will feel as if you are on
a ship at sea, so quickly and ferociously does the rain drive in. Nevertheless,
the museums are all open and warm, the opera season is in full swing and the
Wagner festival is held late in the month. But there are also days when you
can soak up the pale tendrils of sunlight; it's warm enough to sit outside
at a cafe in St Marks Square. The city is quiet.
DECEMBER
The weather of the first
half of the month is a continuation of November. This is perhaps the only
true "low season" in Venice, the quietest time of year. In the second
half of the month
the
winter sunlight begins to arrive, mixed with rainy days. Vendors
are roasting chestnuts in the streets, special markets open up for Christmas.
Don't miss the candied mango slices sold at the fruit stalls. Christmas and
New Year are bustling with excited visitors, and are a high season in their
own right, but the Cannaregio canal on Christmas Day is still an oasis of
quiet.
JANUARY
The first half of the month
can be magical, and the photo above shows you why. As the month draws on,
the fog and mists of November return, but not with the same intensity. It
may snow on the mainland, but rarely in the microclimate of Venice itself.
FEBRUARY
Some rain, some fog,
some clear days, sometimes even the clearest and most brilliant sunshine;
none of this stops the
Carnevale (Carnival) celebrations, usually late
in the month.
MARCH
October's weather (or better)
has returned, spring is well and truly on its way.
Note: we're not meteorologists, and not even meteorologists can give guarantees
about the weather! However, in our useful
links section we provide links to two excellent sources of objective
information about weather in Venice, past as well as future, month by month
as well as day by day.
A.
Both of them ... and within just a few days of each other. The
picture
on the right was taken on Christmas Day,
that
on the left just a few days later. (The links go to larger-sized
versions.)
So you can see that Venice in winter is amazingly varied. On
sunny days in December and January the light can be as dazzling and delightful
- if not as warm - as it is in midsummer.
One thing is predictable about Venice in winter, however: between
November and February you will not experience the crowds that come in summer.
The canals are often thick with heart-tuggingly melancholy fogs rolling in
from the Adriatic, the street lights glinting pale and yellow through the
haze. On the quiet, narrow streets your footfalls sound solitary echoes. It
is amazingly atmospheric, especially
at night.
If you like art, music and good food, staying in our snug homes
over the winter in Venice is unlikely to disappoint you. And you may be more
than pleasantly surprised - either by the intriguing atmosphere on the days
that you would normally consider "bad weather", or by heady hours
of midwinter sun and clear blue skies.
It's also worth noting that Venice in winter is a good hopping-off
point for skiing. Many Venetians pop up to the Dolomites for the day, hauling
their skis back home on the waterbuses.
