Climatology
This page presents Italy's climate context for the current climatology, 1991-2020, derived from observed, historical data. Information should be used to build a strong understanding of current climate conditions in order to appreciate future climate scenarios and projected change. You can visualize data for the current climatology through spatial variation, the seasonal cycle, or as a time series. Analysis is available for both annual and seasonal data. Data presentation defaults to national-scale aggregation, however sub-national data aggregations can be accessed by clicking within a country, on a sub-national unit. Other historical climatologies can be selected from the Time Period dropdown list.
Observed, historical data is produced by the Climatic Research Unit (CRU) of University of East Anglia. Data is presented at a 0.5º x 0.5º (50km x 50km) resolution.
The Italian peninsula lies between latitudes 47°C and 35° N and longitudes 6° and 18° E, it is nearly in the middle of the temperate area of the boreal hemisphere. Being Italy surrounded by sea, Italy’s climate is temperate Mediterranean. Italy’s climate is formally divided in four types, characterized by specific features: Alpine climate, dominant in Alps and northern and central Apennines, characterized by night and winter low temperatures and moist summer; Mediterranean climate, in the island and in the southern Italy, characterized by mild temperatures and moist winter; Peninsular climate, peculiar of the central part of the peninsula, characterized by mild temperatures along the coast and in the prompt hinterland (in the middle where the altitude is high there is an alpine climate), moist in spring and autumn; and Po valley climate, with low temperatures in the winter, high in the summer, moist in the spring and autumn.