Do you dream of sipping Prosecco overlooking a sun-soaked vineyard? Or, perhaps waking up to the smell of fresh espresso mingling with the earthy perfume of last night’s sprinkle of rain and spending cool evenings strolling in the piazza? Reveling in the sea breeze on the Adriatic Sea without navigating through endless crowds?
If that sounds like your vibe, then spring just is the perfect time to plan a getaway in the Mediterranean. But, there’s one caveat to keep in mind: the spring season can be a bit of a toss up in terms of weather and crowds, which is why it’s important to know the top locations that were made for Spring—and our secrets for the best ways to travel that will help you to embrace a slow pace for a truly rejuvenating experience.
Benefits of Spring Travel
Everyone, including all the European families, dreams of their summer in the Med, which ends up making it the most crowded season to head to Italy and its Mediterranean neighbors. Fall has its time to shine with the wine harvest, fresh pressed olive oil and the cooler temperatures. Despite what people think, this has made early autumn increasingly more popular across the board.
But Spring? You’ll get that mid to late September summer-in-Europe feeling minus the beating sun and high season crowds—plus the lush green landscape you can only have after early Spring’s showers, with mild weather not to be missed all across Southern Europe.
And you might even be able to snag cheaper prices on your plane tickets, meaning extra money to spend on luxe experiences, Italian-made goods, and top notch wines.
Perfect Weather Conditions for Exploration & Adventure
Summers in Italy and the Mediterranean in general can be unbearably hot, and especially with the sun beating down on you and having to constantly weave through crowds. Sometimes what you see on Instagram isn’t always reality, most notably when you see how summer in Puglia is portrayed on social media. Come summer it is not the hidden gem spot that influencers would have you believe.
But in the spring? The weather conditions are perfect for exploring outdoor historic sites, with sunny days ideal for exploration without the sweltering heat that characterizes the Mediterranean summer. You’ll enjoy crisp mornings, warm afternoons, and cool evenings.
Of course, this means you’ll need to pack well and dress like an onion: with layers! Read our blog on what to wear for Spring in Italy.
Spring Landscapes and Natural Beauty at their Peak
With perfect weather comes the breathtaking natural beauty of Spring! When you visit in the Spring, you’ll see the landscapes of the Mediterranean as it’s meant to be before the crowds and the heat of summer set in—particularly in Italy.
While the beauty of Spring is all over Italy, there’s a few destinations in particular that stand out for their unique landscapes.
- Umbria: Known as Italy’s Green Heart, Spring is the time to see Umbria at its most green with rolling hills and gorgeous vineyards! That’s why we chose May for Italy Uncorked.
- Prosecco Hills of Veneto: Spring is the perfect time to enjoy the lush greenery of the Prosecco Hills, one of Italy’s most productive wine-producing areas that you’ll get to experience on the Northern Italian Delights tour.
- The Lakes Region: See the blooming gardens at their best against the crystal waters before the humidity of summer sets in. Here’s everything you need to know about visiting Lake Garda and Lake Como.
- Puglia: In the heel of Italy’s proverbial boot, you’ll see the olive groves and the countryside at their most photogenic, along with the whitewashed (less crowded) beach towns glowing along the clear blue skies. Join us on Passport to Puglia to experience it in Spring!
Reduced Crowds
Spring months like April/May are the sweet spot in terms of crowds, what we call the “shoulder season,” also known as the time before it gets too hot and crowded to truly enjoy yourself on vacation!
While the shoulder seasons are certainly still a popular time to visit and you won’t be able to avoid crowds altogether (unless you have someone on the inside, like us, to guide you through each carefully selected destination), you’ll find significantly reduced crowds at most of the major attractions.
With the reduced demand, you’ll have a much higher chance of snagging pre-summer pricing for your flights. Airline tickets to major hubs like Rome, Milan, Naples, and other major cities in surrounding countries trend down in the weeks before the summer surge begins.
Click here to read our guide on Italy’s Major International Airports and find out the best airport for you to fly into based on where you’re headed. Knowing what airport is the best to fly into for the specific local you’re visiting during your Spring travels is essential to saving you time and headaches when it comes to logistics,
Fresh Food
And we haven’t even talked about the best part of the temperate Spring weather—the food! Spring weather brings a plethora of delicious seasonal produce with it, which is reflected in the local cuisine of each region. If you’re a foodie with a taste for quality produce, Spring is the ideal time to plan a visit to the Mediterranean.
Spring Regional Produce & Dishes
- Fresh Artichokes & Asparagus in Central/Northern Italy: Artichokes and asparagus are classic spring fare in Central and Northern Italy, which hit peak freshness in April and May respectively. You’ll find them featured in many dishes like risotto with asparagus or the Jewish-Roman dish Carciofo alla Giudia. White asparagus, known for its delicate flavor, is a local delicacy in the Veneto town of Bassano del Grappa, which you can visit on Northern Italian Delights!
- Early Season Tomatoes in Southern Italy: Tomato harvesting season runs from May to October in Southern Italy, with the peak typically coming in July. But, with Southern Italy’s sunny, warm climate, you’ll be able to enjoy some varieties earlier in the season. And when you join us on Italy’s Epicurean Journey, you’ll have the chance to taste the highest quality tomatoes from a small-batch, family-owned farm in Abruzzo!
- Spring Peas in Northern Italy: Known for their small size, sweetness, and versatility, spring peas can be found in many of the classic Spring dishes in Northern Italy, heavily featured in risotto dishes.
- Stone Fruits Across Italy: The first stone fruits such as peaches, nectarines, apricots, cherries, and plums tend to start making their first appearances in the local markets in late April, making Spring the ideal time to enjoy these fruits at their juiciest!
- Fava Beans: Fava beans have a special place in the heart of any Puglian, with the beans being used in iconic dishes like fave e cicoria. You’ll also find the fresh ones in Central Italy often served simply as a snack with the local Pecorino cheese from the regions of Umbria and Marche.
Best Travel Destinations for Spring Festivals & Events
Spring is a vibrant and lively time to visit many areas in Europe, with most residents ready to shake off the chill of winter and embrace the coming warmer weather!
Top Festivals in the Best Spring Travel Destinations
The Ceri Festival in Gubbio, Umbria
Held on May 15th of each year, the Corsa Dei Ceri or the “Race of the Candles” is a tradition going all the way back to the 12th Century in the city of Gubbio, Umbria. The festival pays homage to the town’s patron saint, and the lively music and traditional costumes truly make it something to behold.
The city of Gubbio is also one of the most romantic cities in the world, being the filming site of the original 1967 Romeo and Juliet! Explore the city with us on Italy Uncorked.
Infiorata Festivals
Infiorata festivals are amongst the most visually stunning festivals in Italy, with beautiful and intricate carpets of flowers arranged in elaborate patterns lining the streets. While the festival is hosted in many cities across Italy, one of the most famous is hosted in Spello, one of Umbria’s Top 10 Most Beautiful Villages!
Cantine Aperte
Every year in the last weekend of May, Cantine Aperte, Italy’s largest wine festival, sweeps across the nation as wineries open their cellar doors to the public. It’s a BIG party that happens the last weekend of May every single year.
But if loud crowds and parties of Cantine Aperte are not your thing and you want to escape the crowds to enjoy wine served by the sommelier or wine maker themselves, join us in Italy for the Spring tour of a lifetime!
Ascoliva in Le Marche
Le Marche is serious about its love for olives, proven by the Ascoliva festival that takes place each year in our hometown of Ascoli Piceno! The festival celebrates the famed Olive all’Ascolana, a golden, meat-stuffed fried olive.
Formaggio in Villa Festival in Veneto
Who wouldn’t love a weekend dedicated entirely to cheese?! That’s exactly what you’ll get with the Formaggio in Villa festival in Veneto, where cheese producers from all over the world come together in the city of Cittadella, home to the world’s largest intact citadel—which we’ll visit on Northern Italian Delights!
Venice Biennale
Hosted in the city of Venice in odd-numbered years, this festival marks the opening of the associated prestigious international art and architecture exhibit. Click here to learn more about Italy’s best cultural festivals!
Why Travel in the Spring?
The bottom line? The best destinations in the Mediterranean come to life in the Spring, whether it’s the freshest produce making for top-of-the-line regional cuisine or simply the breathtaking scenery accompanied by weather that allows you to actually explore it. Spring is hands down the Most Underrated season to visit Italy and the neighboring countries.
That’s why we love to host many of our tours in the Spring—you’ll maximize your experience with not only what’s here in Italy, but you’ll also have the opportunity to get the best value on flights! And that means you’ll have a little extra for scooping up those Italian made goods and enjoying fine dining experiences.
Top Five Travel Destinations for Spring in Italy
We may be a little biased as Italian locals, but there’s no place like Italy for your spring break getaway in the Mediterranean!
But, you don’t have to limit yourself to the grand tour of Rome, Venice, and Florence, where you’ll be fighting tourist crowds all year-round. If you want to see the real Italy, look beyond the well-beaten path to regions that maintain their cultural roots and offer experiences that won’t be available to those sticking to the most popular attractions.
Le Marche
If you want to visit all of Italy wrapped up into one region, Le Marche is the place to visit for your Spring vacation. With a unique blend of natural beauty, historical charm, and out-of-this-world cuisine made even better with fresh seasonal produce, the rolling hills and sandy beaches of Marche might just become the getaway destination you’ll want to visit over and over again—like many of our guests!
The temperate weather in Marche is sure to put you in the mood to explore some of Le Marche’s beautiful medieval villages, like the UNESCO city of Urbino, birthplace of Renaissance painter Raphael with fully preserved architecture, or the city of Ascoli Piceno, Italy’s most underrated city that has history from before Rome and some of the best authentic pizza to rival Rome or Naples.
And with its diverse landscape, you’ll find some of the best quality-to-price ratio wines in the entire country, including Verdicchio, made in the North of the region. This white wine variety named for the green grapes it’s made from is perfect for Spring dishes that include fish or seafood, characterized by its almondy finish and pleasantly bitter taste. You can also pair it with one of the region’s many pasta varieties topped with a pesto-based sauce!
Umbria
If you’re going to visit Umbria, The Green Heart of Italy, you should of course visit when it’s most green! An often overlooked region that borders Tuscany, Umbria offers a serene and authentic experience that will match the rejuvenating vibes of your Spring vacation, with a backdrop of hundreds of miles of vineyards and forests.
Although Umbria is often compared to the neighboring region of Tuscany, which accounts for a significant slice of Italy’s overall tourism on its own, Umbria can hold its own not only in terms of natural beauty, but with the food and wine scene. In Umbria, you’ll find lesser-known wines produced by small, family-owned wineries that have upheld the tradition for centuries, such as Sagrantino di Montefalco and numerous IGT wines of small up and coming wineries rediscovering ancient vineyards. Not to mention the fact that you can enjoy all of this in peace without jostling through tourist crowds—especially in the serene Spring season!
Umbria is also home to some of Italy’s Most Beautiful Medieval Villages, including Gubbio, which is where you’ll be based when you join us on Italy Uncorked and Spello, the site of one of the most famous Infiorata festivals in Italy. You may have heard of Assisi, one of Umbria’s most famous locations, for its religious significance as the birthplace of St. Francis.
Popular sites like Assisi hit their peak crowds in the Summer, which is why it’s best to visit in the Spring. Assisi makes an easy addition to your time in Italy after joining us on Italy Uncorked, where we’ve curated a one-of-a-kind itinerary you won’t find anywhere else that takes you across Umbria and immerses you in its culinary and cultural delights without the crowds.
Veneto
For wine lovers, foodies and those that love enjoying the outdoors, there’s no region more perfect than Veneto. With the largest production of wine in all of Italy and one of the most diverse landscapes, Veneto has something for everyone to enjoy, particularly in the Spring.
The weather is great for all activities, including hiking, biking, boating, and of course, our personal favorite, sipping a glass of Prosecco overlooking a sun-soaked vineyard! The Prosecco Hills are #1 on our list of the Top Five UNESCO Heritage Sites for Wine Lovers, home to Italy’s first wine school established in 1876 and the birthplace of the sparkling Prosecco Superiore DOCG.
But Veneto isn’t just known for wine—the region is also renowned across Italy for cheese production, which includes the well-known DOP cheese: Asiago. This is why on the Northern Italian Delights we take you to a fifth generation organic cheesemonger to discover the local production and enjoy a tasting of their cheese pairing with wine.
Veneto is also the originator of Italy’s signature spirit, grappa, made from leftover grape skins, seeds, and stems after winemaking. When you join us on Northern Italian Delights in Veneto, not only will you enjoy nine nights in an actual castle in the Prosecco Hills, you’ll get to visit a niche grappa producer at the foothills of the Dolomites that’s one of the last of his kind!
Pro-Tip: Visiting earlier in the Spring? Avoid an exclusive visit to the Dolomites—rainy weather and hotel/shop closings may put a damper on your trip. Better yet, stick with the experts who know all of the local secrets like this one!
Puglia
If there’s one region where the timing of your visit matters the most, it’s Puglia. Visit too early in the season, and you’ll run into closed hotels and businesses, but visit in the dead of summer and you’ll be fighting your way through thick crowds of both domestic and international tourists in the ninety-degree heat.
We’ve found that April is the best month to visit, which is why we chose it for Passport to Puglia. While May is beautiful, the region does become overcrowded with local visitors and daily cruise ship visitors flocking to the most popular attractions. As long as you steer clear of Easter, April truly couldn’t be a better time to plan a visit to Italy’s superior Southern coastal region.
Puglia is often compared to the Amalfi Coast, but this region is hailed for staying true to its local Italian charm and remaining relatively untouched by tourism. So, while you may not be able to enjoy beach days to their fullest extent, you’ll get to explore the towns without the crowds and sweltering heat. And with Puglia’s rich history with culturally significant locations such as the Trulli Houses in Alberobello or the Baroque city of Lecce, it’s definitely worth it to visit.
With Puglia’s year-round temperate climate, the food and wine is plentiful, a mecca for homegrown Italian cuisine responsible for 40% of Italy’s olive oil! From fresh-made burrata cheese to Negroamaro wine made from the oldest grapes in Italy to the classic comfort dish of purea di fave, you’ll feel right at home when you spend Spring in Puglia.
Abruzzo
Abruzzo is the region of Italy where rugged mountains meet pristine beaches along the Adriatic Coast, known as one of Italy’s most unspoiled regions. Home to three national parks, Abruzzo boasts dramatic mountain ranges, rolling hills, and gorgeous wineries—all within a short drive of one another! Bordering the Marche region, Abruzzo offers breathtaking beauty in the Spring that will truly immerse you in Italian life away from the crowds, particularly if you have someone on the inside to help you navigate the nuances like when you join us on tour.
One of Abruzzo’s most notable claims to fame is its namesake DOC/DOCG wine, Montepulciano D’Abruzzo, which is the second most grown grape after the Sangiovese! Characterized by the intense dark ruby color, Montepulciano goes great with the traditional dishes in Abruzzo, including grilled lamb skewers and beef tagliata.
Abruzzo is also one of the largest pasta-producing regions in Italy! We all know that pasta alone is at least half of the reason to make the trip to Italy—find out the five types of pasta to try in Abruzzo.
More Top Spring Travel Destinations in the Mediterranean
When making a trip across the pond, you may want to visit some of Italy’s neighboring countries while you’re in the area. Luckily, there are several options to make this a possibility and allow one trip to flow right into the other.
Croatia
Croatia can be reached by ferry from Ancona, Marche to Split. You can take the Snav or Jadrolinija ferries overnight to connect with Croatia after your time with us on our Marche-based tours, Italy Uncorked or Italy’s Epicurean Journey. Like Italy, it’s a great time to enjoy Croatia’s gorgeous coastal beaches or extensive trail network without the summer high season crowds.
Greece
If you’re joining us on Passport to Puglia, you can take the ferry from Bari or Brindisi to another beautiful Spring destination, Greece. But, it’s important to note that the tourist destinations in Greece, like Athens and Mykonos, will offer less variety in terms of high-quality cuisine, so it’s best to plan a visit to less popular cities like Rhodes.
The same goes for Croatia—avoid the popular tourist destinations like Dubrovnik and Split and opt for the smaller, coastal towns. And better yet rent a yacht charter in Croatia to avoid the crowds of the ferry and enjoy a visit of the Adriatic Sea’s largest archipelago.
Why Should You Choose Slow-Paced Italy Tours for Your Spring Vacation?
We’ve seen countless first-time European travelers make the mistake of jamming way too many destinations into one itinerary. If you’re spending half of your time in Italy packing and repacking your bags to board the train to the next city, how much can you truly immerse yourself in the pace of everyday life? More importantly, is it truly possible to get a sense for each location if you’re constantly thinking about what’s next instead of what’s right in front of you?
Italy and its neighboring countries aren’t one-and-done locations. In fact, each region is like a country of its own in terms of culture and cuisine! For our guests, Italy is a place to be visited more than once, each trip unlocking a new cultural nuance you didn’t see before. But, this can be really difficult to plan for on your own. When you’re worried about the logistics of an international trip in a foreign country, slowing down and enjoying the pace of life seems unrealistic.
But, when you have someone to guide you through everything that arises from the moment you step off the plane, that’s where the magic happens. That’s when you can drink wine to truly taste, when you can enjoy a meal for both the amazing food and the even better company. That’s when you can truly set down the burden of your everyday life and soak in the present moment.
As not only your hosts, but your new Italian best friends, it’s our goal to help you achieve the feeling of true rest and relaxation on your trip with us—the kind that truly rejuvenates you. We’ve deliberately chosen the dates of our trip to perfectly match the best times to visit each region so that you can enjoy a crowd-free experience with the freshest produce and cuisine, as well as the ideal weather conditions for each activity.
And as for the activities, each one is intentional. We spend at least half a day with each individual location, and your free time is your own, whether you want to use it to explore or to rest. And with a maximum of just 12 people per date, you won’t be herded like cattle from one location to the next—even better? You just might leave the experience with a brand new lifelong friend that shares your values.
So, to break it down, here’s why you should choose a slow-paced Italy tour for your Spring getaway:
- No rushed itineraries shuttling you from one location to the next
- Small groups limited to just 12 people per date
- Personalized touch and forming a real connection with a local host
- Authentic, curated experiences with local winemakers, chefs, and more
If you’re tired of the tourist traps, the rushed itineraries, and the stress of planning every little detail, it’s time to find the experience that will speak to your soul. Take our Italian Traveler Quiz to find the perfect match for your unique travel personality!
