Multiple dates throughout 2025
Jubilee celebrations: Large tourist crowds are far from a rare sight in Rome as the Eternal City is the most visited Italian city, with around 30 million visitors a year on average.
But the number of people travelling to the Italian capital is expected to shoot up to 35 million in 2025 due to a host of events held in celebration of the Vatican’s Jubilee Year – a special Holy Year for the Catholic Church which focuses on forgiveness and the remission of sins.
Besides an additional influx of tourists, the Jubilee is also expected to result in price hikes in a number of areas – from the hospitality industry (especially short-term holiday lets and hotel stays) to transport services and cultural sites.
This means that visiting Rome will likely be significantly more expensive next year.
January
New Year’s Day: The first public holiday of 2025 falls on the first day of 2025. You can see a full guide to all of next year’s holiday dates (and how to make the most of them) HERE.
2025 budget law: The measures outlined in Italy’s 2025 budget will come into force from January 1st.
From changes to popular home renovation bonuses to incentives for families with children, you can find an overview of what Italian residents can expect in 2025 HERE.
National ID code for holiday rentals: New rules requiring owners of holiday rentals in Italy to hold a national identification code, or CIN, came into force on September 1st, but penalties for those flouting the rules haven’t been enforced yet.
Sanctions were originally scheduled to kick in from November 2nd, but the date was later postponed to January 1st due incomplete online infrastructure.
UK ETA visa: The EU's new border checks are currently fraught with uncertainty, but UK plans to introduce an extra visa waiver have already begun.
The UK's Electronic Travel Authorisation (ETA) is a £10 visa waiver that must be applied for online in advance, and, once granted, lasts for two years.
The ETA requirement is already in place for citizens of certain countries, but will be extended to all non-EU nationals entering the UK from January 8th, and then to all EU nationals (with the exception of anyone travelling on a Irish passport) from April 2nd. Find full details HERE.
Winter sales: Bargain hunters, on your marks. Next year’s winter sales will start on January 4th for all Italian regions, except the autonomous Bolzano province, where the saldi will get underway on January 8th.
February
Italian court to rule on citizenship referendum: Though the exact date hasn't been announced yet, a key ruling on whether Italy will hold a referendum on easing Italian citizenship rules is expected at some point in February.
The campaign to create a quicker path to citizenship by residency was signed by over 500,000 people in late September – enough to qualify for a public referendum under Italian laws.
READ ALSO: 'I spend all my resources here': Why Italy must ease citizenship rules
But the proposal must be approved by the Italian Constitutional Court before it can be subject to a referendum. Legal experts have previously raised concerns over the reform’s legal validity.
Carnival celebrations: February is carnival season in Italy, and the most famous events of all are held in Venice, with celebrations set to run from February 14th to March 4th next year.
But Venice is not the only part of Italy famous for its carnival celebrations. Every year Viareggio, Tuscany, holds one of the most unique carnival shows in the world as masked performers carry dozens of papier-mâché floats and large-scale caricatures of popular political figures along the town’s seafront.
March
National Unity Day: Though it isn’t an official holiday, March 17th is one of the most patriotic days of the year as Italy celebrates the Day of National Unity, or Giornata dell’Unità Nazionale.
March 17th is the country’s birthday as the Kingdom of Italy was officially founded on March 17th 1861. Official ceremonies are held every year to mark the occasion.
Daylight Savings Time: Italy will make the switch to Daylight Savings Time (also known as ora legale in Italian) at 2am on March 30th. Clocks will jump forward by one hour, meaning a lost hour of sleep that night but one more hour of sunlight from then on.
In 2019 the EU voted to scrap Daylight Savings Time by 2021, but the move has been postponed indefinitely.
April
Venice's entry fee system returns: A contested system requiring day visitors to pay an entry fee to access Venice’s city centre will be reintroduced in April 2025 after being trialled over 29 days in 2024.
Venice Mayor Luigi Brugnaro said in November that the system will be operative on a total of 54 days in 2025, starting from April 18th.
Tourists who book their visit at least four days in advance will continue to pay €5 to enter the city, while the price will rise to €10 for late bookings, Brugnaro said.
Easter holidays: Unlike in other European countries, Good Friday (or Venerdì Santo) is not a national holiday in Italy, which means that you’ll only get time off work on Easter Sunday (Pasqua) and Easter Monday (Pasquetta), falling on April 20th and April 21st next year.
Pupils and teachers will get a longer break as the public school holidays will go from April 17th to April 22nd in most regions.
May
Labour Day: May 1st will mark Italy’s Labour Day (or Festa del Lavoro). Established in 1890 to celebrate workers’ rights and trade unions’ achievements, it is a national public holiday, meaning a day off work for many employees.
Tax filing season: Though the exact date hasn’t been announced yet, Italy’s tax filing season generally starts in late May.
READ ALSO: The 2025 Italian tax deadlines you need to remember
Italy has two types of income tax declaration form: employees and retirees use modello 730 (form 730), whereas the self-employed, people with sources of income other than employment or pension, and taxpayers who are not resident in Italy use the modello redditi persone fisiche (natural persons’ income form).
19th Biennale Architettura in Venice: Curated by architect and engineer Carlo Ratti, Venice’s 19th International Architecture Exhibition will be held from May 10th to November 23rd. Find further details here.
New US-Italy flights: Chicago-headquartered United Airlines will launch new direct flights from Newark to Palermo from May 21st, and from Washington DC to Venice from May 23rd.
American Airlines will also open up a new route to Italy in May, offering daily direct flights from Chicago O’Hare to Naples Capodichino from May 6th.
Several other airlines have announced new direct flights to and from Italy in 2025. We rounded them up HERE.
June
School holidays: The long summer holidays will officially begin on June 7th for schoolchildren in most parts of Italy. Dates may differ for private institutions.
Property tax deadline: The first instalment of Italy's property tax on second homes – officially known as Imposta Municipale Unica (or IMU) – is due by June 16th.
The tax is owed by all owners of a second home in Italy regardless of their nationality or residency status.
July
Summer sales: Though the exact start date hasn’t been announced yet, Italy’s summer sales generally start in early July and finish in early August.
Summer festivals: Summertime in Italy is full of festivals celebrating music, art and culture, and July is when many of them kick off in earnest.
Rome's outdoor Caracalla Festival, Verona's celebrated Arena Opera Festival and the Umbria Jazz Festival are some of the events you can look forward to next August.
August
Holiday time: Not really a change, more a reminder of how things work in Italy. It’s best to get any important appointments and paperwork out of the way before the end of July. After that point, public officials and even legal and medical professionals may be hard to reach until September.
‘Ferragosto’ holiday: Most of Italy is generally chiuso per ferie (‘closed for the holidays’) throughout the month of August, but the Ferragosto national holiday on August 15th is when the whole country really clocks off and heads to the beach.
Road traffic is always particularly bad on the Ferragosto holiday, so it's a good idea to avoid making long drives on that date.
September
The big ‘rientro’: Italian cities come back to life in early September as seemingly everyone returns from their summer holidays. Pupils head back to school after a three-month-long break, while many adults return to work after their August vacanze.
Tax filing deadline: Taxpayers using modello 730 (form 730) for their yearly tax returns have until September 30th to complete and submit the document with Italy's tax office.
October
End of Daylight Savings Time: DST will end on October 26th, with clocks going back by one hour.
‘Sagre’ food festivals: One of the best things about being in Italy in October is having the chance to attend a sagra – a harvest festival or fair centred around one particular food item local to the town hosting it.
A sagra could last for several weeks or one day, and might consist of anything from lively celebrations with music and dancing to relaxed tasting experiences. All festivals however are centred on eating (or drinking) fresh local produce.
Changes to political advertising: Google will stop serving political ads in the European Union from October 2025 in response to new transparency rules imposed by the EU. The move will have implications for election campaigns, advertisers and content strategies.
Tax filing deadline: People using the modello redditi persone fisiche (natural persons’ income form) for their yearly tax returns have until October 31st to submit the document with Italy’s tax office.
November
Winter tyres deadline: Under the Italian Highway Code, motorists are required to equip their vehicles with winter tires (or, alternatively, have snow chains on board) during the cold season.
Every year, the window to make the switch opens on October 15th, but the requirement and penalties for not following it only come into force on November 15th.
Davis Cup Finals: The 2025 edition of the Davis Cup Finals – the premier international team event in men's tennis – will be held in Bologna’s Unipol Arena from November 18th to November 23rd.
Captained by world number one Jannik Sinner, Italy has won the past two editions of the Davis Cup.
December
Christmas displays and markets: Italy goes all out for Christmas, as dozens of spectacular displays pop up all around the country in the lead up to the holidays.
Several cities in the south, including Greccio, Lazio, and Matera, Basilicata, are famous for their living nativity scenes, while the north of the country offers a number of cosy Christmas markets (mercatini di Natale) offering plenty of artisanal food products and handcrafted items.
Property tax deadline: The second instalment of Italy's property tax on second homes is due by December 16th.
Christmas holidays: While Christmas Day (December 25th) and St Stephen’s Day (December 26th) are official public holidays in Italy, Christmas Eve (December 24th), also known as la vigilia, is not.
That said, many employers give workers the day off as a gesture of good will.
New Year’s Eve celebrations: Next year, we'll be ringing in the New Year on a Wednesday.
Many in Italy will celebrate capodanno with the usual mix of ‘good luck’ foods like lentils and cotechino (a slow-cooked sausage made of pork, lard, pork rind and spices) and superstitious rituals, including the practice of throwing old crockery out of windows.
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