I plan on organizing a trip to Italy in 2010 for my Italian class and want to know the best time to travel. What do you suggest?

Caroline Bell
Coral Gables, FL

Dear Caroline,

Spring Break, the most popular time for school trips, generally affords student groups a less expensive and less crowded alternative to summer travel, but with one caveat - Easter. If your Spring Break occurs during the Easter holiday, you should expect large crowds in Rome. And like New York City on December 31, Rome will be packed with tourists, centrally-located hotels will be booked solid and airfares will spike on the week’s bookends. So be prepared.

Cultural Week or Settimana della Cultura, taking place in April this year, is also one of the busiest weeks in Italy. During this annual event, museums, ruins and other state institutions open their doors for free and keep them open longer. Though crowds tend to be larger at this time, the influx is mostly from Italians so you won’t feel like you’re being swallowed up by North Americans. And since the event takes place in the spring, airfare and hotel rates aren’t as sky-high as they are during the summer, making Cultural Week an ideal time to visit Italy if your school will allow the time off. (Note: As of this writing, the 2010 dates have not been published so check back with the Ministero per i Beni e le Attività Culturali at www.beniculturali.it.

Personally, my favorite time to visit Italy is late winter or early spring. Schools that have a break at this time should definitely take advantage of the year’s lowest airfares and hotel rates as well as the lull in tourists to Europe. The trick to visiting Italy in February or March is to fly into Rome and head south. While temperatures in the 50s and 60s aren’t exactly beach weather, they’re not frigid either, and the traditionally packed ruins of Campania and Sicily, including the biggie - Pompeii - are pleasantly light on tour traffic.

As interest in Italian culture and history increases, travelers to Italy must become more accustomed to the larger crowds and higher prices. Fortunately, there are still some months that see little tourist action, and hopefully they run concurrently with your school’s holiday.

Buon Viaggio!

Global Travel Guru