מזג האוויר בבולוניה באוגוסט

August is the most expensive month in this corner of Italy and the hottest, with locals leaving town as visitors arrive - the forum's own reference point is July and August days over 40C elsewhere in the country. San Marino's particular rhythm is the day trip: it is very touristy through the day, the car parks fill, and it becomes delightful in the evening once the coaches have gone. Which is the whole of the advice - stay the night, or come late. From Rimini it is about an hour. Our row is milder than the region's worst at 26.4C, because the republic sits up on Monte Titano. The record: 16.6C nights, 7.3 precipitation days carrying 55.1mm and 12 hours of sun.

Regulars call mid-month genuinely pleasant, still warm and importantly dry, while flagging this as one of the two shoulder months, alongside April, that reliably offer milder weather even though rain becomes a real possibility as the month wears on. Our row backs that mild, increasingly wet read, 20.5C over 11.1C nights, with 73.3mm of rain across 9.2 days and humidity at 78 percent. Regulars are consistent that evenings cool down noticeably by late October, dropping toward the high single digits Celsius, enough that a real jacket replaces the light layers mid-month allows. This remains a genuinely comfortable month for exploring the porticoes and Piazza Maggiore without summer's heat. The record: 7.6 hours of sun, an 11.2 kph wind and AQI 43.

Asked whether June is too hot for this region, regulars split the month in two: the beginning can be hot by day but not unbearably so, and never in the evening or at night, while the second half is usually too hot. Our row averages 29.8C reading as 32C at 62 percent humidity, over 17.5C nights, with 54.6mm of rain across 7.7 days - a monthly average sitting between their two halves. The city's own answer to heat is structural: something like forty kilometres of portici, the arcades roofing most streets, so the centre can be crossed in shade whatever the sun is doing. They add that humidity is worse out by the river than in town. The record: 13 hours of sun, an 11.8 kph wind and AQI 52.

Regulars warn that the two ends of April are different months here - cold at the start, especially at night, and into the twenties by the close - which our row carries as 19.4C days over 7.6C nights that feel like 5C. They concede the rain, a fair amount of it though less than March, and then give the answer the city was built with: the porticoes run through the whole centre, so wet weather is far less of an obstacle here than anywhere comparable. They were raised to shelter traders and walkers from rain and sun alike. Our 56.7mm falls across 9 days. The record: humidity 68 percent, 10.3 hours of sun, a 13.7 kph wind and AQI 45.

May in Bologna is warm without the July and August heat, and the city is at its liveliest with the students still up - though regulars are split, because some Mays turn out cold and wet. Our row explains the disagreement: 120.9mm across 12.4 precipitation days makes May one of the wettest months of the Bologna year, sitting under a pleasant 23.4C. The consolation is architectural rather than meteorological, and it is the reason this city handles rain better than most - nearly forty kilometres of porticoes, so a wet day is walkable. The end of May into June is when they say it turns near-perfect. Comfortable shoes is the other standing advice. The record: 12.4C nights, humidity 71 percent and 10.9 hours of sun.