Christmas Holidays 2026 in Italy: School Calendar by Region

1. The table of 21 regional calendars

The table gives, for each region and each autonomous province, the start of term, the end of classes and the Christmas holidays. « Official » means an official act or statement was read. « Press » means the date comes from articles that cite the act without reproducing it: check it before any booking. « Unresolved » means the sources contradict each other, with no act read.

Source: regional acts read (Lombardy regional note, Veneto deliberation 712/2026, joint letter for Tuscany, Trento press release no. 994, Lazio Region press release, Sicily Region press release); press for the other regions. Checked on 18 October 2026.

For families combining France and Italy, the French dates are in our guide to Christmas holidays in France 2026-2027.

2. Who sets the dates, and which holidays are shared

Italy’s Ministry of Education and Merit (MIM) sets the framework. Its ordinance no. 106 of 10 June 2026 fixes the common holidays and the state exam calendar. Its school calendar page refers to this ordinance and to the summary of regional calendars, without giving the Christmas dates.

Regional acts rely on Legislative Decree 297/1994 (article 74), Legislative Decree 112/1998 (article 138), which gives the calendar to the Regions, and Presidential Decree 275/1999 (article 5). A school cannot open before the regional start date or close after the end date. It may add a few closure days, within the limit set by the Region.

Four holidays are common to all schools: 25 December, 26 December, 1 January and 6 January. Add to these the Immaculate Conception on 8 December and, from 2026, the national day of 4 October, created by law no. 151/2025. The differences between regions concern the bridge days (ponti) and the Christmas closures.

Source: Italian Ministry of Education and Merit, school calendar (ordinance no. 106 of 10 June 2026), checked on 18 October 2026; weekdays calculated from the calendar.

3. The special cases: Lombardy, Veneto, Tuscany and Sicily

For these four regions, we read an act or an official statement. For Sicily, this means the regional statement and the rectification article, as the decree itself was not read. Aggregate tables often give a general end on 6 January, which these texts do not support.

Lombardy splits the holidays in two

Regional note Prot. E1.2026.0568182 of 21 April 2026 sets closures from 23 to 31 December 2026, then from 2 to 5 January 2027. Classes resume on Thursday 7 January, since 6 January is a public holiday. Term starts on Monday 14 September 2026 and classes end on Tuesday 8 June 2027. Tables that show closures running continuously until 6 January do not reflect this note.

Veneto finishes on 5 January

Deliberation no. 712 of 7 July 2026, published in the Regional Official Bulletin (BUR) no. 92 of 10 July 2026, sets the Christmas holidays from Thursday 24 December 2026 to Tuesday 5 January 2027. Monday 7 December is suspended, as a bridge day for the Immaculate Conception. Term starts on Thursday 10 September 2026 and classes end on Tuesday 8 June 2027, which makes 207 school days.

Tuscany starts on 24 December

The joint letter from the Region, the regional school office (USR) and the ministry, signed in Florence on 8 April 2026, gives a start on Tuesday 15 September 2026 and an end of classes on Thursday 10 June 2027. The holidays cover 24 to 31 December 2026, then 2 to 5 January 2027, so from Thursday 24 December 2026 to Wednesday 6 January 2027 inclusive. The letter reads « mercoledì 24 dicembre » (Wednesday 24 December): this is the calendar date, Thursday 24 December 2026, which applies. The 7 December bridge day is cancelled.

Sicily closes the longest

According to the regional statement and the rectification article, regional decree no. 1396 of 1 April 2026 was corrected by decree no. 3119 of 3 August 2026. The end of classes moves to Wednesday 9 June 2027, instead of 10 June in the original text. The Christmas holidays run from Wednesday 23 December 2026 to Thursday 7 January 2027 inclusive, with a return on Friday 8 January.

The 7 December bridge is not uniform

Monday 7 December 2026 is suspended in Veneto and in the province of Trento, and cancelled in Tuscany. Elsewhere, the regional calendar decides, and the press disagrees. For a trip over the weekend of 5 to 8 December, check both the departure and the arrival region. Our article on the Immaculate Conception bridge goes into more detail: our article on the Immaculate Conception bridge in Italy.

4. The regions only the press describes

For the regions below, no act could be read. The dates come from specialist articles and aggregate tables, cross-checked against each other. Where an end date remains uncertain, we give a range.

Campania. Deliberation no. 199 of 20 May 2026 is cited by the press. Term starts on Tuesday 15 September 2026 and classes end on Tuesday 8 June 2027. The holidays begin on 23 December and end on 5 January according to Studenti, or on 6 January according to Orizzonte Scuola.

Piedmont. Deliberation no. 2541 of 11 May 2026 could not be read: the regional website and the PDF did not respond during our check. The press gives a start on Monday 14 September 2026, an end of classes on Thursday 10 June 2027, and closures from 23 December, ending on 5 or 6 January depending on the source.

Abruzzo. Deliberation no. 304/2026 is cited by one source only. Term starts on Wednesday 16 September 2026 and classes end on Wednesday 9 June 2027. The holidays begin on 23 December and end on 5 or 6 January depending on the sources.

Basilicata. One source gives a start on Wednesday 16 September 2026 and an end of classes on Tuesday 8 June 2027. The start of the Christmas break is uncertain: 23 or 24 December depending on the articles. No act has been read.

Sardinia. Four press sources agree (Orizzonte Scuola, Studenti, Unione Sarda, Tecnica della Scuola): start on Wednesday 16 September 2026, end of classes on Tuesday 8 June 2027. The holidays are split as in Lombardy, from 23 to 31 December, then 2 to 5 January. The number of the Giunta deliberation has not been found.

Emilia-Romagna. The press gives a start on Tuesday 15 September 2026, an end of classes on 5 June 2027 and Christmas holidays from Thursday 24 December to 6 January. It links the calendar to a Giunta deliberation of 2012 (no. 353); the 2026-2027 text has not been read. These dates must be confirmed by the regional text.

Apulia. The start is set for Thursday 17 September 2026, the latest in Italy according to the press. The end of classes falls on Tuesday 8 June 2027, and the Christmas holidays run from 23 December to 6 January according to Orizzonte Scuola.

Aosta Valley. The start is set for Thursday 10 September 2026 and the end of classes for Wednesday 9 June 2027 for primary and secondary schools, according to Studenti. The Christmas holidays begin on 24 December and end on 6 January, with two separate periods and no further detail. Single source, so to be verified.

Liguria, Umbria, Molise, Calabria and Friuli Venezia Giulia. The press gives holidays from 23 December to 6 January for Liguria and Umbria. Calabria has a contested act: two numbers are in circulation, and we cite neither. Friuli Venezia Giulia ends on 5 or 6 January depending on the source.

Marche. Deliberation no. 544 of 11 May 2026 is cited by the press, but the official annex could not be read. According to the press, term starts on Monday 14 September 2026, classes end on Saturday 5 June 2027, and the holidays run from 23 December to 6 January.

Autonomous province of Bolzano. One source, judged unreliable at this stage, gives dates that we do not repeat. No date is published for Bolzano: check the Province’s calendar before booking. Trentino’s Christmas markets are covered in our guide to the Christmas markets.

5. Spending Christmas in Rome, where Lazio closes its schools

The Lazio Region’s press release, checked on 18 October 2026, announces school closures from 23 December 2026 to 6 January 2027. The page cites a deliberation dated 2025, whose year looks wrong for this calendar, so we do not quote any act number. For Rome, no Christmas 2026 opening hours have been checked, as section 6 explains.

A cooking class in Rome over the holidays

€52 to €59 per adult (reference price) 3 hours Instant confirmation Free cancellation up to 24 hours before

A half-day cooking class does not depend on any museum opening hours. According to the Viator listing checked on 18 October 2026, the class lasts three hours and takes place at the restaurant Gusto al Passeto, via Giuseppe Zanardelli 14, in central Rome. On the menu: ricotta ravioli, hand-made fettuccine with the sauce of your choice, then a tiramisu made from scratch. Wine or soft drink, water, and espresso or limoncello are included.

Highlights

• A fixed three-hour duration, according to the Viator listing
• Instant confirmation, and a full refund if you cancel at least 24 hours before departure
• A recipe book handed over at the end of the class, so you can make the pasta and tiramisu at home

Pixidia tip: the price checked on 18 October 2026 applies to dates from 19 October to 30 November 2026, not to Christmas. No December date has been checked. Check the slot in the booking calendar before treating the price as fixed.

Rome 3-in-1 Cooking Class: Fettuccine, Ravioli & Tiramisu €52 to €59 per adult (checked on 18 October 2026, for dates from 19 October to 30 November) · ★ 4.8 (3038 Viator reviews)

Book my cooking class

6. Trains, flights, strikes and museums over the holidays

School dates do not tell the whole story. Transport, crowds and site opening hours all matter for a departure on 23 or 24 December. Here is what the sources let us state for 2026.

Crowds

No attendance figure for December 2026 had been found at the date of checking. The figures below date from the previous winter or year: they give context, not a forecast. In Sicily, the bed occupancy rate between Christmas and Epiphany 2025-2026 was 44.45%, according to an extract from La Sicilia (January 2026), a page not read in full. Nationally, the press credits Istat (Italy’s national statistics office) with 477 million overnight stays in 2025 (Fortune Italia, 15 July 2026). No reliable figure was found for Florence.

Trains

Trenitalia and Italo had not published any Christmas 2026 fares at the date of checking. For Paris-Milan, works on the Mont Cenis tunnel suspended the direct service from 11 September to 9 October 2026 (everyrail, checked on 18 October 2026); no December suspension appears in the sources.

Flights

No flight fare for Christmas 2026 was found in the sources checked. Compare several dates around 23 December with a flight search engine.

Strikes

A nationwide general strike is announced for Friday 4 December 2026: trains from 9:00 pm on the 3rd to 9:00 pm on the 4th, motorways from 10:00 pm on the 3rd to 10:00 pm on the 4th (scioperiitalia.it, checked on 18 October 2026). No air strike for Christmas 2026 had been announced at the date of checking. An exemption in principle excludes air strikes from 18 December to 7 January, as section 7 details. For Naples, see our article on the Naples strikes over Christmas.

Museums and the Vatican

State museums are closed on 25 December, according to the practice seen in 2025 (Finestre sull’Arte, checked on 18 October 2026). According to last year’s announcement, relayed by Orizzonte Scuola, they opened on 26 December, 1 January and 6 January, and entry was free on Sunday 4 January 2026. The 2026-2027 calendar has not yet been published, so these days remain to be reconfirmed. No information was found on Florence’s museums over the holidays.

The Vatican’s 2026-2027 programme has not yet been published at the date of checking. The 2025 template, taken from the notification published on vatican.va, gives a Christmas Eve Mass at 10:00 pm at St Peter’s Basilica, a Christmas Day Mass at 10:00 am and the Urbi et Orbi blessing at noon on 25 December. These times still need to be confirmed.

Source: scioperiitalia.it, everyrail, Sky TG24, Finestre sull’Arte, Orizzonte Scuola, Il Giornale, checked on 18 October 2026.

7. What other guides don’t tell you

Two points are missing from the guides we consulted. Each one links to a source.

• The guides we consulted do not mention the air strike exemption at Christmas. According to a reproduction of the rules of the Commissione di garanzia published by ENAC, air strikes are in principle excluded from 18 December 2026 to 7 January 2027. Secondary source: the official text has not been read.
• Trento lists its bridge-day closures separately from its Christmas closures. Schools are closed on 2 November, 7 and 8 December 2026, then from 23 December 2026 to 6 January 2027. Province of Trento press release no. 994, checked on 18 October 2026.