Weather in Bologna in August

Shoulder season. August is shoulder season in Bologna — cheaper, quieter, and a genuine gamble. Highs average 33.2 °C, lows 20.4 °C, and rain falls on 8 days — nothing in the month is working against you.

August ranks 9 of 12 in Bologna: past the worst of the year but short of September, which is the month to book if the dates are open.

Rain on 8 days, 1 of them heavy. Enough to need a plan B, not enough to need a plan around it. Pack for 33.2 °C days and 20.4 °C nights; the spread matters more here than any single number.

What the averages hide

Averages flatten a month, and this one hides a few things: 11 days clear 35 °C, so a serious heatwave is normal rather than notable. Across the twenty years measured, the hottest August day reached 43.7 °C and the coldest night fell to 12.3 °C.

August is moderately variable: 11 mm in the driest year against 101 mm in the wettest, around an average of 39 mm. Roughly two Augusts in three land near that average, and the third does something else entirely.

Wind is light at 6.6 km/h, so the temperature on the page is close to the temperature on your skin, and humidity is unremarkable at 53%.

How August sits in the year

Temperatures hold steady either side: 33.6 °C in July, 33.2 here, 27 in September. Nothing about the timing within the month matters much.

Daylight in August

14.1 hours of daylight, losing 1.3 hours across the month. That is between Bologna's extremes of 15.5 and 8.9 hours, so days are long enough not to constrain the plan.

An inland climate

With no coast nearby, the year swings a fair way — 32.3 °C between the warmest afternoons and the coldest nights, wider than any coastal city at this latitude would manage.

How busy it gets

Shoulder. The value months — prices ease off and you get the place closer to itself.

Crowd levels are estimated from climate desirability and school-holiday calendars, not from visitor numbers.

August in Bologna versus nearby

If Bologna is one option among several, the nearby comparison is worth making. Padua is close enough to be a coin toss — 2.3 °C cooler, 4 days more rain. Genoa is a better bet in August — 2.5 °C cooler, 1 day less rain.

So: August is a compromise. September is 25 points better and is what Bologna is actually like at its best — worth moving the trip for if that is possible, and worth adjusting expectations for if it is not.

Every month in Bologna

See all twelve months in Bologna, or where else to go in August.