Weather in Genoa in December

Shoulder season. December sits in between. You will get good days and you will lose some. Highs sit at 10.7 °C and the day is short; this is an indoors-with-excursions month, not an outdoors-all-day one.

December ranks 11 of 12 — near the bottom of Genoa's year. June is the month that works, and the swing between the two is 35 points, which is a different holiday rather than a slightly better one.

Rain on 9 days, 3 of them heavy. Enough to need a plan B, not enough to need a plan around it. Layers, and a genuinely waterproof outer — at 10.7 °C the difference between a good day and a miserable one is entirely down to what you are wearing.

What the averages hide

Averages flatten a month, and this one hides a few things: the day barely swings — 5.7 °C between the overnight low and the afternoon high. Across the twenty years measured, the hottest December day reached 17.5 °C and the coldest night fell to -5 °C, and the wettest single day dropped 48 mm — roughly 61% of the month's rain in one day.

December is moderately variable: 3 mm in the driest year against 186 mm in the wettest, around an average of 79 mm. Roughly two Decembers in three land near that average, and the third does something else entirely.

Wind is light at 6.2 km/h, so the temperature on the page is close to the temperature on your skin, and humidity runs at 84%, which at 10.7 °C means damp rather than muggy — the kind of cold that gets into a coat and stays there.

How December sits in the year

Temperatures hold steady either side: 15 °C in November, 10.7 here, 9.9 in January. Nothing about the timing within the month matters much.

Daylight in December

December sits at the dark end of Genoa's year — 8.9 hours of daylight against 15.5 at midsummer, holding steady all month. Sightseeing days are genuinely shorter, and an itinerary built for summer will not fit.

Sea temperature

The sea sits at about 14.9 °C in December — cold — a quick dip rather than a swim, and a wetsuit if you are in for longer. The sea peaks at 24.5 °C in August and bottoms out at 13.1 °C — water lags the air by a month or two, which is why the best swimming often comes after the best weather.

How busy it gets

Quiet. Few other visitors, cheaper rooms, and a real chance some seasonal operators are shut.

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

December in Genoa versus nearby

If Genoa is one option among several, the nearby comparison is worth making. Milan is close enough to be a coin toss — 2.6 °C cooler, the same number of rain days. Nice is a better bet in December — 2.7 °C warmer, the same number of rain days.

So: December is a compromise. June is 31 points better and is what Genoa 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 Genoa

See all twelve months in Genoa, or where else to go in December.