Italy time · Italy

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Italy keeps Central European Time, CET, UTC+1, in winter and Central European Summer Time, CEST, UTC+2, in summer. The clock above shows Italy's time live, with seconds, and moves between the two on its own.

Updated 30 September 2026 · Time zone data 2026e · Sources

Time zone in Italy

Rome, Milan, Naples, Turin and Palermo all keep the same time, and so do San Marino and Vatican City.

Time zone: Central European Time
Standard time: CET, UTC+1
Daylight saving time: CEST, UTC+2
Main cities: Rome, Milan, Naples, Turin

When the clocks change in Italy

Clocks in Italy change twice a year.

Clocks go back

Sunday 25 October 2026

3:00 AMto2:00 AM

Then CET, UTC+1

Clocks go forward

Sunday 28 March 2027

2:00 AMto3:00 AM

Then CEST, UTC+2

Last change: On Sunday 29 March 2026 at 2:00 AM, clocks went forward one hour, to CEST.

Daylight saving dates around the world

How many hours ahead or behind Italy

On 7 October 2026, Kolkata is 3 hours 30 minutes ahead of Italy.

City	Difference from Italy
Kolkata	3 hours 30 minutes ahead
London	1 hour behind
New York	6 hours behind
Toronto	6 hours behind
Dubai	2 hours ahead
Buenos Aires	5 hours behind
Sao Paulo	5 hours behind
Sydney	9 hours ahead
Your time zone	Detected after this page loads

Convert a time between any two places

How Italy keeps its time

The official time: INRiMkeeps UTC(IT), Italy's time scale; The National Institute of Metrological Research, INRiM, provides Italy's standard time from the atomic clocks in its laboratories. Its clocks also feed the world's atomic time, kept by the International Bureau of Weights and Measures. The law gives INRiM this task as Italy's primary institute for time.; Sources INRiM, Italian standard time, INRiM, The UTC(IT) time scale, Normattiva, Law 273 of 1991, article 2, Normattiva, Legislative Decree 38 of 2004, article 2
Ora solare, ora legale: ora legaleItalian for summer time; Italians call standard time ora solare, solar time, and summer time ora legale, legal time. The clocks go forward one hour on the last Sunday in March and back on the last Sunday in October. The whole European Union changes at the same instant.; Sources Il Fatto Quotidiano, the autumn clock change, Publications Office of the EU, Directive 2000/84/EC on summer time
San Marino and Vatican City: 3countries on Italy's time; San Marino and Vatican City keep Italy's time and change their clocks on the same nights. The time zone database files all three countries under one zone, named after Rome.; Source IANA time zone database, Europe zones file
Ending the clock change, on hold: 0laws passed to end the change; The European Commission proposed ending the twice-yearly change, and the European Parliament voted for it. The member states have not agreed, so the proposal is blocked in the Council. An Italian parliamentary inquiry into permanent summer time has held hearings, but nothing has become law.; Sources European Parliament, Legislative Train, ending seasonal clock changes, European Parliament, Legislative Observatory, procedure 2018/0332, Radio Radicale, Chamber hearing on permanent summer time
Before one time for Italy: 1 hforward each summer, every year since the sixties; Rome, Palermo and Cagliari each once kept their own local time, until Italy adopted Central European time. Summer time first came in the First World War. It was suspended and brought back several times, and has been kept every year since the mid-sixties.; Sources IANA time zone database, Europe zones file, Quotidiano.net, history of the clock change

Questions about time in Italy

What time zone is Italy in?

Italy keeps Central European Time, CET, UTC+1, in winter and Central European Summer Time, CEST, UTC+2, in summer. The whole country shares one time, and so do San Marino and Vatican City. The national institute INRiM provides Italy's standard time from its atomic clocks.

When do the clocks change in Italy?

The clocks go forward one hour to ora legale, summer time, on the last Sunday in March. They go back to ora solare, standard time, on the last Sunday in October. Both changes happen at the same instant across the European Union. The cards above show the next two changes.

Is Italy getting rid of the clock change?

Not yet. The European Parliament voted to end seasonal clock changes. But the member states have not agreed, so the proposal is blocked in the Council. An Italian parliamentary inquiry into permanent summer time has held hearings, but nothing has become law. Italy still changes its clocks twice a year.

What is the time difference between Italy and India?

India is 4 hours 30 minutes ahead of Italy in the Italian winter. In summer Italy puts its clocks forward, so the gap shrinks by an hour. In either season, a mid-morning meeting in Milan falls in the afternoon in India.

What is the time difference between Italy and the US?

New York is 6 hours behind Italy for most of the year. The gap is an hour smaller for a few weeks in March and for one week in autumn. That is because the US changes its clocks on different Sundays. London is 1 hour behind Italy all year.

Time zone names for developers

IANA zone	Standard time	Daylight saving time
Europe/Rome	CET, UTC+1	Yes

Sources

We checked each fact on this page against these sources on 30 September 2026. Times, offsets and clock changes come from the time zone database.