by InTrieste
Italy, along with most EU countries, will turn its clocks back by one hour in the early hours of Sunday, October 27, marking the end of daylight saving time, or “summer” time, and ushering in the winter schedule. As the clocks shift from 3:00 a.m. to 2:00 a.m., mornings will become brighter an hour earlier, while darkness will fall sooner in the evening.
This biannual time change, occurring on the last Sundays of March and October, has its roots in pre-electricity Europe when adjusting schedules maximized daylight hours during the workday. Italy has embraced this seasonal time shift since 1966, with previous periods of observance in both World Wars. However, this tradition may soon become a relic.
In 2019, the European Parliament approved a draft proposal to abolish daylight saving time across the EU, but the move was delayed due to the Covid-19 pandemic and its economic challenges. Under the proposal, the EU’s 27 member states would select either permanent summer or winter time to streamline coordination and minimize economic disruption, especially in cross-border trade. Each choice would align with one of the EU’s three primary time zones: Greenwich Mean Time (GMT), Central European Time (CET), and Eastern European Time (EET).
Only Iceland remains an outlier, observing GMT year-round and eschewing the summer daylight-saving practice entirely. Meanwhile, in Italy, the adjustment this weekend means winter time will be in effect until March 30, 2025, when clocks will once again “spring forward.”
