Annual leave in Italy: how much and by when
Enter your working week and the months worked in the year: the tool works out the statutory minimum leave, the part to take right away and the deadline for the rest.
Statutory minimum leave, 2027
20 days
4 weeks × 5 working days.
| Leave for a full year | 20 |
| To take in 2027 (at least 2 weeks) | 10 |
| The rest by | 30 June 2029 |
| Days off in a row with 2027 long weekends | 47 |
Collective agreements often give more (leave plus ROL hours); never less than four weeks, which cannot be paid out instead of taken except when employment ends.
Prepared by Radif Partners · Method · Law 260/1949 and amendments checked on 28 October 2026
In Italy every employee is entitled to at least 4 weeks of paid leave a year under article 10 of Legislative Decree 66 of 2003. In days that is 20 on a five-day week and 24 on a six-day week. At least 2 weeks must be taken in the year they accrue, consecutively if the employee asks; the rest within the 18 months after the end of that year. Minimum leave cannot be paid out instead of taken, except when employment ends. Anyone working part of the year accrues one twelfth for each month. Collective agreements often add days and paid hours off: your contract can give more leave, never less. With the 2027 long weekends, 10 well-placed leave days are worth 25 consecutive days off, and 20 are worth 47.
How leave is worked out
The basic rule is in article 10 of Legislative Decree 66 of 2003: a yearly period of paid leave of no less than four weeks. Weeks convert into days according to your schedule: five days per week if you work Monday to Friday, six if you also work Saturdays. Anyone hired or leaving mid-year accrues one twelfth of the leave for each month.
For vertical part-time, with whole working days and days off, leave is counted on the days actually worked; for horizontal part-time, with fewer hours every day, the number of leave days is the same as full time but each day is worth fewer hours. Your collective agreement sets the details.
Leave, paid hours off and abolished holidays
Besides leave, many contracts grant paid hours off: reductions in working time and hours that make up for the holidays removed by Law 54 of 1977, such as St Joseph or Ascension. They are not leave in the strict sense, but they can stretch a bridge in the same way. Actual holidays, those in Law 260 of 1949, are paid rest days that use up neither leave nor hours off.
Long weekends 2027 in Italy: using 20 leave days
Long weekends 2027 in Italy: using 20 leave days
47 days off
| Fri 1 January – Sun 10 January | 4 → 10 days |
| Sat 27 March – Sun 4 April | 4 → 9 days |
| Sat 29 May – Wed 2 June | 2 → 5 days |
| Sat 2 October – Sun 10 October | 4 → 9 days |
Making the most of your leave
Place leave where a weekday holiday acts as a multiplier. In 2027 the best chances are in early January, after Easter Monday, around 2 June, in early October and in early November: the long-weekend planner finds them for you. What remains usually goes into a summer block, worth nine days off for each full week of leave.