Ah, winter: a lit fireplace, hot chocolate, a blanket on the sofa, and a good book or movie. Those who love the cold dread the arrival of the heat, but one thing must be said: how nice is it to be able to walk around the city in the sunlight until dinnertime?
Good news if you can’t stand it getting dark at 5 p.m.! In Rome, the days have already started to get longer since the winter solstice (December 21), but in a few weeks, the change will finally be visible to the naked eye.
When will it get dark later in Rome? The coming months of 2026
Right now (mid/late January), we are gaining about 1 minute of daylight per day.
The sun sets around 5:05 p.m. At the end of the month (January 31), sunset will already be at 5:18 p.m. By the end of January, we will have gained about an hour of total daylight compared to the shortest day of the year. In February, the lengthening accelerates. We will gain about 2 minutes of daylight every day. At the end of the month, on February 28, 2026, the sun will set at 5:53 p.m.
March 20, 2026, will be the Spring Equinox. On this day, the length of the day and night will be identical (12 hours each). The real psychological change will take place at the end of March, when we move the clocks forward and ‘regain’ the evening light. In fact, on the night between March 28 and 29, 2026, daylight saving time will return.
From March 29, the sun in Rome will suddenly set after 7:29 p.m., giving us the first truly long evenings of the season. So, there are about two months left to enjoy the days of light until evening.
Interesting fact
In astronomy, the solstices (summer and winter) represent the moments when the Sun reaches its maximum or minimum declination, giving us the longest day or the longest night of the year. The equinoxes, on the other hand, are moments of balance. That is, the precise moment when the Sun is exactly at the zenith of the equator. All over the world, day and night are approximately the same length (12 hours each).