In winter Manduria does not close. It is a town of almost 30,000 people that lives off its fields, not off tourists, so February looks much like October.
These are the climate normals for 1991-2020 that Italy submitted to the World Meteorological Organization, for the two stations nearest Manduria: Brindisi, on the Adriatic coast, 39 kilometres away, and Lecce, at the Galatina station, 47 kilometres away. Manduria is between them, inland, 77 metres above sea level.
| December | January | February | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Brindisi, average max / min | 14.3 / 7.8 °C | 13.2 / 6.5 °C | 13.5 / 6.6 °C |
| Brindisi, days with at least 1 mm of rain | 8.6 | 7.7 | 7.6 |
| Lecce (Galatina), average max / min | 14.3 / 5.2 °C | 13.1 / 3.7 °C | 13.8 / 4.1 °C |
| Lecce (Galatina), days with at least 1 mm of rain | 7.8 | 7.9 | 6.8 |
Source: World Meteorological Organization climate normals 1991-2020, archive of NOAA NCEI.
In plain words: afternoons that ask for a jacket rather than a coat, nights that ask for heating, and roughly three days in four without rain.
Daylight. On the shortest day, 21 December, the sun rises in Manduria at 07:09 and sets at 16:26: a little over nine hours of light (US Naval Observatory calculator).
Manduria lives on wine, olives and greenhouses, and its income comes from the land, not from visitors. That is why the town in winter is simply the town: 29,528 people (Istat estimate, 1 January 2026), ten bank branches, the shops, the bars, the bakeries, the doctors and the hospital, all within reach of Piazza Garibaldi.
The market runs every week of the year. The piazza is still used in February. In August the marina fills and the old town stays quiet; in winter it is the other way round, and the coast at San Pietro in Bevagna, fifteen minutes away, is empty and yours for a walk.
This is real life without the crowds: nobody is performing for visitors, because there are not many visitors to perform for.
Winter is when the land is busiest with the things that do not show in a summer photograph.
Christmas. In 2025 the Comune ran a Christmas shop-window competition for the town’s shops, with the windows decorated until 6 January.
The Fiera Pessima. Winter ends with Manduria’s great fair, held since 1742. In 2026 its 283rd edition opened on 6 March and ran from 7 to 12 March, from half past nine in the morning to half past eight at night.
Every week, the dates of what is on in Manduria and the towns around it are in Good News from Manduria, under What’s on.
Near Manduria, mild by day and cool at night. The official 1991-2020 normals for Brindisi give an average January maximum of 13.2 °C and minimum of 6.5 °C; at Lecce (Galatina), 13.1 °C and 3.7 °C. Manduria lies inland between the two.
Brindisi, the nearest official station, records about eight days a month with at least a millimetre of rain from December to February: roughly three days in four are dry.
If you want to know what living here is like, it is the best time. In a town like Manduria, which lives on its fields rather than on tourism, the shops, the market and the piazza work all year, and winter is the season of the olive harvest and of the new wine resting in the cellars.
Not in a town that lives on its own economy, like Manduria: the market runs every week, the piazza is in use in February, and the hospital, banks and shops work as they do all year.
Manduria’s traditional fair, held since 1742. In 2026 its 283rd edition opened on 6 March and ran until 12 March.
The week’s good news from Manduria and the towns around it, with the dates of what is on, every Thursday.
We use your email only to send Good News from Manduria. How we handle it.
A place to stay in Manduria’s old town, in a house we restored, from summer 2027. Come in February and see for yourself. Hear first when bookings open.
The Facebook group where the people who arrived before you answer the questions you are about to ask.