The 2026 summer sales will start on July 4th in all Italian regions. The duration, however, varies from region to region: in most cases the discounts will last 60 days. But purchases at discounted prices seem to have already begun: according to a recent Ipsos survey for Fismo-Confesercenti, more than a third of Italians, 36%, have already purchased products at a discounted price before the official start.
Since 2011, the Conference of Regions has established that the start of summer sales coincides with the first Saturday in July in almost the entire country. The objective is to prevent neighboring regions from starting discounts at different times, creating imbalances in competition and encouraging consumer travel. The only exception is Trentino-Alto Adige, where the two autonomous provinces are authorized to follow different rules.
If the starting point is almost the same everywhere, the conclusion varies considerably based on regional regulations:
- 60 days in most regions (Abruzzo, Calabria, Campania, Emilia-Romagna, Lombardy, Molise, Sardinia, Tuscany and Umbria)
- 6 weeks in Lazio
- 8 weeks in Piedmont
- until August 17th in Liguria (45 days)
- until August 31st in Veneto
- until September 1st in Basilicata and Marche
- until September 15th in Puglia and Sicily
- until September 30th in Friuli Venezia Giulia and Valle d’Aosta
During the sales period there are several rules that the shopkeeper must follow. In fact, the discounts do not modify the rights provided by law.
Shops are therefore required to accept electronic payments, while the guarantees provided for by the Consumer Code continue to apply to defective products. The case of exchanging a purchased item is different. If the product is compliant and free of defects, the merchant is not obliged to accept the replacement: the possibility of changing an item depends on the policy of the individual shop. Even the testing of clothing is not a right provided by law and is left to the discretion of the seller.
In the case of a lack of conformity, however, the consumer must report the problem within two months of discovery. Different rules apply for online purchases: the consumer can exercise the right of withdrawal within 14 days of receiving the goods, even if the product has no defects.
Regarding the amount of discounts, an important rule to keep in mind is the Omnibus Directive of the European Union, fully applied in Italy from 2023 to combat so-called “fake discounts”: when a shop advertises a price reduction, it must indicate as a reference the lowest price applied in the previous 30 days, and not an old, possibly higher list price. This prevents you from artificially increasing the price just before the sales to make the discount appear cheaper than it really is. And if then during the sales the discount increases progressively, for example from 30% to 50%, the reference price continues to be the one before the first reduction.
According to the national president of Fismo, Francesca Recine, end-of-season sales still represent between 25% and 30% of a fashion store’s annual turnover. Over the last ten years, however, the weight of traditional sales has progressively reduced due to the growth of promotions distributed throughout the year, which have changed consumers’ purchasing habits and made the distinction between the sales period and the rest of the commercial season increasingly less clear.
However, promotions before sales are not completely prohibited. If in many regions the ban concerns the 30 days before the start of the sales; elsewhere it lasts 15 days, in others 40 days, while some administrations allow promotions practically throughout the year.
Despite these rules, advance offers are now widespread. According to the Ipsos survey for Fismo-Confesercenti just published, this year 36% of Italians have already taken advantage of discounts before the official start of the summer sales. It was mainly shop customers in the South who took advantage of these offers (42%), while in the Center and North around 32-33% took advantage of them. The trend especially concerns younger people: almost one in two under 35s (48%) have already made discounted purchases, compared to 31% of over 35s. The difference between men and women is instead limited: 38% and 35% respectively.
