Italian students returned to school between 7 and 17 September, with the exact start date varying from region to region. Comparisons with other European countries reveal a varying distribution of school breaks throughout the year, which are frequently linked to important holidays. As a result, the length of summer holidays for primary and secondary schools varies widely across Europe, as seen by the most recent available data from the European Commission, which counts the number of weeks of vacation in each country. Italy stands out as one of the countries with the longest average summer vacations, which exceed 12 weeks. Although the length of summer vacations has been debated for decades, rising heat and a shortage of air conditioning in schools make it practically hard to shorten them. Students in Latvia, Iceland, Ireland, Portugal, Greece, and Albania, on the other hand, enjoy similarly extensive summer vacations. Other countries, such as France, Germany, and Denmark, have school holidays that last less than eight weeks.