Hi does anyone know if we need snow

at least the thermal tires, which are prescribed by law

Very unlikely in the 8 years I have been here it's only been bad with snow once - nd the mayor required snowchains, which was hilarious as it cut roads open everywhere where there was no snow!! Also it was very nice no traffic on the road, because Romans do not know that once has to drive differently with snow, and stay manicBut of you are going out venturing further into Abruzzi or mountain, it would be useful to have something along, - however no snow very closely to Rome just now - and only likely to be less if any as time goes by

I don't know if this helps you or not, but I rented a car in mid-January to drive from Florence to Bologna.  I found out from the helpful Italian lady who worked with Hertz that since I would be driving on the autostrada (the main highway), I was required to have either snow tires on the car or snow chains in the car.  Otherwise, if I got stopped by police and did not have either, I would be subject to a fine.  This was indeed confirmed by signs I saw on the highway.  You may have to look up exactly where this applies in Italy (I wasn't sure if it was all of Italy or just for certain areas...but it applied for the whole distance between Bologna and Florence for sure) and you can google for the date requirements as well (I think it was something like like mid-September to mid-March that these were required). Hope this helps, and have a great trip!