Italy: Clocks spring forward on March 27

Rome: This weekend we will lose an hour of sleep but gain an hour of sunlight when clocks “spring forward” by one hour at 02.00 Central European Time (CET) on Sunday 27 March.

The practice dates back to more than a century, before the advent of electricity, to take full advantage of all the daylight hours during the working day.

However it could be one of the last times that Europe is required to change its clocks. The European parliament recently voted to scrap daylight saving time at an EU level but the move has been put on hold due to complications with both Brexit and the covid-19 pandemic.

Under the plan the 27 member states will be required to choose either permanent summer time or winter time but must co-ordinate their choices to minimise risk of economic disruption in cross-border trade.

There are currently three different time zones in the EU: two countries operate under GMT (Ireland and Portugal, in addition to the UK), 17 have Central European Time (GMT+1) and eight have Eastern European Time (GMT+2).

The only country in Europe not to make the most of extra daylight hours during the summer is Iceland which stays on Greenwich Mean Time (GMT) all year round.

Central European Summer Time (CEST) will be with us until Sunday 30 October 2022.