Italy: know before you go

Most visitors from the US, Canada, the UK, Australia, New Zealand, and Japan enter Italy visa-free for short stays of up to 90 days in any rolling 180-day period across the whole Schengen area. The 90 days is shared across Schengen countries, not reset per country. Your passport must be valid for at least three months beyond your planned departure date and must have been issued within the last ten years. From October 12, 2025, the Entry/Exit System registers non-EU arrivals and departures electronically at Schengen external borders, replacing manual stamping. EU and Schengen citizens can enter with a national ID card.

Rome's Fiumicino and Milan's Malpensa are the two big intercontinental gateways, with long-haul flights and fast rail links into their city centers. Venice Marco Polo and Naples carry a growing number of direct and seasonal flights. Low-cost carriers mostly use secondary airports: Bergamo and Malpensa for Milan, Ciampino for Rome, Treviso for Venice. If your budget airline lands at one of those, build the extra transfer time into your first day. Entry formalities happen once, at your first Schengen airport, not again between Italian cities.

Trains are the natural way to move between Italian cities. Two competing high-speed operators, Trenitalia's Frecciarossa and Italo, run frequent services on the main spine from Turin and Milan down through Bologna, Florence, Rome, and Naples. Fares are demand-priced, so the same seat can cost €20 booked three months out or €80 bought on the day. For a fixed multi-city itinerary, point-to-point advance tickets almost always beat a rail pass, because high-speed trains require a seat reservation anyway. Regional trains fill the gaps to smaller towns and need your ticket validated in the machine on the platform before boarding. For Sicily and Sardinia, a domestic flight or an overnight ferry is usually faster than the train, and the Intercity Notte sleeper links the mainland with Sicily.

Italy's motorways, the autostrade, are tolled: you take a ticket at the entry barrier and pay by card or cash at the exit. Many historic city centers are ZTL, limited traffic zones enforced by cameras, so do not follow a sat-nav into the old town unless your hotel has arranged a permit. Renting a car makes sense for Tuscany, Puglia, the Dolomites, and the coasts, where public transport thins out; for city-to-city trips the train wins on time and stress. Traffic drives on the right.

The euro is the currency, and cards work almost everywhere, though cash still helps for small cafes, kiosks, and older family-run shops. Displayed prices already include VAT (IVA), so what you see is what you pay, and non-EU residents can claim a refund on qualifying purchases from participating retailers by completing the paperwork and presenting it at the airport before departure. Most towns also charge a small per-person, per-night tourist tax collected at your hotel; each municipality sets its own rate, so the city pages list theirs. Tipping is not expected the way it is in North America. A servizio charge or a small cover charge (coperto) often appears on restaurant bills, and rounding up a euro or two is plenty.

Italy is safe for visitors, and the practical risks are the same ones you find in any major European destination: pickpocketing in crowded tourist spots and on public transport, and occasional bag snatching. Keep your phone and wallet out of back pockets in stations and on busy metro lines, and never leave valuables visible in a parked car. Decline unsolicited help at ticket machines. In any emergency, 112 reaches police, ambulance, and fire in one call, and the operator can route you in English.

Tap water is safe to drink across Italy, and public street fountains run clean, drinkable water. EU residents should carry their European Health Insurance Card for access to state healthcare on the same terms as Italians; UK visitors need the newer GHIC, not the old EHIC. Neither replaces travel insurance, and both cover only medically necessary state treatment. Pharmacies, marked with a green cross, are the first stop for minor ailments, and pharmacists can usually advise in English in tourist areas.

Italy has fast 4G and 5G coverage in cities and along transport corridors. Visitors from other EU countries can use their home data allowance in Italy at no extra charge under the EU's roam like at home rules. Visitors from the UK, the US, and elsewhere should check their carrier's roaming rates; an Italian SIM or a travel eSIM is usually cheaper than pay-per-day roaming for a multi-week stay. Free Wi-Fi is common in hotels, cafes, and many public squares, though public networks can be patchy.

Greet people in shops and restaurants with a buongiorno in the morning or buonasera from the afternoon; walking in and ordering in silence reads as abrupt. Dress to cover shoulders and knees inside churches, where a sign usually states the rule. Meals run late, dinner rarely starts before 7:30 or 8 pm, and lunch is the big meal of the day outside city centers. Coffee has its own rules: cappuccino is a breakfast drink, and a caffè is an espresso drunk standing at the bar. Tipping is not required the way it is in North America; service is often included, and rounding up is enough.

Italian is the official language, with regional languages and dialects, plus German in South Tyrol and French in the Aosta Valley. English is widely spoken in hotels, restaurants, and major sights in Rome, Florence, and Venice, and less reliably in smaller towns and the south, where a handful of Italian phrases goes a long way. Grazie, buongiorno, and il conto, the bill, will smooth most interactions.

Accessibility is uneven, as you would expect in a country built over two millennia. Newer high-speed trains, major airports, and big museums are generally step-free and well adapted, and many offer reduced or free entry for visitors with disabilities. Historic centers are the hard part: cobblestones, curbs, churches with steps, and small hotels in old buildings without elevators. Book train assistance in advance, and check specific sights before you commit.

Italy closes for a fixed set of national holidays, and on those days public offices, banks, and many shops shut while restaurants and bars often stay open. The two to plan around are Ferragosto on 15 August, when whole cities empty and many family-run businesses close for up to two weeks, and the Christmas to Epiphany stretch. Each city also keeps a patron saint's day that can close things locally, and the city pages flag the ones that matter for your trip.

Italy's headline sights run on timed entry, and the busiest, the Colosseum, the Vatican Museums, the Uffizi, and Milan's Last Supper, sell out weeks or months ahead in high season. Book the non-negotiables before you fly, not the morning you arrive. One nationwide perk: state museums are free on the first Sunday of each month, which makes lines enormous and is the day to skip unless you arrive early or accept the queue. Reserve train seats, museum tickets, and popular weekend restaurants the same way you would book a flight.