Know before you go: Italy

Verified essentials for Italy: connectivity, transport, tickets, money and etiquette — every fact checked by humans, with dates.

Last verified: 2026-07-18

Before you book4

1. Check your passport and entry rules first.

   Before booking anything, check your passport's validity and the entry rules for your nationality — visa or visa-waiver, allowed stay, and any pre-registration your destination asks for. Rules differ by passport, not by airline.

   Documents

2. Sort travel insurance while flights are refundable. Travel insurance for this trip

   Medical care abroad is paid care — a short hospital visit can cost more than the trip. Buy a policy that covers medical treatment and trip interruption when you book, not the week you fly.

   Health

3. Europe's border rules changed — know EES and ETIAS.

   Non-EU visitors now register biometrics (photo + fingerprints) at the border under the EU's Entry/Exit System (EES), fully live since April 2026 — no pre-registration, just expect a kiosk on first entry to Italy. The separate ETIAS travel authorization (€20, online, valid 3 years) is still targeted for Q4 2026 but has slipped before — check its live status before you book flights, since a grace period follows once it does start.

   Documents

4. August empties the cities — and closes the neighborhood spots.

   Ferragosto (August 15) is Italy's biggest holiday, and family-run restaurants, artisan shops and services in non-touristy neighborhoods routinely shut for one to three weeks around it, roughly August 1–20 — while tourist-facing pizzerias and hotels stay open through their busiest season. Big-name museums and state sites keep normal hours, but if you're set on a specific local trattoria, check its August status before you book anything around that date.

   Tickets

2–4 weeks before3

1. Set up an eSIM before you land. Get an eSIM before you land

   Install a travel eSIM at home over Wi-Fi and it activates when you land — no airport SIM counters, no roaming surprises. Keep your home SIM active for bank SMS codes.

   Connectivity

2. Rome's marquee sights are booked, not walked into. Tickets on Klook

   The Colosseum sells only via ticketing.colosseo.it, released 30 days ahead at 9:00am Rome time — tickets are non-refundable and checked against photo ID at the gate. The Uffizi and Vatican Museums run the same timed-entry system weeks out, and Milan's Last Supper (Cenacolo Vinciano) opens bookings in 3-month blocks — just 40 people every 15 minutes — so reserve the moment your dates are fixed.

   TicketsRomaFirenze

3. Venice charges day-trippers to enter — register before you go.

   On 2026's roughly 60 marked peak dates (April 3 – July 26, mostly weekends plus the early-May stretch), day visitors without a Venice hotel booking pay a Contributo di Accesso: €5 if booked 4+ days ahead, €10 inside that window, in effect 08:30–16:00. Register at cda.veneziaunica.it for the QR code — under-14s are exempt outright, and overnight guests are exempt from the fee but still need to claim that exemption online.

   DocumentsMoneyVenezia

A few days before2

1. Download offline maps and the language pack.

   Before you fly, download your destination's offline map area and the offline language pack in Google Translate or Apple Translate. The camera/Lens mode reads menus and signs instantly — it works best with the pack already on your phone.

   Apps

2. Prep your cards, skip the worst exchange rates.

   Tell your bank you're traveling, carry a second card in a different bag, and when a terminal offers to charge you in your home currency, always choose the local currency — "dynamic currency conversion" is a built-in bad rate.

   Money

On arrival1

1. High-speed trains need a seat; regional trains need validation.

   Frecciarossa and Italo book with a mandatory seat reservation and dynamic pricing that climbs as the date nears — buy early for the best fare. Regional (Regionale) tickets, whether paper or bought online, must be validated before boarding: stamp a paper ticket at the small green machine on the platform, or it's invalid and you risk an on-the-spot fine even if you paid. Trenitalia app tickets validate themselves automatically.

   Transport

Daily on the ground7

1. Museums close Mondays — plan around it.

   The Uffizi, Accademia and most state museums close on Mondays; the Vatican Museums close Sundays instead (except the free last Sunday, which draws heavy crowds). The first Sunday of every month is free at state sites nationwide — a nice discount, but expect long queues. Keep museum-heavy days to Tuesday–Saturday and save Mondays for walking neighborhoods or day trips.

   Tickets

2. Strikes are routine — check the calendar the morning of.

   Transport strikes (scioperi) are common and announced in advance, often landing on a Friday; trains and buses still run guaranteed service in two bands, roughly 6:00–9:00 and 18:00–21:00, with gaps outside those hours. Check Trenitalia/Italo's strike notices or the national strike calendar (Commissione di Garanzia Sciopero) the morning of any travel day, especially airport transfers, and build in a buffer.

   Transport

3. Shops and churches nap at midday — plan lunch around it.

   Outside big-city centers and tourist cores, shops and many churches close for riposo roughly 13:00–16:00 and reopen into the evening; supermarkets and mall shops in Rome, Florence and Venice's touristy zones increasingly stay open through the day. Time your lunch and any church visit for before 13:00 or after 16:00 so you're not staring at a shuttered door.

   EtiquetteMoney

4. The 'coperto' on your bill is legal — and normal.

   A per-person cover charge (coperto) of €1–3, sometimes more in touristy spots, is standard across most of Italy and must be printed on the menu — it's not a scam, and asking to remove it if it's not listed is fair game. A separate servizio (service charge, up to ~10%) shows up mainly in pricier or tourist-heavy restaurants. Tipping itself is optional: Italian staff are salaried, so rounding up a few euros for good service is plenty — skip the American 20%.

   Money

5. Shoulders and knees covered — no exceptions at the door.

   St Peter's Basilica, San Marco and most major churches turn away visitors in tank tops, short shorts or short skirts — the rule applies to men and women alike, and guards enforce it right at the security line, before you reach the entrance. Carry a light scarf or shawl in your bag through summer; wrapping it over bare shoulders or around your waist takes seconds and gets you straight in.

   Etiquette

6. Cards work almost everywhere now — carry cash anyway.

   A 2022 law fines businesses for refusing card payments, so hotels, restaurants and shops largely take them without fuss. Small bacari, market stalls and family-run trattorias outside the big cities still lean cash-only or add friction to card payments, and a few coins smooths over 1–2 cent rounding on small purchases. Keep €20–€50 in cash as backup, not your main plan.

   Money

7. Rome's nasoni pour free, safe water all day.

   Rome's 2,500+ cast-iron nasoni fountains run the same potable water as the tap at home — free, cold and safe to fill a bottle from around the clock; Casa dell'Acqua stations add still and sparkling refills too. Restaurants rarely serve tap water on request ('acqua del rubinetto') and it's considered a faux pas to ask — expect a bottle of still or sparkling to appear with every meal instead, at a few euros each.

   HealthFamilyRoma

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