Italy Travel Guide

In addition, citizens of San Marino may enter and reside in Italy indefinitely without a visa. Foreign military entering Italy under a Status of Forces Agreement do not require a passport and need only show their valid military identification card and travel orders. Their dependents, however, are not exempt from visa requirements.

Italy phased out the one- and two-cent coins in 2018, rounding prices to the nearest five-cent increment. ATMs are commonplace, at least in cities. They usually accept major international credit and debit cards. ATMs owned directly by banks often do not charge a fee for foreign cards. This includes those from BNL (Banco Nazionale del Lavoro) and the "Postamat" machines run by the Italian postal service. Of course, your bank might still charge a fee, depending on your card.

Trains in Italy are generally good value, somewhat frequent, and nowadays quite reliable. Trenitalia is the main operator throughout the country, operating both high-speed and regional services, while Italo offers competition on all major high-speed routes.

Italian (italiano) is the language spoken natively by most Italians. Standard Italian is largely based on the dialect of Tuscan spoken in Florence. Every region in Italy has a distinct native Italic language in addition to Italian that may or may not be spoken by locals, depending on the area. In Rome or Milan, the spoken language is nowadays usually Italian with some local influence, whereas in rural areas the local language is more common; though people usually speak italiano, too. Even though…

Italian hospitals are public and offer completely free high-standard treatment for travellers in possession of an EHIC (EU/EEA citizens) or GHIC (UK citizens). As in other countries with universal healthcare, you may have to wait some hours to be treated unless you're in a serious condition. Emergency rooms are called "Pronto Soccorso". Emergency assistance is granted even to non-EU travellers. For non-emergency assistance, non-EHIC/GHIC-holders are required to pay out-of-pocket, there is no convention with US health insurances (although some insurance companies might later reimburse these exp…

WiFi

By law all public-access internet points must keep records of web sites viewed by customers, and even the customer's ID: expect to be refused access if you don't provide identification. Hotels providing Internet access are not required to record IDs if the connection is provided in the guest's room, although if the connection is offered in the main public hall then IDs are required.

Italy has a reputation for being a welcoming country and Italians are friendly and courteous, as well as very used to small talk and interacting with foreigners.

Culture and identity

Although this is a very broad generalisation, Italians in the North are perceived to be much more reserved compared to Italians in the South.