Information About Italy

Headed to Italy for the first time? Or just want to make sure you’re covering all your bases before you go? Then check out my first-time visitor guide to Italy!

Population
About 58.9 million, and slowly falling

Visa Information
EU citizens do not need a visa to visit Italy. Neither do citizens of the U.S., Canada, the UK, Australia, New Zealand, Japan and many other countries, for stays of up to 90 days in any 180-day period. Those 90 days count across the whole Schengen area, not just Italy. Since October 2025, non-EU visitors are registered in the EU’s Entry/Exit System (EES) at the border, which takes your fingerprints and a photo instead of stamping your passport. ETIAS, an online travel authorization that visa-free visitors will have to buy, has been announced but is not in operation yet, so check before you travel.

If you do need a visa, the Italian foreign ministry’s visa site tells you which kind and how to apply.

Italy is part of the Schengen area. You can find out more about that here.

If you are Australian, you can take advantage of the working holiday visa arrangement between Australia and Italy. To find out more, contact the Italian embassy in Canberra.

Immunizations
You will not need any shots to travel to Italy.

Currency
Italy uses the Euro (€), as do most (though not all) EU countries. Look for the coins to be nationalistic - each country stamps its own distinctive designs on the coins, but the bills are the same throughout the eurozone, and all the money is good in every country that uses the euro. To get the most updated currency conversion rates, use this handy tool.

Time Zone
Italy is on Central European Time, which is GMT plus one hour (two in the summer). Italy does observe Daylight Savings Time - it begins the last Sunday in March and ends the last Sunday in October.

Capital
Rome is the capital of Italy.

Language
As you might guess, Italian is the official language of Italy. What you might not know is that happened relatively recently and there was quite a bit of controversy about it.

Counting and Numbers
Dates in Italy are written with the day first, then the month, then the year - so the 2nd of May in the year 2007 is written 02/05/07.

With written numbers, commas and decimal points are swapped from what you might be used to. So, three Euro and fifty cents is written €3,50 and one thousand five hundred Euro is written €1.500.

Italy uses the Metric system for measurements and Celsius for temperatures.

Electricity and Plugs
Italy operates on a 230V 50Hz electrical system, and the electrical outlets you will find take European plugs with two narrow cylindrical prongs (sort of like a pig’s snout, only smaller); many also take Italy’s own plug, with three round pins in a row. If your electrical appliances are not 230V 50Hz, you will need a converter (to convert the electricity) and adapter (to make your appliances fit into the Italian plugs) set so you do not start fires or explode anything. If you have a travel-size hairdryer, look for a switch which will change the voltage from 120V (for the U.S.) to 240V (for Europe) - if you have such a switch, you will only need to use an adapter for the hairdryer to work in Italy.

Banks and ATM Machines
Travel is easier these days with bank cards which work overseas. Just be sure to notify your bank that you will be traveling in Italy so they do not assume someone has stolen your card and gone on vacation.

An Italian cash machine is called a “Bancomat.” To use your ATM card in Italy you will need to know your PIN number in numbers, not letters (there are no letters on Italian bank machine keypads). American Express is not as common in Italy as Visa and MasterCard are, so do not rely only on your AmEx card to get cash during your trip.

Many Bancomats are enclosed in a glass enclosure in front of the bank, but not inside the bank (so they are still accessible when the bank is closed), and you may need to insert your bank card in order to get the enclosure’s door to open. This is safe, as it just shows that you actually intend to withdraw money and you are not trying to use the enclosure as a shelter for the night. Pay attention to your surroundings when entering one of these glass enclosures and when withdrawing money, as some thieves target tourists at bank machines. If someone else tries to enter the enclosure with you, go back out and try another bank or another time.

Since 2022 every shop, restaurant and bar in Italy has had to accept card payments, and tapping a contactless card or phone is normal. Small bars and market stalls may still prefer cash, though, so carry some for coffee and souvenirs.

>> Read all about using debit cards in Italy before your trip

Using the Telephone
The country code for Italy is 39. To call Italy from the U.S., you will first need to dial out of the U.S. and then into Italy - so that is 011 + 39 and then the phone number itself. To call Italy from another European country, you will dial 00 + 39 and then the local number. To call an Italian number from within Italy, simply dial the local number as you have it. To call the U.S. from within Italy, dial 00 + 1 and then the area code and telephone number.

Payphones have mostly disappeared from Italy, and the phone cards that went with them are hard to find, so plan on using a mobile phone.

If your phone has a SIM from an EU country, roaming in Italy costs the same as at home. Everyone else pays whatever their home carrier charges for roaming, so it is often cheaper to buy an Italian prepaid SIM (the main networks are TIM, Vodafone, WindTre and Iliad) or an eSIM data plan online. Bring your passport to the phone shop: by law you need it to buy a SIM.

Useful Telephone Numbers
Emergency (all services, the EU-wide number): 112
Police: 113
Medical Emergency: 118
Fire Emergency: 115
Road Service (ACI): 803.116 from an Italian phone, 800.116.800 from a foreign mobile
Directory Assistance: 1240 or 1254