• Travelsignposts Home
  • Country Guides
  • City Guides
  • River Cruises
  • Europe Photos
  • About Us

Italy Travel

  • Home
  • Trip Planner
  • Photos
  • Videos
  • Map
  • Weather
  • Site Map
  • Destinations
  • Shopping
  • Sightseeing
  • Food
  • Getting around
  • Useful facts
  • News & Events
You are here: Home / Useful facts / Useful facts for travel to Italy

Useful facts for travel to Italy

By Tony Page 1 Comment

  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window) Facebook
  • Click to share on X (Opens in new window) X
  • Click to share on Pinterest (Opens in new window) Pinterest
  • Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window) LinkedIn

Useful facts to help you plan your visit to Italy

  • Festivals
  • Public Holidays
  • Visas
  • Health
  • Time
  • Electricity
  • Weights & Measures
  • Money, Banks etc.
  • Useful Telephone Numbers

Festivals

One important factor may be the festival calendar. Like Spain, Italy has a lot of festivals and saint’s days etc. and you may wish to co-ordinate your Italy travel accordingly.

EVENT CALENDAR SEARCH

Italian Public Holidays 2014

PUBLIC HOLIDAYS 2016
1 Jan New Year’s Day (Capodanno)
6 Jan Epiphany (Epifania)
21 Apr Easter  Monday (Lunedi di Pasqua)
25 Apr Liberation Day (Liberazione Italia)
1 May Labour Day (Festa del Lavoro)
2 Jun Feast of the Republic (Festa della Repubblica Italia)
15 Aug Feast of the Assumption (Ferragosto)
25 Oct All Saints’ Day (Ognissanti)
8 Dec Immaculate Conception (Immacolata Concezione)
25 Dec Christmas Day (Natale)
26 Dec St Stephen’s Day (Santo Stefano)

Note: There are also local feast days held in honour of the patron saints of particular towns and cities, but shops and offices usually don’t close. These include:

  • Venice: Apr 25 (St Mark).
  • Turin/Genoa/Florence: Jun 24 (St John the Baptist).
  • Rome: Jun 29 (St Peter & St Paul – Patron Saints of Rome).
  • Siena: Jul 2 and Aug 16, Palio horserace.
  • Palermo: Jul 15 (St Rosalia).
  • Naples: Sep 19 (St Gennaro).
  • Bologna: Oct 4 (St Petronius).
  • Trieste: Nov 3 (St Giusto).
  • Bari: Dec 6 (St Nicholas).
  • Milan: Dec 7 (St Ambrose).

Festivals and Events worth noting

  • February/March: Shrovetide carnivals, celebrations before Lent, the Venice one is particularly famous.
  • March/April: Holy week and Easter celebrations throughout Italy, good but crowded in Rome where the Pope is at the head of the procession on Good Friday.
  • April/May: Jazz festival in Milan.
  • May: Palio Balestra (medieval crossbow contest on horseback) using antique weapons held in Gubbio.
  • June: Historical regatta of the four Ancient Maritime Republics involving boat race between rival sea towns of Pisa, Venice, Amalfi and Genoa. Spoleto’s world famous arts festival is held in June.
  • July: The Umbria Jazz festival is held every July in Perugia and is one of the most popular festivals in Italy.
  • July/August: The medieval Palio festival where ancient clothed riders race bareback around the town’s square in Siena (held both months).
  • September: The Joust of the Saracen, performed by “combatants” dressed in ancient suits of armor held in Arezzo. Italian Grand Prix held in Monza.
  • October: Truffle hunts, market and fair held in Alba. Feast of St. Francis held in Assisi.
  • November: Feast of San Martino (Nov. 11th), Sigillo festival: a wine and chestnut event held in San Martino.
  • December: La Scala opera season opens in Milan.

Visas:

Italy, along with Austria, Belgium, France, Germany, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Portugal and Spain, forms part of the border-free travel zone subject to the Schengen Agreement. EU passport holders can come and go as they please. Citizens of the USA, Australia, Canada, Japan and New Zealand are among those who may enter Italy as tourists without a visa and stay up to 90 days.

Health risks:

Rabies (only found in the Alps), Leishmaniasis (transmitted by sandflies in coastal regions) and Lyme Disease (Trentino, northern Italy). And the cost of medical care – come with insurance.

Time:

GMT/UTC +1 (+2 in summer)

Current Italian time

Rome

Electricity:

220V (some 125V still found 50Hz, 2-pin (round) plug 2-pin plug (round)

Weights & measures:

Metric

More useful facts for travel to Italy: Italian Weights and Measures and their equivalents

Clothing and shoe sizes conversion: US, UK, Europe

Euro banknotes

Money:

The Euro (€)

As of January 1, 2002, the euro (€) replaced the national currency of 12 countries within the European Union, including Italy. You can exchange currency at any bank branch (hours are listed below). Automatic cash machines can be found in most commercial centres.

  • Bank Opening HoursBanks in Italy are from Monday to Friday from 8:35 a.m. to 1:35 p.m. and from 3:00 – 4:00 p.m.; in many tourist areas they are open continually from 8.30 a.m. to 4p.m. and closed all day on Saturday and Sunday and of course national holidays.
  • Currency exchangeCurrency exchange can be carried out at all bank branches, ATMs or exchange offices (Ufficio di Cambio) at airports, seaports and railway stations in the main cities. ATMs in Italy are known as Bancomats. There are plenty around in the large cities and even in small towns. At the beginning of the transaction, the ATM asks you for your preferred language.

Check out the current Euro exchange rate with your currency here (close the new window to return): TRAVELSIGNPOSTS CURRENCY CONVERTER

telephone

Useful telephone numbers :

The country code for Italy is 39. As public telephones in Italy do not accept coins, if you need to use one you’ll have to buy a phone card. These are sold at most tobacconists , post offices, some newsagents and occasionally machines near the phone booths.

  • Carabinieri (army corp which is also a police force) 112
  • Police (more serious emergencies) 113
  • Fire Brigade 115
  • Medical Emergency 118
  • Car rescue service 116
  • Operator (English speaking) 170
  • International Directory Enquiries 176

Lost Credit Cards/Travelers’ Cheques

  • American Express American Express 06.72282
  • Diners ClubDiner’s Club 800 864 064
  • Euro/MastercardEuro/Mastercard 800 819 014
  • VisaVISA 800 819 014

Other Italy pages:

Travel to Italy for a Europe Tour that’s more than a Roman holiday!

Tour Routes in Italy

When to travel to Italy: weather and seasons

Food in Italy: a brief gastronomic tour

Book your sightseeing tours or day-trips in Italy online

Book your hotel in Italy online

ITALY TRAVEL WITH US: PHOTO HIGHLIGHTS

Click here to get a free PDF of this post

  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window) Facebook
  • Click to share on X (Opens in new window) X
  • Click to share on Pinterest (Opens in new window) Pinterest
  • Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window) LinkedIn

Related

Filed Under: Useful facts Tagged With: banking hours, electricity in Italy, events, festivals, health, information, italian time, Italy money, public holidays Italy, telephone numbers, travel to Italy, Useful facts, visas

avatar

About Tony Page

Tony Page is a professional writer and photographer and runs Travelsignposts with his wife Helen.

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

You can also find us on

  • Facebook
  • LinkedIn
  • Pinterest
  • Twitter
  • YouTube

Latest Additions

  • Trieste: a Hidden Gem on the Adriatic coast
  • Walking the Prosecco Hills – Day 7
  • Walking the Prosecco Hills – Day 6
  • Walking the Prosecco Hills – Day 5
  • Walking the Prosecco Hills – Day 4

Plan and Book Your Trip


eNews and Updates

feedburner Sign up now to get emailed news as well as other site updates!

Get the Guerrilla Travel Photography ebook here now!
City Guides
Country Guides
River Cruises

Who is behind Travelsignposts?

Helen and Tony Page at Singapore Changi Airport

We're Helen and Tony Page, and we love travelling - lucky as we've been doing it for the last few decades!

Tony has long been a professional photographer and writer, but Helen now writes most of the posts and takes a lot of photos herself!

Travelsignposts is our main travel planning site, but we've just launched Travelsignposts China and Tony also runs the Travelsignposts Photo and Guerrilla Travel Photography web sites, as well as publishing the Take Better Digital Photos and Guerrilla Travel Photography eBooks.

Read more about Helen and Tony or contact them.

Other Countries

  • Austria
  • Belgium
  • Bulgaria
  • Croatia
  • Czech Republic
  • Devon & Cornwall
  • England
  • Estonia
  • Europe (General)
  • Finland
  • France
  • Germany
  • Greece
  • Ireland
  • Netherlands
  • Norway
  • Portugal
  • Scotland
  • Spain
  • Switzerland
  • Turkey
  • Ukraine

Resources

  • Take Better Digital Photos eBook Take Better Digital Photos eBook
  • Take Better Digital Photos Free eCourse
  • Travel Signposts Photo – our main travel photography site
  • Guerrilla Travel Photography eBook Guerrilla Travel Photography eBook

Copyright © 2025 ·Lifestyle Pro Theme · Genesis Framework by StudioPress · WordPress · Log in

Get a free PDF of this post!
Just enter your email address below and we'll send it to you immediately.

Please enter your Email Address