Passports

ha ha,, I would be concerned they didn't ask in Paris. It is required that hotels ask and register you. Its perfectly normal, you should not be concerned at all. It is the law in Italy.

It is normal and there is no need to be concerned. Years ago, hotels in Italy pretty much always held your passport overnight. Now they just need to record the information. When I check in, I leave my passport with the hotelier so that they can record the information, but I generally tell them that I will come back and retrieve my passport before I go out. I'm actually more concerned about forgetting the passport at the hotel than with the hotel losing it.

Once I actually did leave my passport at a hotel in Italy. The clever person at the front desk, who had helped me make a telephone call to the family we were to visit, remembered this and was able to track me down. I had not even missed it yet!

Italy requires all tourists to register with the police. Rather than you go down to the police station, the hotel does it for you. That's why they made the copy. France has no such requirement which is why they didn't copy your passport in Paris.

Historically that is very common with European countries and, I think, Italy is about the last to be very strict on this. I can remember giving up passports in France 25 years ago. No sure why some Americans are so up tight about their passport. There is less information on a passport than on a US driver's license.

Hi It's perfectly normal . In fact in Europe they are asking more and more for this information as there are so many scams .l'm very suprised that you weren't asked for this in Paris as we were when we stayed even though I think it's not strictly the law?