ATM fees and charges

Get cash at a retail bank ATM such as Unicredit, Banco BPM, Intesa Sanpaulo, Bper Banca—- there are many. The least expensive way is usually using your debit card to withdraw cash.
And always refuse the Denomination Currency Conversion option that is offered. In other words, have the transaction and all credit card transactions done in euros only— never in dollars.

... and avoid the atms attached to non-banking places like stores, usually with a big ATM (in English) sign. The Italian word is "Bancomat".

and also make sure YOUR bank isn't charging fees, or find a "partner" bank of theirs to take money from their bancomat as well. I know when I used to use my Bank of America card they would charge me for using outside network atms, so I was partial to Deutschebank (I think?) as they said they wouldn't charge me for the privilege of using someone else's atm :)

Your best bet is to use a Bancomat. While anymore Bancomat means an ATM in Italy, Bancomat is also the major interbank network that the banks use for ATM services (essentially a third party contractor). If you are lucky, you might find one without a use fee, but given you will use a non-Italian ATM card and be in tourist areas, you likely will have to pay maybe 3-5 euro.

Do be aware of DCC, and avoid it, always choose to do the transaction in euros and decline any conversion offer.

Good news is, you should not need much cash, get 50 euro or so for each person to carry, maybe a bit more for a stash, and that should last the trip. Credit card use, especially tap-to-pay is accepted nearly everywhere.

A few years ago, diligent testing of quite a few ATMs in Italy turned up a couple that didn't charge fees. Unfortunately, I don't remember the names of those banks; I think one of them was Banco Populare XXXX. However, the ATM-fee situation is very fluid (and never improving). I'd try Deutsche Bank, post offices, and any "Banco Populare XXXX" you happen to come across. You may get lucky.

An online search turned up this text in a 2025-dated article: "Italian bank branches host ATMs machines. BNL (Banca Nazionale del Lavoro) is the only Italian bank that currently participates in the Global ATM Alliance, which is a global network of banks that waive international ATM access fees."

I cannot vouch for the accuracy of that information, but it's something to try if there's a BNL ATM in a location convenient for you.

Acraven, check me on those, buy i believe that both your bank and the bank with the ATM have to be in thr club to guarantee no fees.

But I am glad the truth came out, I didn't want to argue it, but most every bank ATM in Europe will hit you with a fee. And when someone says the private ATMs charge a higher fee, ask, how much higher. No one can answer but they have read it so often on forums posted by people who read it on another forum .... I presume its higher, but doubt much higher, if any, than what my Erste Bank charges outside users. For what I suspect a typical American tourist dozens in cash when on holiday, given the worst situation this is a $20 problrm on a 3 week holiday that cost $8000. Bigger fish need frying than this.

Mr. E, I just don't know.

I used to hit an ATM about twice a week after I ran out of the seed money left over from my previous trip. My normal practice is to withdraw just 40 euros so I don't have to worry about any large bills (especially a problem in Italy, where it seems a lot of places don't like to make change). Now that it's easier to use credit cards, I don't have to hit ATMs as often. I don't mind all that much trying a lot of ATMs once every couple of weeks; I just stop as I come across one in my wanderings. Before departure I try to remember to Google "free ATMs " to see whether there are any recently-posted tips online. Anything over a year old is likely to be stale information.

According to Google Maps, BNL has some sort of connection with BNP Paribas.