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Back from Italy

Posted by (Midwest) on

I've just returned from 15 days in Italy - Florence, Venice, Sorrento (base), and Rome and with some advanced organization, found everything very easy to navigate through.

Most of my activities and tickets were pre-registered / purchased however there were a few instances in which I purchased on site without problems. I carried and presented (with my passport) my original CDC card inside a waterproof name badge holder however I think a laminated copy would have worked fine.

Everyone was wearing masks indoors, most people outside were not wearing masks.

I did the Elume Covid Test right before my flight although there were neighboorhood pharmacies -- of the two that I checked, they offered walk-in tests sans appointments with results emailed within 1 hour. I never saw any lines at these places although there were some minor lines at the train stations.

Along with having the covid test results, there was extra (but easy) paperwork to fill out during the return flights.

I'll check back this weekend and answer any specific questions for those traveling soon.

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Posted by
1089 posts

I’m glad you had a good and safe trip. The weather here is spectacular. How were the crowds, did you feel people were closer than you wanted them to be? Do you think the advance purchases made a big difference in your ability to keep a safe distance from others?

Posted by
110 posts

Thank you for sharing! We leave in 3 weeks and I'm encouraged that things seem to be going smoothly for people who are traveling now.

Posted by
25 posts

Thanks so much for the info! I love your idea of putting your CDC card in a badge holder. I've hesitate to laminate ours in case we have to log boosters in the future. Anyway, I look forward to hearing more from you!

Posted by
125 posts

Hi Nelly! Yes, the weather was amazing all through my trip (although it had begun to rain the morning I departed, hopefully for you and others there now, it didn't last too long)!

There were certainly moments when things could have gotten too close but it was easy enough to make wise / personal choices about being in overly crowded spaces. Overall, everything felt "safe" and I appreciated all the efforts by staff members, etc. to make it a great vacation.

I do think the advance tickets were helpful in keeping things organized and preventing some of the more popular spaces from getting overly busy. There were a few instances where I "doubled back" and had no problems buying tickets on site, but don't think I'd recommend that as standard operating proceedure as I did witness more than a few who had not reserved ahead of time and they struggled to find tickets / purchase on their mobile devices.

Hope that your trip is likewise great!

Posted by
47 posts

Thanks SOTL! This is so great to read for those of us who leave soon for our own trips to Italy. I’m so glad you had a great time and that testing and such wasn’t a huge pain. I would love to hear what your thoughts were on the crowds. Did you feel like there were a lot of people everywhere? Wondering mostly about Sorrento, Rome and especially Venice. I feel like some people have said it seems just as crowded as usual, and others are saying less crowded.

Posted by
53 posts

Thanks for the update-
Which tickets did you pre-purchase for Venice, Florence, and Rome?

Was thinking about getting both PCR and Rapid Antigen pre- flight- but it sounds like Rapid Antigen is just fine and results quicker. I don’t need to overkill. I am bringing binax for way home.

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