Carrying passport

Legally, you're supposed to have a recognized ID on you. For Americans, this means a passport. However, for nominative tickets, your drivers license should be good enough.

You do have an image of your passport on your phone? Vero.

That’s the reason I got a passport card as well as the passport when I last renewed. I carry the card but not the book.

Passport is required to be on your person in case it’s asked for by police. However, I have used a color copy and I-phone photo and that has always sufficed for ID on trains and at museum entrances.

This topic gets brought up often. Here’s several responses:

https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/italy/carrying-our-passports-in-italy

Given that the USA has just bombed Iran, I imagine most European countries (if they are still there) will be on the alert for reprisal terrorist attacks. Security will be tightened, so probably best to have your passport on you at all times.

I carry my passport on me at all times. In today's world, with my passport and a credit card, I can get almost anywhere in times of emergency. (Adding a phone to that makes it much easier.)

I keep mine in a "Hidden Pocket" type moneybelt so I hardly know it's there. On travel days, when I know I will have to show it, I keep it in a neck pouch for easy access.

However, if asked for ID at museums, I'm much more prone to show my Passport Card.

Thank you, everyone for your replies. I appreciate the input

I never carry my passport with me - as I understand it, Italy doesn't specify a passport, just a form of national ID. I do have a Singapore ID card, but in all my travels I have never been stopped and asked for ID, so frankly I wouldn't bother.

A passport is required by law in Italy for non EU citizens who are not resident in the EU (residents can exhibit the Identity card). Another document, like a driver’s license, may be sufficient for museums. The probability of being asked to exhibit a passport by a law enforcement agent is low, unless you look like you could be an undocumented immigrant (racial profiling is widely used by Italian police, just like by ICE in the US). If that happens and you left your passport in the hotel, at least be ready to show photos of your passport, including entry visa pages, as well as your driver’s license. Just explain you left it in the hotel because you are scared of pickpockets. Legally a photo or photocopy of the real passport doesn’t meet the law requirement, but with that and a Drivers License, the officer may be reasonably satisfied to let you get away with it. If you drive a rental car or if you take trains to other towns, carry your passport however, because on the road and on trains, and at train stations, random police checks are more frequent.

You will get many “yeses” and many “nos” here on this subject.
I travel to Italy most years and always have my passport with me at all times.
It’s easy carrying it hidden in my underclothing moneybelt.
As Roberto said: it is your accepted form of ID while in Italy.
What if you were in an incident, accident, your accommodation was somehow inaccessible to you for whatever reason…fire etc ?
Of it’s on you, you are good to go and get out of town if need be.
I put mine in a small ziploc bag, then wrap a paper towel around it , then put it in the moneybelt.
I wear the pouch of the belt in the small of my back and don’t even feel it.

I have been stopped by police in Italy a few times and asked to produce it.
In railway stations and once way up in the Dolomites on a country road at a roadblock.

but in all my travels I have never been stopped and asked for ID, so frankly I wouldn't bother.

It's the old "it never happened to me so it won't happen to you." Until it does.

Of course, if you decide not to carry your passport and you get stopped by police, just tell them people on the Rick Steves forum told you not to bother. They'll go "Oh, Rick Steves, well, have a nice day." Not.

Frank II, you're entitled to disagree, but just sharing my experience. Feel free to share your own. I would advise the OP to make up their own mind. Frankly I think carrying a passport around on the off chance of being stopped by an officer who won't accept an alternative form of national photo ID is overkill.

I was interested to see the UK Foreign Office advises a photocopy plus a secondary form of photo ID (not necessarily a passport) will be fine in most cases:

https://www.gov.uk/foreign-travel-advice/italy/safety-and-security

We can all agree to disagree but even during the Gulf War and protests in all the European capitals I went to. I never took along my passport unless needed for an attraction-palace or government building. I still don't but have a color copy of the front page with my information.

Of course if you are traveling by train or plane, always have it on your person.

I lived in Spain for 12 years. It's the law that you carry and ID card or passport. I was probably not asked for mine more than once or twice a year. But I always had it with me just in case. And it was always the police (usually Guardia Civil) who asked for it, and who could have issued an on the spot fine.
I know a few people who were fined, and it caused complications for whatever issue they had originally been stopped for.

There is a lot of fairly aggressive pickpocketing in Italy and while passports are not a target of pickpockets, they tend to indescriminantly scoop up whatever they can glom onto and then just throw out keys or passports etc. Losing one abroad is a real pain. If you do decide to carry one on your person, do it with a money belt UNDER your clothes where it is really secure.

Why take a chance that a police officer will be flexible? We were stopped at an Italian train station a few months ago and we were glad we had our passports with us.

Carry your passport in a money belt so it’s not accessible. Keep copies on your phone or in a hotel safe. Then don’t worry about it. Enjoy the trip.

I always carry my Passport with me, and on a previous trip the value of that approach became very apparent. While out hiking one day, I injured my leg and had to be taken to hospital. My Passport was the first thing they asked for in Emerg. and I was very relieved that I had it with me. Although I was eventually able to arrange delivery of my luggage a few days later, if my Passport had been in a hotel room safe, it would probably still be there.

Having the passport with you is a legal requirement, no way around it. You can choose if you prefer to dodge the law, as controls are not that frequent but in some situations, and losing your passport is a major problem. But to people that book in the same morning a visit to Uffizi, a call at Accademia, a cooking class and have a train to Rome at 2.30pm, even losing half an hour with the police may be a problem. Be it clear that you are dodging the law and take consequences if any.

In some other discussions about overtorusim the subject of being a "responsible" and a "good" tourist often comes up. My, possibly minority opinion, is that being a good and responsible tourist begins with obeying the laws of the host country. Just because one know that one can get away with something less than the law requires does not in my mind justifying doing it. Sort of an Aldo Leopold thing I guess.

Simon, above, is misquoting the FCO - what they say is "In most cases a copy of the photo page of your passport should be enough, but you may also be asked for a second form of photo ID. The police will normally ask for your full passport if you are stopped while driving."

Most, should and may is a lot of conditions in a single sentence.