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Cash in Puglia

Posted by (Washington, D.C.) on

Just back from a month in Puglia - Bari, Trani, Lecce, Ostuni, Gallipoli and Barletta. All in all a good trip, making up for plans that were kiboshed during Covid.

One thing we experienced in Puglia was the need for cash in hand - more so than in our other Italian travels. First, the Ostuni B&B host demanded cash at the last minute for our four-night stay. That surprise took virtually every Euro I had in my money belt. Then in Barletta we were enjoying our last Puglian meal when the power went out and the restaurant couldn't process payment by credit card. Bus tickets also were cash only from the driver.

Just glad I hit the ATMs when I did.

Posted by
18280 posts

In spite of government efforts and laws imposing all merchants to accept card payments (laws existing since 2022), the lure of tax evasion is still strong anong Italian small business owners. It happens especially with businesses where the transaction does not occur in a public environment where there could be witnesses. So it doesn’t generally happen in restaurants, stores, or in the lobby of regular hotels, but it is rampant with apartment hosts and taxi drivers

And it is not just Puglia. It is everywhere.

Posted by
332 posts

I find this surprising since when we were there in 2022 we paid for everything with our debit and CC didn’t use cash once. In fact, I haven’t paid for cash in Italy AT ALL, anywhere, since 2006, at the very least.

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