Cell phone and GPS

First of all, your phone will work as a GPS without ANY mobile data. The GPS function does not require any mobile data connection. However, your phone must already have downloaded the maps and directions needed to make the GPS useful to you e.g. for driving directions.

You can try using your phone at home without a mobile connection. I'm not familiar with via Michelin - but in the Google Maps app, you can download an "offline area" (e.g. near your home now). Try it: download a map for your area, then put your phone into airplane mode, and take a drive in your car and try using the phone as a GPS.

It's true that your mapping app will probably work better e.g. have real-time traffic info if you have a mobile data connection - but it's not absolutely required.

What' the best way to use your US phone in Italy? Your existing carrier may have a roaming plan - T-Mobile, Verizon, and AT&T all do.

Otherwise, another option is to buy an Italian SIM card once you get there.

Great advice by Andrew. I'm going to add one more option into the mix - depending on your smart phone and how new it is, you could use an eSIM. We've been in Italy for two months and that's what we've used.

You download the eSIM from an app (we used Airalo), update your phone settings (the app walks you through it), and then the eSIM provides wifi on your phone. So you can access internet, maps, iMessages (if you have an iPhone), email, WhatsApp, etc. It's incredibly affordable and we've found service to be very reliable, since it automatically switches between various carriers (like TIM, Wind, Vodaphone) depending on which has the best service in your location. I don't know the nitty gritty of HOW it works, but it's been a great, affordable option for us!

No idea about that app.

In Sicily we used both a Garmin to get to our hotels and parking lots, but used downloaded Google maps to get to some of the out of the way places not on my Garmin. On a recent trip to Spain we used the downloaded Google maps almost exclusively. In both countries the downloaded maps (phone in airplane mode) worked fine and no data was needed. We have T-mobile and get free 2G data roaming. It was adequate for the very few times we needed to use the web while away from WiFi.

One item to note from our Spain trip, our phone has a USB2 connection, but our rental car only had USB C ports, so we were unable to plug the phone in to charge. Not plugged in, it uses the battery fairly quickly.

Thank you everyone! Great advice, I think I am going with the eSim card. And will download google maps 🇮🇹