clothing in Italy

Not if they're planning on going into certain churches.

For just around town and sightseeing Italian girls of that age tend to dress the same as they do here. You will only run into an issue if you are going into churches. Your knees and shoulders/upper arms must be covered or they won't let you in, especially in Rome. Even though they many not boot you out in other cities it is considered very disrespectful to not be dressed "modestly". Have a great trip!

Have them pack a sun dress or skirt with some light weight sweater or cover up to wear in churches if shoulders are bare. Or, they can wear their jeans, but it might be too hot. shorts should be OK in Sorrento, it's a "beach town". They should be pretty comfortable in skirts, maxi or midi anywhere. The teens in Italy dress pretty much like the teens here...same stores, H & M, Zara, etc. But to show respect, if you are touring churches, they will have to have knees and shoulders covered.

My friends' daughters, also late teens or early 20's wear short shorts or miniskirts as well and they live in Florence, not a beach town. No difference in clothing style for kids that age in both sides of the pond.
As mentioned above, the only issue will be touring inside churches and cathedrals. They need something to cover up their thighs and bare shoulders if they want to be allowed inside. A scarf will do for the shoulders. A skirt that is knee length would be ideal. My wife has used a pareo wrapped around her shorts and it worked. Actually, about 20 years ago, she was wearing a miniskirt when we were in Rome. A former high school friend of mine, who was living in Rome and was with us, gave her his business suit jacket to wrap around her waste to get inside St. Peter's and she got away with it.

Maybe it was because I wasn't in a tourist town, but when I was in southern Italy in my early 20s, many of the girls my age didn't wear shorts at all, skirts and pants were the norm....it was even to a point that if we wore shorts, we would get called after (the one time I had to walk a mere 3 blocks in shorts, I got more cat calls than I have ever gotten total it seemed) ....on the other hand, the girls would show as much skin as they wanted to up top and nobody cared either way....

Yes, we're all in agreement about the churches and cathedrals as far as no sleeveless, short hems, shorts or cleavage. BUT, out on the streets there are also fashion expectations. It's usually only Americans that wear shorts, sneakers, flip flops, etc... The Italians don't really respect that. Only at beaches or resorts do you see most Italians wear shorts. Wearing short shorts is NOT considered respectable, and WILL get you the WRONG kind of attention!!!! You have to be alert of pick pockets and thieves and don't need the worry that someone will touch your daughters. Some capri pant, or some cute sun dresses or cute skirts would be far more practical. Have fun gals and be safe.

Why don't these clothing dictums match what you actually see?

There are no fashion expectations for 16 and 19 year old girls. My friends' daughters and my own relatives' daughters at that age wear shorts and miniskirts as much as they like. They live in Florence or Tuscany and the places where you plan to go will be no different. You will see lots of young women dressed in shorts when you are there and many will be Italian. Sorrento and Stresa are summer resorts, so there will be even girls on bathing suits covered by a pareo only in the streets. Unless you plan to go to some small village in the interior of Sicily or Calabria, they can wear shorts and miniskirts. Touching a woman inappropriately carries a stiff criminal charge called "Violenza Sessuale", i.e. sexual assault. That is not going to happen that easily. As you can see from the article below, that behavior is taken very seriously and the myth that Italian men pinch women at will is a myth that I've heard only in the US. http://www.ilgazzettino.it/nordest/tocca_il_sedere_a_una_ragazza_si_prende_una_sberla_arrestato_per_violenza_sessuale/notizie/168951.shtml This is the attire for girls on a hot June day. This is Verona last year in June: http://www.larena.it/stories/Home/375759_caldo_africano_con_scipionee_a_verona__pre-allerta/

That photo of girls in shorts from Verona of last year is identified as being of tourists, not local girls, fwiw.

Not just foreign tourists. Italian girls at school: http://www.linkuaggio.com/2012/04/scuola-roma-lamerigo-vespucci-avverte.html Michela Brambilla, Former Minister of Culture and Tourism in the Italian Government during a TV interview: http://sedurreincollant.blogspot.com/2009/09/le-gambe-dellonorevole-brambilla.html Federica Torti, Italian TV host, strolling in Milan. http://www.corriere.it/spettacoli/foto/04-2013/torti/bicicletta/federica-torti-mini-bici-montenapoleone_491ffc1a-a803-11e2-96ed-0ed8c4083cbe.shtml#1 Ms. Minetti, Berlusconi's dental hygienist, strolling in Milan: http://www.minigonne.eu/it/showgirl_in_minigonna/minetti4_img_5171.htm

Hahaha! Who takes pictures of Berlusconi's dental hygienist?!

Go to google maps and type in the name of a city you'll be visiting. Zoom in a bit and then drag and drop the little yellow man onto the map. You can then "walk" around the city and see what people are wearing if you're really concerned. People who talk about Italian men being inappropriate, so to speak, are talking about an old stereotype that is really not common today.

My Italian is not that great, but as I read that " Italian girls at school" article in Roberto's link it appears that short shorts and miniskirts are controversial and disapproved ( viatate). The headline has the school announcing " we are not a gym or a beach!" Suggesting that such attire is not appropriate. We took our daughters to Italy a couple of years ago when they were 18 and 22. I suggested they could wear their skinniest jeans and short skirts in the cities, but they should save short shorts for Cinque Terre and the beach. They decided that was good advice and everyone was happy. They each took at least one shirt with elbow-length sleeves to wear with their jeans when we visited churches. Otherwise they wore mostly camis or sleeveless tees, unless it was raining. They also enjoyed wearing little J.Crew summer dresses in Florence, and they look great in those photos.

Your girls are TOURISTS so they can dress like Tourists, in shorts etc, BUT this does preclude churches but everyone has given ideas on how to handle that, and you don't have to visit a church every day so its not that big a deal. Just make sure the day you visit St Peters and the Vatican they are covered that day.

Yes, some schools are trying to restrict the dress code, as reported in this article: http://www.scuolazoo.com/post/no-alle-scollature-e-minigonne-a-scuola But that proves my point that Italian girls are wearing miniskirts and shorts and it is not true that Italian young women don't do so. Actually these articles prove that fashion has recently reached a point of concern for teachers with all those exposed legs, breasts and belly buttons. Besides I have seen my friends' daughters with my own eyes last summer, and they weren't dressing modestly at all. Suggesting otherwise does not describe the reality of what is going on. If you believe that Italian young girls dress like their grandmothers 60 or 70 years ago I suggest that you stop seeing Italian movies from Mussolini's time.

I would just play it safe as far as dress is concerned particularly on days you are planning on visiting churches, esp. major churches. You would hate to get there and be denied entry because of clothing. Have been to Italy a number of times and to St. Peter's a number of times too I have seen some pretty short skirts getting through both levels of clothes patrol. On one visit I had on a skirt just above the knee and got in no problem. On our first visit to St. Peter's our sons had just finished 5th and 9th grades and had on longer cargo shorts that hit their knees and the younger one was allowed in and the older one wasn't--guess they didn't think he was a kid any more. The gal at our hotel said they would both have no problem getting in. We couldn't all go in together but we remedied the situation--My husband and son did a pants swap in the bathroom.

I'm not finding the response where someone said that they believe that Italian young girls dress like their grandmothers 60 or 70 years ago. Did that get removed?

When we were in France and Italy a few years ago with our teenage daughters, I told them no short shorts. We packed some sundresses, capris and walking shorts. In all, that turned out to be ideal, especially the sundresses because they were comfortable enough, "dressy" enough, and totally versatile enough to go from daytime touring to evening dinner. I also had them leave their flip flops at home.

Roberto, I think the examples you are giving ARE exceptions and definitely NOT the norm. As a mother, (who's not prudish), I'd NOT want my daughters to stand out in the wrong way if there's any question whatsoever. Even if 45% of girls wear short shorts and micro minis, I'd want my girls in the 55% that are dressed a little more sophisticated. You say your wife was wearing a mini skirt 20 yrs. ago, so I take it you're a middle aged man? LOL, why are you encouraging this Mom to let her young girls wear short shorts and mini skirts? I'm not insinuating anything, just wondering. I'm sure you're just giving your experiences, but usually Mom's are pretty protective.

I'm not encouraging anything. You are free to require your daughters to wear a burka and niqab if you want. And even in that case they won't be the only ones in Italy. There are plenty of those too, much more than in the US. My point is that people (who don't know Italy I must say) tend to characterize Italy as a country that is more prudish than the US when in reality the opposite is true. I presume that belief is based on stereotypes from yesteryear's Italian movies or from images of Italian immigrants going through Ellis island in the early XX century. If you go to public City swimming pools (and I worked in many in Florence when I was a University student), or any Italian beaches, you will see plenty of young Italian women who are sunbathing topless. That is not even permitted in most public places in the US. So to think that Italian 20 year old girls don't wear miniskirts or shorts in summer is totally not reflective of today's reality.

Was gonna stay outta this but my two cents....Roberto is correct. Italians wear tennis shoes in all colors (including white), shorts, sandals/flipflops, tshirts, graphic shirts, shorts, and saw plenty of tight/mini skirts. Those are not exceptions but the norm. Maybe a few decades ago you wouldn't have seen it but it's common now.

I was in Verona yesterday and several times came across what appeared to be an American group of about 10 college age girls, with 4 wearing short skirts and spaghetti straps, 2 wearing very short shorts, 2 wearing see through maxis with short slips underneath (seems to be the new fashion), and 2 wearing longer sleeves and just above the knee skirts. One of the girls was carrying (closed) the RS Blue book for Italy. They were accompanied by a man and a woman, both conservatively dressed - the lady was carrying a green Michelin guide to Italy. My wife and I were sitting just outside the Basilica of Sant'Anastasia when we saw them arrive outside. One girl went to the entry and returned shouting to some others that they would have to wait outside. "Why?" was shouted back. "Because it is a CHURCH" was shouted in return. This little side show was hard to miss. In the end the two girls with longer sleeves and the two chaperones went in and the short skirts and spaghetti straps waited outside. Two of the otherwise modestly (but short) spaghetti straps seemed quite upset. That wasn't Rome - it was Verona. Ah - I see I was posting the same time as Ron. Just by the way, I fitted in reasonably well myself, too. I was wearing sand coloured zip off trouser/shorts (in the long configuration) and was certainly not the only person wearing similar. Locals and tourists alike. I was also wearing white Nike trainers with a gold Nike swoop on them. I was the only person I saw with the gold swoop, but I saw loads of white "sneakers", mostly on locals - men and women - and on Austrians and Alto Adige Italians. FWIW

The only thing I haven't noticed mentioned here is the midriff. Churches that enforce dress codes (I'm not sure every Italian church but certainly common in Italy) require your shoulders, knees AND midriff to be covered. Outside of churches, it won't be unusual to see teen girls wearing short shorts, or spaghetti straps - assuming it's summer when you visit you will want to dress for mostly hot weather. It's important to note that you don't have to be dressed nicely, flip-flops are fine, the dress code is about modesty not style (shabbily dressed poor people are as welcome as anyone else).

"Hahaha! Who takes pictures of Berlusconi's dental hygienist?!" Berlusconi. (sigh) "Actually these articles prove that fashion has recently reached a point of concern for teachers with all those exposed legs, breasts and belly buttons." Sadly, Roberto, this has been a problem in the USA for a while now :-( Cover those girls up! Unless your name is Trashy Kardashian, put some clothing on. Ummm...Roberto's photos are certainly not out of line from what I saw my last trip to Rome in 2011. In fact, somewhat tame...and I'm talking about women - young and not-so-much - heading to and from work, school, etc. Oy. Everything tiny and super tight. If it could show, it did 8^0 And this was in 'conservative Trastevere'... Roberto's photo of the (tourist) girls in the fountain only needed to trade in their flip-flops for a pair of one-size-too-small flat sandals. Bingo - Instant Italian! Of course, we're talking about larger cities, and heavily-touristed smaller ones. If traveling to some tiny Southern Italian village accessible only by car and footbridge...then yes, probably not so many bare midriffs and black lace tap pants hanging out of the women's shorts (Good Lord!). I've GOT to show my hygienist THAT photo during my next cleaning ;-) Who else thinks Roberto was awfully quick in producing those photos?!?

I apologize if this has already been suggested. Bring a large scarf with you that can be wrapped and tied around the waist, covering your legs to just below the knees. It can easily be put on and taken off and stores easily in your bag. If you don't already have one I recommend that you buy one of the beautiful scarves for very little money from the street vendors found all over the cities.