Italy and passports

Yes

https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/italy/passport-c0a125c0-e418-4642-bde9-858d0c5e9a16

that's the law

Yes, of course: as an alien you must be able to prove cops you are staying in Italy within the Schengen time limits and the only way to do it is your chipped passport.

Luckily the law leaves cops room not arrest an obvious tourist on the spot. In short, feel free to ignore the law and carry only a photocopy of your passport, like many Americans do. If you decide to do so, keep in mind you are running a small-but-REAL risk of being either detained or deprived of freedom of movement till you can show a real passport. The upside is that Italian cops can't shoot an unarmed suspect who's running away.

Your choice, 99.9% of the times a copy is enough.

In June, I was at a small-town train station during a "layover" from Rome airport to Orvieto. Police were walking aorund asking everyone for identification. They specifically asked me for my passport. They scanned it, checked their hand-held machine and were satisfied with whatever they saw on the screen.

It is unusual to get stopped and asked to show papers in the streets, but it can happen.
Now the Italian police uses a handheld scanner where they scan your passport and check any of the following:
-Authenticity of the passport (not forged)
-Verification if the passport is in the list of stolen, or cloned passports.
-Matching of the person to the Interpol and Europol to determine if there is an international arrest warrant pending on you.
-Your criminal record in the European Union
-Your presence in the International Terrorism watchlist
-Your presence in the list of individuals expelled from the Schengen area and if there is an entry ban within Schengen pending against you
-Verification of your visa (if applicable) and, now after the introduction of EES, verification of your stay within the 90 days limits afforded to non Schengen citizens.

Without a real passport, but just with a photocopy, the police/carabinieri will be unable to perform those checks, therefore if caught without a real one, they won't put you in a medieval torture chamber, but they might detain you to verify those things. Therefore if you want to take the risk of not carrying one, I recommend not to get too far from your hotel where you are staying, so no day trips out of town without passport.

In terms of probability of being stopped by police to check documents (Italian law, or the law of any EU country, does not require probable cause for a policeman to request to see your documents), that probability is higher while driving a car (even as a passenger, if the policeman suspects you are a foreign national) and at or near transit stations (especially train stations).

If you happen to be detained, write us a message, and we'll try to send you a cake with a file inside.

In the course of 3 weeks, I was asked for my passport twice by uniformed police, they scanned it and went on their way. A number of people on here have had the same experience, so they are actively checking IDs. It does happen mostly around train stations, just based on people's comments (mine were as well), but I suppose could happen anywhere with people traffic.

I have been to Italy MANY time probably totaling several months and NEVER been asked for my passport.
I always carry a copy with me.

If you insist on carrying. you passport, keep it in a money belt, neck wallet or another safe place.

When I was young with my male friends, long hair an all, we were often pulled over asked for ID by the police, even when not driving, but just passengers.

My wife was asked for ID by police three times (twice in the last two years). Once on a train when she was not yet an Italian citizen and only had her US passport, twice while she was a passenger in the car I was driving and she was just the passenger (I was pulled over for a random check), and she was carrying her Italian ID card, as a citizen. My wife is not a white American, so officers probably think she's African and in the country illegally. There is a lot of racial and age profiling going on in Italy, so if you may appear of some ethnic groups that are of interest to authorities, you may be asked for papers.

It does not happen often (for my wife only 3 times in over 40 trips to Italy is not often), but it can happen. And I don't know what happens if you only have a photocopy with you, especially now that they scan your passport on the hand held device and check your EES entry data.

I watched Italian Police stopping tourists in Naples across the street from the train station last April and asking to see passports. I know it does happen.