Italy Report - Tap credit cards are the norm now

I was in Rome and Northern Italy for 3 weeks & I found that often, there was €50 limit on tap and then I had to insert / swipe my card and enter my PIN. There there were a couple of times, I was offered a discount for cash. Also there were a couple of times where I was told ‘cash only’.

Just another data point - I was in Italy for three weeks in June and also two weeks in September. The September trip was mainly the tourist locations - the first trip was off the main tourist route. I used my chip card for all of the hotels and B&B’s and cash for restaurants & museums. I mostly observed people always using cash for gelato shops, apertifs in the piazzas, etc. - smaller transactions. And the B&B in Mantova was cash, only.

And the B&B in Mantova was cash, only

I.e. You have been sleeping in a place that does not respect the law and that cheats on taxes. One can only hope they are more honest when it comes to fire-safety rules.

"Cash only" is forbidden in Italy and those who offer a discount are tax cheaters. Once and for all.

I made a concerted effort to use ApplePay when I was in Italy in Sept and October. I just looked back on my bill and ApplePay allowed a charge of nearly 400E for my hotel bill in Milan on American Express and 104E on Visa for a taxi ride into Milan. Those were my biggest expenditures.

I'm glad your contactless card worked well. I'll continue to try ApplePay which works better in Europe than here in North Idaho, hahaha (no my grocery store is not equipped with the correct terminals but they swear they are set for an upgrade soon!).

My experience in Italy during the pandemic, and recently in Spain, is that yes, contactless is here to stay, and it does ease transactions for those Americans who do not have true Chip and PIN (which are the vast majority).

I did notice that contactless is preferred by the vendors over inserting the card, to the extent that I suspect in the name of covid measures, merchants were given some break on transaction fees to adopt "tap"(have not found something stating that, just a strong insistence to tap).

However, in Spain, and based on feedback of travelers in Germany and other places, some of the transition to cashless is experiencing a bit of a backslide. For very small transactions (less than 5 euro?) some vendors prefer cash, plus places that did not convert (A city bus if you do not use a pass) are not moving forward with moving to cashless.

I figure before the pandemic, I maybe used 50 euro a day in cash in most countries, now, it is maybe 5-10 euro, better, but not cashless, still need to have some cash in pocket as I wander. However, this Spring, in the UK I expect it may be all but cashless.

Many small stores and vendors don't like credit cards because the companies charge them a percentage fees. It's much easier just to do things by cash especially if you are a mom&pop shop.

Last month in Italy I tapped almost exclusively. Never a problem, purchases large and small. One server at a gelateria did make a face though. A baker in Colico told me that there was no charge to him on purchases less than €10.

Many small stores and vendors don't like credit cards because the companies charge them a percentage fees. It's much easier just to do things by cash especially if you are a mom&pop shop.

That is the tried and true mantra, but not my experience since the pandemic. Many "mom and pop" shops pulled out the reader before I even reached in my pocket. It comes down to if ease of paying means people part with their cash, paying a small fee is not a problem. It is sort of like managing the pennies and letting the Dollars walk away.

Personally, I have about a 5 euro rule, if less than that, I use cash, except at kiosks that have tap, that used to be 10 or 20 euro.

Even if you could pay for everything with a credit card, there's still the issue with having small change on hand for paid public potties, eh?

104E for a taxi ride into Milan? From where? We paid 2E/person to take the bus.

We found tap-pay ubiquitous in N Italy in Sept-Oct.

104E for a taxi ride into Milan? From where?

MXP airport, it's 50 kms away from downtown.

Yes tap pay is the norm. Way better than inserting the chip or swiping

I even tapped to pay for the metro in Naples a couple of times

If you’re travelling by train and need a WC at the major city stations have cash €1 or €0.50. Also at Assisi Duomo and some other major tourist attractions. Use the free WC on the train just before you disembark. Yes the cafes, bars and restaurants have free WC’S but my expectation is that you should buy something. We had trouble getting coins as most places took credit / tap so no small change.

What is the question to ask in Italian if tap is OK?

"104E for a taxi ride into Milan? From where? We paid 2E/person to take the bus."

Yes as Dario says, from Malpensa. Frankly after having flown from Spokane to Seattle + layover, Seattle to Paris+ layover, Paris to Milan I did not want to be on public transport or in any sort of a crowd of people. Before I got to Milan I was mentally set to ride Malpensa Express, had the app downloaded but then saw the sign noting the fixed rate for the taxi ride and went for it. It was bliss being in a taxi with just me and the driver.

Many small stores and vendors don't like credit cards because the companies charge them a percentage fees. It's much easier just to do things by cash especially if you are a mom&pop shop.

In the past there was a fixed bank toll, like 0.50€ or more for every payment through debit/credit card. That was the reason why several shops didn't accept small payment. Now is different: there are some fixed rates for the POS (the unit to receive payments), like 200€ a year, or a percentage of the payment (like 1-3%). So is true that they have to pay a little fee, but isn't affecting very much the final cost of the product.
My example: working as a guide is mandatory even for me accept payment via debit/credit card. Since only a little percentage of tourists pay me directly (less than the 5%) I preferred not a fixed yearly cost but a percentage of the 2.9%. The POS I received is free (included in the fee...) and I am 100% legal.

BTW: now even to pay 0.50€ for the public toilet you can do by credit card if there is a new generation machine....

Again to repeat that not accepting a payment by credit card now is done 99% only to don't pay taxes....

Just to be clear I as not advocating for credit over cash. I like carrying cash paying for everyday things in cash. I was just surprised - after years of being the Americans still having to hassle the slide card - that it had changed so much. If you have a card you want to use I recommend you make sure it supports tapping to make everyone's life easier.

@stan: The general way to ask if you can pay with a credit card is some version of: Posso pagare con carta di credito?
or the shorter: Pago con carta (di credito)?
Just make sure you sound like you're asking a question, because only the sound of the question differentiates a statement from a question.
But I don't know how you would specifically ask about tapping. If you want to learn Italian you can always ask Come si dice - and use the English word and pick up things as you go.

The process in Italy - and Europe in general - is that they will not disappear with you card like they do in America, but will instead bring the wireless processing terminal to you. In this case it is labelled just like here with the little wavy signal and so you can just tap it and they won't even touch your card. This is pretty straightforward and if it doesn't support tap they'll take your card and insert in the machine and then hand it back to you. If you don't see the symbol you could probably just mime tapping the card to ask since they do this so many times a day.

The only exception to this is sometimes the only terminal in a restaurant will be at the cash register and they'll direct you to "go inside" or downstairs or wherever to pay. In usual Italian style they will usually communicate it in a way that implies "You should already know this" despite there being no indications I've been able to see. As always in Italy just roll with it and it will work out.

=Tod

I was in Italy in September and most places take credit cards/phone pay. An odd situation we ran into in a small town in Piedmont was that the internet was down. I was down to my last few euros and was planning to get cash at ATM but no access without internet. We even went inside the bank to ask what the problem was. Due to that issue, a store I was making a purchase at would only accept cash, so definitely have some on hand . Even taxis took credit cards.