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Italy's "Super Green Pass"

Posted by (Abruzzo Mountains) on

Oh, my aching head. Italy introduced some new and exceptionally complicated COVID rules today that go by the name "Super Green Pass". It is similar to Germany's 2G (vaccinated or recovered) rules in that it is much harder to do anything indoors if you are not vaccinated. But the rules are wildly complicated. Quick summary:

Super Green Pass - double vaxxed or recovered, as shown in the Italian green pass app

Base Green Pass - either super green pass or negative test within last 48 hours

No vaccines - just stay home and away from others. You can go to shops, but forget seeing other people. There are widespread workplace vaccine mandates.

To get into the following places/activities, you must show:

  • Restaurants - Super GP
  • Hotels - Base GP
  • Meals in your own hotel - Base GP
  • Shows, concerts, sporting events - Super GP
  • Museums, exhibits - Base GP
  • Pools, gyms, team sports - Base GP
  • Festivals, fairs, trade fairs - Base GP
  • Thermal spas - Base GP
  • Amusement parks - Base GP
  • Indoor cultural and recreational centres, casinos - Base GP
  • Parties following private ceremonies (weddings, baptisms) - Base GP
  • Dance halls and discos - Super GP
  • Public ceremonies - Super GP

Right. You keep all those rules in your head, and see if you can find a consistency in them! I think basically it means what we've been saying to each other all along: if you're not vaccinated, just don't travel to Italy. Those of us already here will muddle through!

Vaccine and booster uptake has gone up dramatically this week, as people look at this and just say "basta - get me the shot, doc." Which is a good thing, but did it have to be this complicated?? (Italy's total eligible population vaccination rate is at 85% today, with well over 90% for over 70s. And the case rates, while rising, are not spiking.)

Posted by
3812 posts

What's so complicated? It's a 13 lines list saying that without a vaccine you can't enter restaurants, dance halls and discos and you can't attend sport events and public ceremonies. To do everything else a test is still enough, and aside from restaurants "everything else" is what 99% of tourists do. I'd be more worried about high speed trains if I were planning a trip to Italy, not about eating in bars instead of proper sit-down restaurants.

This one of those messages where "boh" is the first comment that comes to my mind during a pandemic.

Posted by
1089 posts

I don't think the 13 lines are necessary. Just say get vaccinated or stay home.

Posted by
8027 posts

Gyms only need a base pass, but discos need a super pass? Maybe music, or particulately loud music, makes the viral risk higher? The message, either way, does seem to indicate that people should be vaccinated, but in some instances, Italy wants them to be really vaccinated. For Americans going to Italy, there’s no Super CDC card, yet.

Still, whatever’s been done is working better than here in Wheat Ridge, Colorado, USA. A recently reinstituted indoor mask requirement isn’t being completely followed, and merchants and the indoor gym is having a hard time enforcing it. We’re not near 85% yet, either.

Posted by
16168 posts

Over my lifetime dealing with Italy (half of which while living in Italy), I've learned that there are no limits to the bureaucratic hurdles Italian authorities can device on any given day.

I am sure every agency of the Italian government, at the national and local level, has an office, with dedicated staff, that is called O.C.S.A (Office for the Complication of Simple Affairs).

I understand the need for a 'vaccination pass'. But why two? With a long set of instructions for each?

Posted by
3812 posts

Gyms only need a base pass, but discos need a super pass?

Because gyms have proven they can and do check passes of their members while discos didn't and are not open only to members. Gym members, incidentally, who must show a doctor's note not older than 12 months to become members.

Just say get vaccinated or stay home.

Do you live over a rock or under it? Saying "get vaccinated or stay home" would mean a mandatory vaccine. A mandatory vaccine can be imposed only by law and such a law wouldn't have the votes. It's being discussed for months, the Super Green Pass is the closest thing to a mandatory vaccine they can get without risking a confidence vote in Parliament.

But why two?

As I said above, because they are not sure a law about mandatory vaccines would get the votes in both houses of the parliament. Meanwhile they know for sure that the no-vax movement would bring such a law in front of the Constitutional Court.

That list is quite smart to anyone that lives in Italy: It specifically targets the age group with the lowest vaccination rates without blocking tourism during the Xmas holydays.

Posted by
279 posts

Just hanging on for the ride. Booked for 2 1/2 weeks in Italy starting April 1, booster shot was given 03Sept20. Will be right on the line for 9 months. Expect to go and get another booster before travel I guess although who know what may happen by April.

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