Passports

There are many opinions on this and it's an oft discussed topic on RS.com. By law you are supposed to carry it with you. Many people do not. It's up to you.

I like to know where my passport is at all times so I carry it with me concealed in a money belt

Not a stupid question, and welcome to the forum!

I see you listed this under Italy’s category- one of my favorite countries. If you haven’t read through the Rick Steves guidebook, I would really recommend buying one and reading it. There’s so many questions it answers - many I didn’t know to even ask when we began traveling to Europe - such as “How do we avoid expensive fines when riding the metro, trains, or buses?” and “How do I not pay way too much picking a taxi at the airport?”

Your passport is your most important possession
Why would you leave it unattended?
It’s your only legal form of ID while in Europe and your ticket home

We keep ours in our money belts

This topic comes up frequently
https://search.ricksteves.com/?button=&date_range=2y&filter=Travel+Forum&query=Carrying+passport+&utf8=✓

Agree that you need to keep it with you. A couple of specific things you need it for in Italy: checking into your lodgings (they’ll take it to make a copy for the police, and it might be as much as a couple of hours before you get it back); and leaving your luggage in storage at the train station, etc.

Thank you all!

I guess we will carry them and keep copies in luggage.

We always carry our passports on us while overseas. If you have kids with you, this will be necessary to prove their age for free admission sites. We do keep a photocopy of our passports in the hotel room in case of emergency. It was a good question, keep on asking things you want to know!