Passports in Rome / Italy

There are several discussions on this topic, some recent. A search will bring them up.

You are required by law to have ID on your person.
Your passport is the only real acceptable ID while you are in Italy (or elsewhere in Europe).
Your passport is the most important thing you carry while traveling- with it and a credit card you can get yourself home or to a safe place.
We carry ours in a money belt deep on our person.
We have been stopped randomly and asked to show it. Twice actually (once at a train station, once while out sightseeing) and have observed others being asked as well.

Some will say a copy will do- try handing a policeman in the US a copy of your driver's license when you are stopped for speeding.

Your choice- carry it or not- but it is the law.
Seriously nobody wants your passport- they want your cash or phone.

We've made close to 20 trips to various European countries over past 10-12 years and have never been pick pocketed. Not saying it doesn't happen but we know to always be aware of our surroundings and keep our valuables (including passport) well hidden.

ChristineH -

Thank you so much for this helpful, informative reply. I was unaware of this law. Boy am I grateful to have found out about it now... prior to being stopped and questioned.

WHEW!

:-)
WL

This is a much debated topic. I note the British Foreign Office web site advises:

"You must always be able to show some form of ID. In most cases a copy of the photo page of your passport should be enough, but you may also be asked for a second form of photo ID."

I do not carry my passport with me, for the reasons you specified. I do carry my own national ID card (for what it's worth) but have never been stopped and asked for ID in Italy or elsewhere in Europe. Of course one day it could happen, but frankly I don't think it's very likely.

I have been the subject of an (attempted) pickpocketing twice, and both times it was in Rome. Hence my caution.

i was asked for my passport while standing on a train platform in Tuscany, waiting for the train to arrive, but never in Rome. I had to dig out my moneybelt while the two policemen watched, in order to show them my passport. They also checked ID’s for everybody else on the platform. After glancing at mine, the shrugged, handed it back, and walked away.

Had I not had the passport, it might’ve been a more dramatic encounter. Moneybelts are a bit of a pain, but less than having a Passport (and the majority of my cash, ATM card, etc.) misplaced, lost, or stolen. With the moneybelt, I always know where those things are.

I am not sure why people have this fear of carrying their passport, it has no value to anyone else, a thief would not specifically target it, they may try for a bag or purse it is in, but stealing your passport is not their intent.

Simply put it somewhere on your person in a secure spot and go.

As for risk, replacing a passport is a bit of a pain, sure, but actually much easier than a phone, or even a credit card for most people, and I see no advice to leave your phone locked up in a hotel safe. (Replacing a passport means getting to an Embassy or Consulate, and about an afternoon of your time, the process is pretty straight forward, you are not stranded in Europe.)

It's quite simple. If you don't want your passport pickpocketed, don't carry it in a pocket. Or a purse or backpack. At least not one that can be easily accessed. There is a reason why money belts, neck wallets, and hidden pockets were invented- they work if properly used. I've had one (unsuccessful) pickpocket attempt on my purse. DH has had 2 ( one successful). All in Paris, in the Metro. But our passports were safe in our neck wallets.

You are required by law to have ID on your person. Your passport is the only real acceptable ID while you are in Italy (or elsewhere in Europe).

Yet another declarative statement about this issue. I disagree that it's as clear as this pair of sentences, and ostensibly authoritative sources (e.g., US State Department) also seem to disagree. I keep hoping that someone who has actual professional legal experience in Italian civil law might help, but as yet no such luck. For the record, I don't carry my passport during routine activities when I'm in Europe, Italy included. It's not a matter of fear of theft for me; I just don't like unnecessary clutter. Others take a different approach, and I don't criticize them.

The law is explained below. For those who don’t know Italian there is Google translate.

https://www.avvocatofrancescolombardini.it/mancata-esibizione-del-permesso-di-soggiorno-e-del-documento-di-identificazione/

The only time I have been successfully pickpocketed was in Florence -- this is in 60 years of European travel. Lurching bus, needing to stamp my ticket and hang on and so my cross body purse was momentarily vulnerable in the crowd and the picker managed to yank the zip and grab a handful. Luckily I wasn't carrying. our passports because he just grabbed what was there including my apartment keys for which he had no use and my portable battery bank. I'm sure the passports if I had been carrying them would have just ended in a dustbin somewhere but was glad they were secured at the apartment. we use copies of our passports and our Drivers Licenses and sometimes passport cards except in those precise places where passports are required to do business e.g. phone stores and banks -- or immigration. Might this cause problems? Perhaps. Losing a passport is a giant problem so I take the risk. I have never been asked for my passport like this but my husband has been targeted by pickpockets many times -- only successfully once and I successfully once.

If I were a minority I would carry the passport in a money belt under my clothes which is what I do when day tripping out of town from a base city. So part of your decision making is an assessment of your personal risk.

Although the law requires you carry one and be ready to show it upon request of a police officer, and although violating that law carries one year of imprisonment and 2,000€ fine, however the probability of being requested one by a policeman is low, unless you look African or Middle Eastern, and therefore someone who has the potential of being an undocumented migrant. Even in the event you are asked for one if you can produce a copy of the passport and another government issued ID, like your driver’s license and an IDP (here you have another reason to get an IDP) it is unlikely you will be sanctioned. Just explain that you have been pickpocketed by gypsies in previous trips in Italy and that is why you carry a copy of it and leave the original in the hotel. The police agent will be understanding. Obviously carry it with you when you drive (very high potential of being pulled over for random checks in Italy). Regarding the ease with which you can replace a passport, that statement is valid only if you are in or near the 4 Italian cities where a U.S. Consulate is present, and those 4 cities are: Rome, Florence, Naples, Milan. If your passport is lost or stolen in Sicily you have to fly back to any of those 4 cities and without a passport you may not be able even to board the plane.

Note that the article Roberto linked to made it clear that the criminal aspect to not carrying one's passport applies only to non-citizen regular residents of Italy, not to tourists. Which to me underscores the vagueness and lack of clarity of this "requirement."

the criminal aspect to not carrying one's passport applies only to non-citizen regular residents of Italy, not to tourists.

You will be hardpressed if you try finding a formal distinction in Italian law between tourists and non-tourists. Short visits are exempted from permesso di soggiorno, and that is all. The only formal distinction, with completely different sets of rules, is between EU citizens and non-EU.

I keep hoping that someone who has actual professional legal experience in Italian civil law might help, but as yet no such luck

A recent article in Italian from the National Police website: https://siulp.it/non-consegnare-il-documento-di-riconoscimento-al-pubblico-ufficiale-costituisce-reato/
Art. 294 del R.D. 6 maggio 1940 states: «La carta di identità od i titoli equipollenti devono essere esibiti ad ogni richiesta degli ufficiali e degli agenti di pubblica sicurezza».
Means "The personal ID or similar must be exhibited at every request of officers or agents of public safety (police, carabinieri, finance police and so on".
Confirmed by the most recent Artt. n. 635 e 221 T.U.L.P.S. (TULPS is the General Italian Law for public safety).

About carrying a copy of the ID, officially is not legal, but controls usually are done when they want to find a person in particular so is often accepted for tourists. Controls are not so common, except in airports and train stations. So even if you show a copy probably no policeman take care if isn't the original one. Tell that you were pickpocketed in the past and you don't want to bring your original ID is a good excuse, like tell them that the original passport is still at hotel lobby for check-in.
The Italian driving license is considered valid as ID, so probably even a foreign one.

Remember that refuse to be identified showing an ID is a penal crime in Italy. Much better give an excuse to don't have the ID with you than refuse to be identified.

Note that the article Roberto linked to made it clear that the criminal aspect to not carrying one's passport applies only to non-citizen regular residents of Italy, not to tourists. Which to me underscores the vagueness and lack of clarity of this "requirement."

That article is referred mostly to people who need a long term VISA, so explain what is applied to them, but the safety law is applied to every not-EU citizen in Italy. So doesn't matter if you have a 10 years authorization to live in Italy for your job or a 90 days touristic VISA: if required you must demonstrate who you are, usually showing the ID.
Reference law: D.Lgs. n. 286 del 1998

Is very helpful the official webpage of Carabinieri: https://www.carabinieri.it/in-vostro-aiuto/consigli/per-i-turisti/stranieri/stranieri-turisti
"Durante l'ingresso e la permanenza in Italia, bisogna esibire i documenti prescritti ad ogni controllo delle forze dell'ordine."
Of course: if were written in English and other languages was better (being dedicated to not-Italians), but we are in Italy and the bureaucracy os sooooo slooooow.

Most countries require a visitor to be able to show a federally issued identification. For Americans, that is not a driver's license. For context, the US requires "visitors to carry a record of lawful admission." That's not necessarily a passport, but it's more than a driver's license.

We have traveled extensively, visiting 82 foreign countries as well as living in two.
When we lived in Germany, we NEVER carried our passports. When traveling in Europe, we carry photocopies of our passports.

While traveling in Europe, I have had three times that people in our party were pickpocketed. Fortunately, passports were not taken, since they were left in the hotel safe. We reported our losses once in Spain to the police and they never asked for our passports.

If you carry your passports, I recommend securing them with a money belt or neck wallet. Places like Barcelona, Rome, Madrid, Paris, etc. are pickpocket dangerous.

"Most countries require a visitor to be able to show a federally issued identification."

Most countries? That is a massive generalisation - each country has its own requirements. For the UK, it's not a requirement, and as a citizen of a Commonwealth country, I'm not even required to provide my passport when checking into a hotel. In Australia, there's no legal requirement to carry ID. Ditto in Singapore. I could go on.

We are in Italy now and were asked by Police not 20 minutes ago for our passports at the station in Caserta.
They not only looked at them,they scanned them with a handheld device.
I have been asked to show mine multiple times in past visits to Italy.
Carry them in your under clothing moneybelt or pouch.
No one is untucking your shirt except you to get to the goods.