paying for things in Italy

We went fall of 2024 and used Visa for the majority of purchases, lodging, food, admissions, transit. We had to get cash once for the city lodging tax in Rome that the inn required in cash. We got that at an atm in Rome and other than that, no other cash needed. One inn I cancelled requested cash and would have needed that if we had stayed there.

Any credit card (Visa, MC), debit card, Apple Pay or Google Pay.
There will be occasions where hard cash is necessary or preferable:
-small purchases (like a €1,20 espresso or —-cappuccino or glass of sparkling water)
-Public restrooms (often requiring a1€ coin and tap and pay may not available or working)
-Tips (Italians don’t leave tips but if you do want to leave a couple of extra euro cash is the only way as credit card slips don’t offer the option to add gratuity).
-occasional tax dodging taxi driver who tells you their POS machine is momentarily out of service (likely a lie to force you to pay cash but that happens).

If you try to pay with cards as often as possible, at least for amounts over 5€, you shouldn’t need more than 10€ a day per person.

Best exchange rate is at bank attached ATM (bancomat). Minimize withdrawals as many US banks charge a $5 fee for international withdrawals (check with your bank)

Visa and Mastercard are king and everything else is an "also ran". Having tap capability on your card is key to easy transactions and post lockdown everything is tap. Some people reporting doing most of their transactions via phone payment, but that's not me. Check to see which of your cards charge "foreign transaction fees" for euro charges and do not use those if you can avoid it.

Few things require cash but it is handy to have cash for small transactions - gelato and waters - or especially someplace like a weekend market where they may take credit cards but set a minimum of 15 or 20 euros and while you are going to spent 40e you're going to do 5e at a time at different booths.

You can get euros before you go (expensive) or use your usual ATM card and get euros out of an ATM - usually called Bancomats in Italy. You will get the bank euro rate which is good but you will also probably pay a transaction fee to your bank and possibly ATM fees if your bank charges them so you should get more money as few times as possible. You should always try to use an ATM physically attached to a bank - rather than a free standing ATM with loud signs - to avoid any additional fees.

Note: Whether an ATM or an offer at a store if the ever offer to "convert to dollars and charge you in US currency" - DECLINE this "offer".

I prefer spending cash in many places people charge small charges - true at home as well - but I'm slowly working towards doing it less since it costs you to get money in euros unless you really work at it.

Have a great trip,
=Tod

We’ve just had 2+ weeks in southern Italy (Naples & Puglia) in late November/early December, and the vast majority of purchases were done using my smartphone app - double click the button in the right side of the phone, then tap the scanner. This was at restaurants, hotels, train and Metro ticket machines, taxi/Uber, grocery stores, shops, and sights. Of course, our credit cards were entered into the phone, so we were paying with our VISA cards, even if using the iPhone to conduct the transaction.

We have 3 VISA card accounts that don’t charge foreign transaction fees, and mainly used one card, and had the other two as backups. Also brought a Debit card from our bank to use for ATM withdrawals, but never made any withdrawals this trip, as we had €80 left over from prior trips, and used that.

Occasionally, the physical plastic VISA credit card was used, if the business’s scanner was being finicky with the iPhone tapping, so having the phone and a card is useful. So is having cash for occasional purchases; we used up that €80. In the past, we’ve generally gotten €200 from an ATM and gotten more after that first €200 was spent. Depending on where you’re going in Italy, your result might be different, but we didn’t need that much cash, and VISA card (with or without the iPhone to do the scanning) handled almost every purchase.

Tod types faster than I do (he must’ve posted a few seconds before me), and he said:

Note: Whether an ATM or an offer at a store if the ever offer to "convert to dollars and charge you in US currency" - DECLINE this "offer".

We often had a waiter, waitress, or merchant ask whether we wanted it rung up in Euros or dollars. We always choose the local currency. It’s not the business handling the transaction; it’s their bank, who makes money by overcharging on their conversion if you pick anything other than Euros in Italy. That practice is known as “Dynamic Currency Conversion” (DCC), and it’s a rip-off by the bank. It didn’t come up on every transaction in Italy, but be prepared to decline it any time it does come up.

We returned last weekend after a month in Italy - Florence, Arezzo, Cortona and Rome - and didn't use cash a single time. But I can see having a little cash in hand for small purchases. I still have Euros I pulled from an ATM three trips ago!