Purchasing hiking poles in Italy?

FYI, hiking/trekking poles aren't allowed in carryon, so buying them there is your only option.

I think they are much more common in Europe, so I suspect you will have no trouble finding them there.

https://www.tsa.gov/travel/security-screening/whatcanibring/items/hiking-poles

barb,

Renting is probably not a viable option as you'll be moving around and would likely have to return them to the place you rented them. If you buy hiking poles in Italy, you won't be able to bring them home in carry-on luggage so you'll have to toss them in the bin or give them away. The best and cheapest option would seem to be to take your existing hiking poles and use a slightly larger checked bag. I normally check one of my bags and that's never been a problem.

Even if you trekking poles could fit in your carry-on (and a number of European airlines have shorter carryon limits) TSA does not allow trekking poles in the cabin. You will need to check the poles. That said, the benefit of carrying your trekking poles in a checked bag is that you will have more room to bring stuff back that you bought in Italy.

We found some inexpensive poles in Decathlon - a sports chain. They were around €15

I bought a cheap one from a souvenir shop on the waterfront in Varenna, so I imagine they would be pretty easy to find.

I was just about to pop in with Decathlon, too. Or Lidl or Aldi - depending what's in the middle bins. Decathlon for certain - cheap, decent quality, functional.

We've bought them for as little as €10.00 per stick at a sporting goods store at Siusi, near Castelrotto, as much as €40 for a pair in a small town in the Sesto Dolomites, so prices vary but you can get relatively inexpensive ones. We finally bought collapsible ones and check our bags now.

After my old poles were stolen last year, I bought these Cascade Mountain ones on Amazon. I removed all the extra stuff from the bag, put the basic walking rubber feet on them and took 2 extra feet like the traction walking tips at the top of the picture. I got a note from my orthopedist which I Google translated into Portuguese and Spanish. I put one copy in the bag and carried one in my personal item.

I deliberately bought cheaper poles, fully expecting them to be confiscated somewhere along the way. The only way they fit in my Eagle Creek Load Warrior 20" international carry-on was vertically along one soft side. The total length of the pole bag is 18 inches.

I knew they would be okay on 2 of the 3 internal European flights where I checked my bag. I was iffy about the US domestic flights, the international ones and the one internal European one that I carried on.

That bag went through 5 carry-on security screenings, in Tucson, Detroit, Amsterdam twice, and Salt Lake City. No screener batted an eye. Maybe it's my gray hair.

As it turns out, I only needed and used one of the poles. It was a big help in many situations and I was glad to have it.

Incidentally, the same thing happened last summer when I carried on one of the old poles in a slightly larger Eagle Creek 22" carry-on bag. In that case, the security checks were in Seattle, Amsterdam twice and Bergen. My hair was gray last year, too.

As always, your experience might be different than mine if you tried the same thing. I was encouraged to try when a few years ago I saw a very short older man on the airside in Seattle with a walking stick very similar to mine.

I was going to recommend getting a 3-section collapsible poles however, I caught that you're planning on carrying-on ergo, no-can-do, must check poles.

We found some inexpensive poles in Decathlon - a sports chain. They were around €15

The Dick's Sporting Goods of Europe, there is one near the center of Milan.

Considering you'll be romping around the Dolomites within the first 3-days, there should be plenty of outdoor retailers selling trekking poles, socks, gaiters and whatever other gear you may have left-behind, forgot or, need. Nice places to get a useful souvenir, you can check out brands, designs and colors we usually don't get to see here in the US. In Manarola, one of the CT villages, there's a shop Cinque Terre Trekking run by an American wife and her CT Native husband. Good place for local information and pick-up one of their popular t-shirts.

Every local street market has them. They may not exactly match but they do the trick. We negotiated my set to €15 Euros. Make sure the handles match and can be adjusted to the same height.