Question about travel to Italy in general in light of recent events

Not in Italy now, but planning on traveling to Europe in June (London) and September (Germany), was just in Spain last month. None of this seriously deters me from travelling. I do expect that there will be more security measures, at airports, train stations, borders. I suppose one might think twice about attending major events, we will still go to Octoberfest though. In the end, life goes on, these events are random enough that to plan around them, or even to try to out-think the risk is just not possible. And yes, the State Department warnings (they send them to me everytime I travel for Business) are always somewhat dire.

Going to France in Sept. No change. Thought never crossed my mine.

Easiest answer is the one I provided for someone else today:

"..I've just checked the U.S. State dept. travel pages for both Italy and Belgium, and there are NO recommendations not to travel to Europe right now. In fact, they state on their twitter page that "We are not advising U.S. citizens to avoid travel to Europe or to any particular country":

https://mobile.twitter.com/TravelGov/status/713001618065596417?p=v

State Dept. cautions are considered among frequent travelers abroad as leaning to the extreme so that they'd make a statement like this, at this time, is significant.

There are no specific alerts at all for Italy. The cautionary text under "Safety and Security" has pretty much been standard for years: remain vigilant.

https://travel.state.gov/content/passports/en/country/italy.html

Paris was on high alert when we were there in 2009 (Eiffel and some other locations abruptly, temporarily closed multiple times during our week) and various other cities have been on various heightened levels since, well, forever. Security checks have been in place at major Italian attractions - Vatican, Colosseum, Uffizi (which was bombed in 1993) etc.- for some time, and others are being initiated as authorities see fit. For instance, a friend in England who very recently returned from Rome tells me that there are bag checks at Santa Maria Maggiore now. Additional checks may be initiated on short notice so just go with the flow. Situations can change on a dime so what's current today may not be 24 hours from now.

Would I go to Italy right now? Absolutely, but I can't make that decision for someone else. Scan the Italy and other country forums for posts from people who are not altering their current plans.

travelguy,

I don't think anywhere in Europe (or elsewhere) can be ruled out for possible attacks, but I believe Italy is relatively safe and low risk so would have no hesitation in visiting there (which I will hopefully be doing again later this year). Italy is not on the list of the five places mentioned by the evil-doers as locations for attacks, so that's encouraging (of course they could change their minds). According to the news agencies, the places mentioned in communiqués are Paris, a major city in Belgium, U.K., Berlin and somewhere in Spain. Despite the list, I would have no hesitation in going to any of those places if that happened to fit with my plans.

Leaving for Italy in less than two months.

I lived in Miami for forty years, fulfilled my statistical responsibility as a crime victim several times over, but I still love Miami, travelguy.

I was in Italy for two months last summer and now this is my 6th week this year. There is a greater presence of police/military everywhere.