Does Italy have any radio stations in English? I'm going to Rome, Sorrento, Vernazza, Veranna, and Florence. Verizon said my old Samsung flip cell phone will be unable to make calls in Italy. Is there 'burner" cells or something like that I can buy when I get to Italy and use that for three weeks?
Lou
I’ve been to Italy many times - never noticed any radio stations in English but most hotels will have at least one tv channel in English (like CNN).
I’m sure your US flip phone will be of no use in Italy. About ten years ago I bought a basic telefonino (literally little phone) at a Best Buy type store and I use that every time I go back to Italy. The good thing us that, unlike in the US, you just buy 15, 20 euros of minutes at a time and then go to any Tabacchi (stores with a blue sign and letter T) to add more euros/minutes to the phone. You can use it to call within Italy to check in with your hotel or make reservat a restaurant. But you can also use it to call to (and receive calls from) the US - and relatively cheaply.
There are several cell phone company providers. I would go with TIM which stands for Telecom Italia. They are in every city and even in many smaller towns as well as airports and train stations- if your first stop is Rome there is a very good TIM store on the second floor of Stazione Termini (main train station). They’ll speak English and you need to have your passport with you to register and buy a phone. Just buy the cheapest phone in the store and have them set you up.
Many people spend considerable money paying for plans with Verizon or ATT&T using their smartphones. Buying a cheap Italian cellphone and paying as you go is much simpler and inexpensive.
will you have a laptop or an ipad for your travels, I usually stream radio on my ipad when travelling.
The only english language stations in operation would be from US Armed Forces Radio. More details here: http://www.afneurope.net/AFN-360/
If you will be bringing along a smartphone/tablet/laptop you can stream radio stations from every corner of the planet via tunein.com or the tunein app.
Thanks for your replies. We are traveling as light as possible for three weeks. No laptop, just an mp3 player, which is why I wanted an Italian radio station broadcast in English.
If it’s in your budget, consider buying a used unlocked smart phone. Look at it as a travel tool, not as a phone. You can download your music and leave the MP3 player at home, use it as a GPS, download Rick’s tours on his app, download his guidebook, research sites and attractions, stream on line music, buy Trenitalia tickets, etc. + it’s a phone! When you get to Italy, buy a TIM for visitors SIM (€35, gives you 15 gigs of data usage, SMS texting, international telephone minutes). Just make sure if buying a used phone that it will work in Europe and make sure it works before you leave home. I used to bog myself down with guidebooks, a Garmin GPS, iPod, paper maps, print outs of directions or reservations, rail tickets. Now it’s all on my phone that I slip into my pocket. A trip to Europe is expensive. Weigh the cost of getting and using the phone in comparison to the investment you’re making for your trip.
The dj's speak Italian but many English songs. Half the fun is listening to the rapid fire Italian spoken.
