registering with police?

Yes, people really do it and you are supposed to. When you say staying in apartments, you mean self catering? Usually the person who gives you the key and shows you in/around will take your passport and make a copy and register with the police for you. If you are having no contact with a rental agent, etc. I guess you can skip it - but - since you know it is required and it is a law, you really should do it.

Whenever you check into a hotel or rent an apartment the staff will take your passport and register you with the locals. This is normal.I've never had it take more than an hour or so. Just don't forget to get your passport back. If you're staying with friends....well me... I wouldn't worry about it but if it makes you feel better do it.

You are supposed to do this. Almost nobody, including residents here, actually does. Overall, there's a big difference in Italy between what the law says and what happens on the ground -- and as laws go, this is one that even the police say is not necessary or followed.

To put it in context, it's pretty unlikely that the apartments you're staying in are legal/licensed (since it's not legal for just any old person to sublet their places out for short-term stays), or that you'll get more than a handful of legal receipts from any transaction you do in Italy. It's just the way it is.

Mandy
www.revealedrome.com

Wow, had no idea I broke the law every time I went to Italy. I feel so...Italian!

Let your hotel/accommodation sweat the details. If you are staying in a private home then don't worry about it. Let your host take the heat for not registering you. You should not be expected to register yourself with the police. You, as a visitor, would not know where to go or who to talk to in order to accomplish this. Nor, I'm sure, do you speak or read Italian.

Thanks for all the replies. From the sounds of it I'm not going to worry about it, and just enjoy Italy.

Has anyone ever witnessed, a hotel calling in your passport? I never have.

Francis, they take your passport and record the info every time you check in. I assume they send the info later when they have time or all at once for that day's registrations.

Francis, not sure what you mean by a hotel calling in a passport.
I did have a buddy, ready to leave Italy, packed out of his apartment and staying in a local hotel the last two days....the Carbarneri (sp?) showed up knocking on his door to question his wife about her permesso di sojourno. So they do actually register you with the cops.

Please do not waste your time registering with the police. Years ago, as I worked through the process of getting my permesso, I HAD to go to the police station and "register." I was fortunate to have an Italian lawyer friend accompany me (cost me dinner) and it took us 4+ hours to work through the bureacracy that day - thankfully I had someone who spoke Italian AND knew the system.

When we finally were done (and all the stamps "stamped"), the last person we met "LOGGED" me into the system. How did he do that? By computer you say? Nope, he reached in his desk and took out this huge
Dicken's-style ledger book - which would be quite appropriate for next year's film edition of
"A Christmas Carol."

The book had various rubber bands wound around it. He popped to a page and then "hand-wrote" me into the system. After we got (safely) outside, I asked my Italian lawyer friend how often they UPDATE the book and put it into ANY computer so I would be trackable in the system... He shrugged and said. "1-2 years, depends on when they get to it and what their budget is."

So don't waste your "travel" time... Heck , they probably will not even scan or stamp your passport when you enter the country. They probably won't even know you're there!

"Sono americano, non capisco" has always worked for me.