Sending Postcards From Italy

Some places that sell the cards also sell postage - just ask for postage to US. Hotels generally have postage too and will usually mail them. Or a visit to the post office works too. Just address as normal but add USA

Postcards are everywhere, The best place to buy stamps is in a tabaccheria a "tobacco" shop which sells so much more than tobacco products. Look for the large "T" signs. The Italian word for a stamp is francobollo and I think it is about €1.50 to send. Be sure they know it is to send to the U.S. or Stato Uniti in Italian.

Usually there is a postal box near a tabaccheria or just ask where the nearest post office is (ufficio postale).

€85? Are you sure? Sending them is easy; go to any post office, hand the cards to a clerk. They'll stamp them and you pay. (But we sent several from Italy 8 years ago that still haven't arrived!) I think you can also buy stamps where you buy the postcards as well. Then you can just drop them in a postbox. Someone else will be able to tell you what kind of box; I think there are different ones for foreign and domestic.

But I do question the price you mentioned. Double check that.

Sorry....no decimal... 0.85 Euro lol!

I am sure she meant .85 euro. That is low for postage. A couple years ago it was 1.10 euro to mail plus the price of the card. I would accept Roberto's comment of 1.50euro for postage. Postcards are everywhere and cheap. I have seen everything from .50 to 5 for 1 euro.

Thank you all for your assistance :-)

In late September I mailed two postcards to the U.S. from Sorrento, one to my mother and one to my daughter, at the same time by dropping them in the same little red "Poste" box. The one to my mother arrived about a week later. The other one didn't show up until right before Thanksgiving. Italian mail can be mysterious...
Cynthia

Best is to send them directly from the Poste Italiane - yellow signage, a bugle on the sign. They also usually have Bancomats for withdrawing euro.

I just looked at a postcard that was sent from Italy five years ago. Then it was .85 euros. So if it's 1.5 now I'm not surprised. I'll find out first hand in June. 😎✈️🚡🚊⛰🇮🇹

we sent several from Italy 8 years ago that still haven't arrived

Just wait. You're still w/in the normal time frame. :-)

POSTCARDS: You can buy postcards in any souvenir shops, bar/tabacchi, newspaper stands etc. You'll see plenty all over the place.

STAMP COST: For a standard postcard (up to 20g in weight) the cost is now €2.20 cents to the US. Makes sense because I paid a couple of euro each a couple of years ago.
In the PDF file below see page 7 of 38 - Formato Normalizzato-20 grams- Zone 2 (Americas)
https://www.poste.it/prodotti-servizio-universale-listino.pdf

STAMP VENDORS: Stamps are sold not only inside post offices but also Tabacchi shop

My last trip to Europe I learned about an app, Postagram. I took pictures on my phone. With the app you select the picture you want to send, write a message, select the sender and then you can view the postcard before it is sent. The postcard is printed and sent from the US, all for 99 cents each. I think the app was a few dollars. Your boys can create their own postcards. I sent many more cards than I normally do because I had no problem finding a post office or getting stamps. People got the postcards before I got home. The recipients enjoyed the personalized photos.

Postagram looks brillant!

Be careful to buy stamps for the regular PosteItaliane, like the logos on Roberto's links. The past few years, there has been a private mailing service advertising prominently in tourist areas, but their stamps only work with their post boxes.

For many years, every guidebook has said that when in Rome, use the Vatican post office, because it goes through Switzerland and is much more reliable than the Italian postal service. I have no idea if this is true, or just one of those things that keeps being repeated in guidebooks. I can say that when I did use the Vatican post office, my postcards arrived pretty quickly, and definitely more quickly than the ones I sent from Italian post offices (it was 20 years ago, so I don't remember more details).

Plus, for your kids, it's an easy way to demonstrate that Vatican City is indeed a different country, with its own stamps and postal service. They'd probably get a kick out of mailing some postcards from Rome and some from Vatican City on the same day, and seeing how long each one actually takes. (As a kid, I loved that kind of "experiment").

Yes, Laura, I agree. I bought stamps for the private mailing service and mailed my postcards in the appropriate yellow boxes. Three of my intended recipients never received their cards. It took three weeks for the cards to reach my friends and family who did receive them. Everyone loves to get cards from me on my European travels, one friend said she wanted to be in my fan club.

I just downloaded the Postagram app on my iPhone, can't wait to use it. I'm going back to Rome a month from now - March 24!

Judy B

If you are going to Rome, You can mail postcards from the Vatican. When you enter St. Peter's square they have a postal van on the left had side where you can purchase postcards, stamps and mail them.

every guidebook has said that when in Rome, use the Vatican post
office, because it goes through Switzerland and is much more reliable
than the Italian postal service.

It might be possible that the Vatican postal service is a bit faster. It's a smaller operation (4 offices within the State and about 60 employees) therefore probably more lean and streamlined than the postal service of a large country, therefore they can probably complete the daily sorting in a shorter time.

However I now know what is totally unreliable: the guidebooks.

The notion that the Vatican Post goes through Switzerland is laughable, besides totally false.
The mail is sorted at the main Vatican postal office and depending on the destination it is delivered as follows:
- mail to be delivered within the Vatican state: delivered by the Vatican Postal staff internally generally the same day or the next business morning (twice a day delivery)
- mail to be delivered within Italy: delivered to the Italian Postal service in Rome (generally the same day or the next business morning) which will then sort it and send it through its system.
- mail to be delivered outside of Italy: delivered on the same day to Rome Fiumicino to designated air service with which the Vatican Post service has agreements. Once arrived at the country of destination, it will then be delivered by their respective national postal services from that point on.

No Switzerland involved unless the mail is actually going to Switzerland.

Have your kids write cards to themselves as well. Then they get small surprises and relive their trip.

In Venice, two years ago, we bought stamps at a kiosk/ tabac because it was so difficult to get into the post office. We asked for francoboli and were sold 4 at €1 each. Only after leaving and arriving back at our apartment did we discover these were not stamps but "stickers" from the GPS. private mail service. They only worked if we put our postcards into the boxes at the shop---not the real Italian post.

The good news is that that the postcards arrived eventually. But next time I will follow my adult kids's advice---, buy and write the postcards, then mail them from your first stop In the US.

I love Philip's idea, and suggest they write cards to each other as well occasionally.

Oh good, I feel better knowing I'm not the only one missing postcards!! LOL. I walked into a tabbachi in Naples and asked if they spoke English. Unfortunately, the gentleman said, just a little bit. He understood that I wanted a stamp but then he asked to where. When I couldn't figure out how to say "the US" in Italian, he said, "Obama" ?? And I nodded and shook my head and he gave me the thumbs up ;)

My mom didn't buy any because she scoffed at the cost (can't remember how much but it was more than .85 Euros I think it was like 2.85). So, I put it in the red mail box, but my sister never received it. This was back in July :(

Roberto is on the euro again. I mailed myself a Vatican postcard from St. Paul Outside the Wall Basilica on Friday, February 24 and I received it Saturday, March 4. Just 8 days. The stamp cost 2.3€. I have mailed letters to Florida that have taken longer. The Basilica is part of the Vatican, not Italy.

We sent at least one postcard from the Vatican, as well as several from Rome, and none of them ever arrived. Although, come to think of it, the lady to whom we sent the card from the Vatican has also claimed that we never gave her some photos she had asked for, and we know we have. Hmmm.