SIM card in italy for Via Francigena

I believe I was asked for my passport when I bought an Italian SIM last year, and I was warned that it would take some time (hours) before the SIM was active. It certainly is a good idea to have phone capability for emergency use, but for maps, you probably won't need a SIM. I use Ulmon's CityMaps2GoPro (I paid a one-time fee of $4 or $5, I think) on both my smartphone and my tablet, and others use Google Maps. Both allow you to download maps ahead of time. The maps are then available offline when you don't have Wi-Fi or a cellular connection. Both apps use GPS satellites to track your location. The maps take up a fair amount of storage on your device, so if you are traveling through a lot of areas in Italy, that might be an issue if you don't have much unused memory on your phone.

I'm not a hiker, so there might be a more specialized map application I'm not aware of.

I have a phone that I bought in Italy a few years ago, I get a new SIM card every year because whatever deal I bought has long since expired. The only documentation I need is my passport. I was asked once for a codice fiscale, but the store used theirs.

The store will make a copy of your passport.

Sometimes they want a Codice Fiscale, and sometimes they don't. So, it's easiest just to get one from the various websites that generate them, and bring it with you. For directions on this, scroll down to near the bottom of this website ("Codice Fiscale, what's that"): http://www.prepaidgsm.net/en/italy.php

It can take an hour or so for the phone to be activated, but sometimes it's faster.

I get one SIM card in Italy every year for my iPhone, including currently (I'm in Tuscany since about 10 days ago). I also have an old one for a flip phone that I don't let expire, but for an iPhone I need to buy a new one because all I need is a month of data and therefore I let it expire after the first month. Vodafone Holiday at 30€ for a month, is a good deal, it's designed for tourists. It comes with 2Gb, 300 outgoing voice minutes (worldwide) and 300 outgoing SMS texts (worldwide). Incoming calls and texts are always free and unlimited. They are currently selling an even better deal for those born outside Italy. It's a plan designed for migrants, but they'll sell it to you if you want. Unlike the Vodafone Holiday, it doesn't come with the 300 SMS texts, but with 3€ you can buy 500 SMS texts and still come ahead. If you have an iPad with cellular capabilities, you can buy a SIM card for that with 5Gb of data for even less. I got plans for both, since I use a lot of data. Not sure you will have that need however.
To buy one all you need is your id (passport), a local address (your hotel will work). The codice fiscale is also required (in spite of what some people might tell you here), however the store will get it online for you (that is why they won't probably ask you for one).

We just returned. We have Virgin mobil Iphones and androids and were not able to get sim cards working in them, Virgin assured me they were unlocked. I don't know what happened. Took an hour of fooling around and 25 euros to not get it working. Needed a passport to buy the sim card. We did rent a hot spot with our car and that worked really well. About 15 euros a day, so not a cheap option. If you are unsure about your phone working you can pre order a rental hot spot to be delivered to your first stop. We will be looking into that next time.

When I was in Italy this past April I bought a sim card at the Milan airport and its true they do not activate right away. I had to show my passport and paid 30 Euros. The next day we had to go to the store Vodafone and they activated my sim card. I don't know what the problem was. You must have an unlocked phone though. I have an old IPhone I use on all my European travels.

I purchased two pay-as-you-go SIM cards from WIND last fall and the process was fast and easy. All they did was make a copy of my passport. It took about twenty minutes for each phone to activate.

Although the purchase was easy, I would recommend going with a different provider (3, Vodafone, etc.). I wasn't happy with the cellular voice or data service or coverage. However, others seem to find it acceptable so your experience my be different...

Don't know where you're flying in to but I just came through the Rome airport and there's a TIM (Telecom Italia Mobile) kiosk in the airport. You will probably have to show your passport and register some sort of address, a hotel or maybe your home address. The data plan will be expensive so use Wifi whenever possible. I also used Skype to call back to the US when I had Wifi access, it worked very well. I bought an international SIM from Telestial here in the US rates were about 15 cents per minute, the same for texts. If you go this way, get the international SIM not the country specific SIM, the rates are less and it works anywhere. Make sure your phone is unlocked and compatible.

Keith

once you get the Sim you will need to change the APN in the settings menu to which ever network you went with ... Vodafone, TIM, etc. otherwise - no data

I just got back from Italy and used a mobile wifi device from ExpressoWifi that worked very well. You go online to their website and you rent/reserve the unit online with delivery to your hotel or, in our case, they delivered it to us in baggage claim at the Rome Airport and we dropped it off at hotel in Venice when we left Italy. It uses the local Italian Cell services and converts to Wifi on a small device you carry with you that your cell phone(s) can access via the secure wifi network the device uses (it provides network name and password to you). This way you can keep your cell phone is Airplane mode and only use your wifi setting on your phone and avoid roaming charges from AT&T/Verizon. Rates start at about $6.00/day and it is 4G service and it is unlimited internet!

It works great for Email, Internet and GPS for various map apps (which came in handy in all cities we visited - Rome, Florence, Lake Como, Venice (especially Venice!). You can also text and use Facetime Video/audio/Skype if you have IPhone. It only works in Italy though so you will have to research other providers for other countries.

I didn't use it last summer when we visited German & Austria and wish I had used a portable wifi device!

I am in Pienza now, and am on a TMobile plan that is FREE international data and phone at 20cents a minute calls. The international data is primarily in the cities, but phone is always on. They use TIM so far ranging from when I landed to the smallest hill town. Because of how hilly its is here, you can anticipate some limited access to data, but I have always had cell service. As someone else noted, if you download the google map of where you are at a pretty tight resolution you don't need data, and I also have the Ullmon app as mentioned by someone else. It's really hot so I'm hoping you are prepared for upper 80s and low 90s and humidity.