this was posted on another travel site... any comments?
http://www.aduc.it/dyn/immigrazione/arti.php?id=260217
(if you scroll down on the above link it has the text in English)
Is there a custom officer at the Treviso airport in Venice... and if not.. please advise where the police station is...
after reading the post on Fodors and the link.. i was like What??? more things to worry about...
thank you for any comments..
Ciao, Viv--and RELAX! First, other than the short time your hotel will borrow your Passport (don't sweat it, they're following the law), keep your passport in your money belt with you when out of the room. Also, just keep your wits about you the way you would in Boston or Chicago or NY. You'll be fine, and have the time of your life! One more 'comforting' note: the Italian ability to actually apply, consistently, with any degree of uniformity, ANY law like this...just don't worry. You'll be fine. And you'll find people to be generally friendly and helpful, too. The anti-immigrant sentiment sweeping the world is rooted in tough economic times, and can be found repeatedly in history, sad to say. But there is no anti-tourist sentiment in a nation that relies, rather heavily, on tourism dollars. Soak up Italia!
I am suspicious of the web site. I went to the home and it appears to be some type of an association and not an official government site. We are headed to Italy in October and that is one thing that I am not going to worry about.
It's true and it's been in effect for two years...shows you how popular it is....here's a link to the U.S. State Department's page on Italy:
Italy
Scroll down a few paragraphs under entry/exit requirements.
That's why hotels/apartment owners take your passport or passport details when you check-in. They then fill out forms to register your presence in Italy and send them to the relevant authority.
Thank you all... with out departure date so close.. I am scrambling to get all in order and then I read that and was like~ What!?~ I knew the experienced travelers out there would set it straight. The things that I worried about was 1.) we are staying in mostly apartments and 2.) we will be in Italy for a total of 21 days. (over the 8 quoted in the article)
I swear I am never that nervous traveling.. This is just our first time to Europe with the kids.. it is like how the commercial says.. “kids~it changes everything”. I went from this go with the flow~ so what if we miss the train type to this… MOM. LOL
Thank you all for getting back to me…
Viv, I had bit of a laugh when reading that article. Staying in apartments for the first two weeks of a recent trip, my passport wasn't seen by anyone. I don't carry it around with me anyway. So I was a clandestina!!! I used drivers licence ID for the Internet places. The two friends travelling with me for part of my trip went back to the passport control upon entry in Fiumicino because their passports hadn't been stamped, and they wanted one!
