Travel to Italy from US

In Europe. Bank ATM's. Ideally, any card provider that is widely accepted and has no international transaction fees.

There is no correct answer. We always purchased some euros at home. We did not like having to look for an atm upon arrival. Do not purchase much. We took a bank card and replenished as necessary.

You will not need much currency, however we always liked having some in cash it was needed.

Do you use ApplePay or GooglePay? If not get familiar with whichever you have on your phone while you are still at home. The last time I went to Italy which was on a Rick Steves tour, the only time I used cash was to pay a bar tab at 2 of the tour hotels and they preferred cash to CC or Apple Pay.

ApplePay is literally everywhere including the 3E gelato.

IF you feel you must have some cash you might get a little before you leave home or after you are at your first hotel and can access a nearby ATM.

You can get euro at any ATM in Italy, exactly like you would do at home in the US. If you want some euro from home so that you don’t have to look for the ATM at the airport when you land, then get no more than $100 because you generally get a much worse exchange rate in the US.

Your credit cards, debit cards or ApplePay and GooglePay work too. Italian merchants are obliged by law to accept digital payments regardless of transaction amount, however I generally use cash for smallish transaction, like a gelato or cup of espresso at a coffee bar.

When you use ATM machines in Italy make sure they are those attached to banks. They should display the BANCOMAT logo, used by Italian banks. There are also ATM machines that say just ATM, usually near tourist souvenir shops. Those are part of the Euronet network, a company based in Kansas, and their exchange rate is not as good, and charge you a commission. Go to the ones inside banks.

Also check with your bank how much fee they charge you per withdrawal when you use a foreign bank. Chase for example, charges me $5 per withdrawal when I pull out money from an ATM overseas. Other banks are better. In any case if your bank charges you a fee for each withdrawal, pull more money out so that you minimize the number of withdrawals you make. Then use your cards as much as possible to pay. You won’t need much cash at all doing so in your trip.

I got some 200 euros from my bank before i left. I used it to pay city tax. Some of my hotels required the city tax be paid in cash.
Most places accept cc payment, but there was one rifugio in the Dolomite that prefers cash and when we were in Murano, one of the shop had issue with their cc machine, luckily we had cash on hand.

Personally, I do not want to take the time out of my limited vacation time to find an ATM so I get Euros at home. We have a Wells Fargo account and they will get them for the exchange rate and take back whatever you don't use. Maybe your bank does the same.

Get them at home before you go.

Google ‘forex exchange near me’ and shop around.

We normally get a little cash ahead of the trip, say 100 euro. That’s our plan before our trip in October.

Europe is going cashless as fast or faster than the US. On our trip to England in May we ran into several places that are fully cashless.

I always order some from my bank (Wells Fargo) before I go. They get me the current exchange rate with no fees or mark ups.

People who take tours might not use the cash as much, but for the rest of us, you need cash on hand for things like the hotel tax (Airbnbs charge this too) which they usually want in cash and up front. Also, if you hire a private driver or a private tour guide, they appreciate a cash tip. If you're shopping in an outdoor market buying a small item here and a small item there, the vendors appreciate cash. And in some places you might even have to pay a euro to use a restroom, or deposit a euro to use a shopping cart at a supermarket.

I like to have my euros before I go so there is one less thing to worry about when I get there. I don't want to spend one moment of my time sussing out ATMs in Europe. On one trip a few years ago, I used my ATM at a machine connected to a bank (in France) and it took my card. I went in to the bank to tell them and they were like, "Too bad/so sad, there is nothing we can do." That card was my main source of funds for the trip, so it was a pretty significant loss. I'll never take that risk again.