Traveling Italy before the Pandemic is over

Nearly all of the restrictions for entry, and controls internally have been lifted, of course in the Fall things could change. France still has some restrictions in place.

Personally, I would have no concerns, other than the typical, but everyone has their tolerance for risk. You can wear your masks, you probably will be in the minority, the majority of people have ditched them. You can certainly take it upon yourself to distance, eat outside when weather permits, even trains, sit away from the crowd. If you are using fast trains, you have less choice as to whether people are around you (assigned seating), but they do a good job of cleaning the trains and they are probably not much riskier than an airplane.

I understand why you are asking this. All thoughtful travelers are asking themselves the same question right now, "Is now the right time for me to travel?" However, the answer really depends on the needs of the travelers and their risk/stress tolerance. The answer for one person may not be the answer for the next person.

First of all the good news. It seems like most people that are getting Covid that are reported about here on the forum are asymptomatic or have minimal cold like symptoms. Many don't realize that they have Covid until that test to return test for the USA.

Your plans sound as if you have thought through risk factors and how to lessen some contacts. That said, there are no promises that you won't get Covid no matter how hard you try to avoid it. You would need to be prepared for the possibility that you might need to extend your stay in Europe with a positive test. It sounds like your pre-departure test would likely be done in France.

Here is information from the UK website about testing positive in France (I find their information easy to understand)
https://www.gov.uk/foreign-travel-advice/france/coronavirus
If you test positive for COVID-19 in France and you’re fully vaccinated (including a booster) or if you’ve had COVID-19 in the last 4 months, you must self-isolate for 7 days from the day on which you first develop symptoms, or 7 days from the date of the positive test result. Self-isolation can be reduced to 5 days if you take a negative PCR or antigen test (supervised, not self-administered) on day 5 and you have not displayed any symptoms over the previous 48 hours.

Here is the information from the UK website about testing positive in Italy.
https://www.gov.uk/foreign-travel-advice/italy/coronavirus
If you are tested and the result is positive, you must immediately self-isolate in your accommodation and call your regional hotline as set out above.

You may be able to remain in your existing accommodation for self-isolation, or be required to transfer into a state hospital or other government-provided accommodation. You may be required to fund accommodation. Depending on local arrangements, travellers in groups may be spread across different accommodation locations.

If within the last 120 days you have either (a) completed a full course of vaccination OR (b) received a booster the self-isolation, you must self-isolate for 7 days. Otherwise, you must self-isolate for 10 days.

In order to be released from self-isolation, you must produce a negative test. The local health authority determines the type of test they will use and the pattern of testing. You will also need to have been symptom-free for at least 3 days.

If you continue to test positive for a variant other than Beta or Omicron, you can be released from self-isolation after 21 days. You will also need to have been symptom-free for at least 7 days.

I was in Italy before restrictions were lifted and a few days into the period where most were gone. From what I experienced, adherence to the restrictions was well over 90%. I was in all of the locations you're planning except Amalfi. I think the Italians were very careful because the virus hit them very hard at the beginning and the lockdowns were quite severe. In the last few days I've read predictions that there will be another wave of cases this summer in the US and in Israel, so probably in Europe as well. I would hope that if there's a surge, Italy will reimpose restrictions and they will be observed (that's my hope anyway).

Have you looked into insurance - both if you have to cancel the trip and if you have to quarantine in Italy?

Thank you all for this information. It was very helpful and gives us things to consider. The weblinks to what France and Italy's covid restrictions are was extremely helpful. I do have both travel and medical insurance but still an issue of what happens this summer both US and abroad regarding a Covid surge. One more question - if we take either a plane or train from Paris to Milan do we need to take a test beforehand? From what I can tell most countries have open boarders. Thank again for the all the information.