using cash vs. credit cards in Sicily

You can use cash, but 99% of places a tourist will go will take card

Some Italian lodgings require the guest to pay the local hotel tax (a few euros per person per night) in cash rather than adding it the cost of the room itself, which one usually pays by credit card.

We ended up using a lot of cash in Sicily. For example, the puppet show we attended in Palermo only took cash. We had a number of other places that it was cash only also.

Either works. Italian law requires all merchants to accept digital payments regardless of transaction amount.

However the famously tax dodging taxi drivers occasionally tell you their POS machine is not functioning. It is a lie, but if their annual revenue exceeds €85,000 they miss the opportunity to participate in a special small business tax regime entailing a flat tax rate of only 15%, so they prefer untraceable unreported cash transactions to underreport their annual receipts.

Some hotels ask you to pay the tourist tax in cash because that amount must be deposited to the City treasurer in full and they don’t want to pay the 2-3% credit card commission in it. Larger hotels let you pay with a credit card as they make up that commission by charging you for the room a bit more.

Generally I prefer to pay with credit cards as you get a better exchange rate that way. But for small transactions, like a cup of espresso (€1.20) or similar, I find it more convenient to pay cash. You will need cash (besides for taxi drivers who refuse cards for the reasons stated above), for public restroom use (1€ at the turnstiles), and for the occasional tip (for example to a hotel porter). Italians, including yours truly, don’t leave tips at restaurants, and if you want to do so, you need cash because the credit card slips don’t have an extra line to add gratuity. Leaving a tip to taxi drivers is considered by Itslians a serious crime.

We were there a few weeks ago and actually wound up using some cash, mostly for tips (restaurants and hotel cleaning staff) and some very small purchases. But most places took card, even the toilets at Palermo railway station took card payments.

We are in Sicily now, have used a little cash, but almost all transactions have been tap, using my phone.

Instances where we needed cash: One local bus in Ragusa, the tap to pay or credit card POS was not working, so needed 3.20 euro in cash for the two of us, exact or near exact change required. The Chocolate Museum in Modica looked to be cash only, 3 euro entrance (Honestly, you can skip it, not much about chocolate, just some posters and documents, a few displays of chocolate bar packaging, then an eclectic array of wooden sculptures having nothing to do with chocolate, other than they are brown, oh, and a large relief map of italy for some reason). Then the city tax of 12 euro at our apartment in Ragusa. This was all in a few days here.

Of places we chose to use cash, getting a bottle of water (0.80 euro), a few more bus fares, coffee one place, sometimes just to break a 20 euro note for change if needed.

All taxis, restaurants, hotels, shops, will take card. As Roberto mentioned, sometimes machines are "broken".

I try to have about 50 euro on me, what I have is left over from a previous trip. I probably will not use too much more in two weeks, at the end of the trip I may use an ATM to replenish my stash.