What is needed to send a letter, postcard from Italy to the US?

I've only sent postcards and they require a 85 cent stamp. You can buy them in tabacchi shops. Some people print off address labels to save time when addressing all those cards.

Some of my cards have arrived within a week. Some have never arrived.

TAB

Ask for francoboli per Stati Uniti America
If you want it to get there w/in a week or so, ask for la moda piu rapido

If you go to the Vatican do go to their post office to send a card. Quite unique. The post office is on the left had side as you are facing St Peters - just look for the hordes of people going in and out.

So do we take US stamps and add to the Italian stamp?

No! You can't use U.S. stamps to mail from Italy. Mailing can be somewhat of a cultural challenge since, as RS points out, Italian postal clerks are just as conversant in English as US postal clerks are in Italian. I get my postcards written and then suck it up to go to a post office - mid morning is best - and use the phrase another poster supplied above. I haven't been very successful buying stamps at tabacchi - they often don't know what is the right postage for foreign mail. Also, they don't keep many stamps on hand.

Mailing from the Vatican is a longtime suggestion because it'd faster and more reliable (and multilingual) but, to be honest, I've had perfectly good luck with the Italian mail system.

Also it will be more expensive than the US. Don't remember well but I think it was around 1 Euro to mail a postcard from Italy last summer.

As Helen has suggested, use the Vatican post office. It is a separate 'city'and not governed/slowed down by the normal Italian postal service. They will have English language for you. The mail from the Vatican should only take a few days. Happy trip.

Every card Ive ever sent arrived after I got home.

Living here in Rome we do not use the Italian Postal Service - except to go pay our electric, water, and gas bill! And we're charged an extra 1 euro for "processing fees" when we go there!

No, when we mail items we head to the Vatican Post Office because IT WILL arrive, unlike some articles that have been sent to us through Italian mail - Doubters, go to eBay and read their postings on sending ANYTHING to Italy; they just won't do it.

We mailed postcards and standard enveloped mail at the Vatican last week for 0.85 Euro. The Vatican Mail is posted through Switzerland, and not through Italy. Any item mailed from the Vatican MUST have a Vatican stamp, not US or Italian.

For most items, Italian Post offices do have the same rates at the Vatican for you brave few... Good Luck!

In May 2007 I took US first class stamps and put them on ALL my post cards and they ALL arrived back to my family. Now I wonder if I can still do that this year when I am in Positano. Nancy

I am sooo confused...and surprised!! You can't use USA stamps in other countries???!!....Like the next time i go to NH i'll send postcards with French stamps?...Hmmmmmm??

I bought stamps at tabacci and the Vatican. All postcards arrived home safely, Vatican before the others and with much more interesting stamps. Make sure the tabacci shop knows you're wanting fast/airmail stamps, otherwise they will never get there. If in doubt, ask your hotelier (they often will sell you stamps and put them in the post for you). Also, consider sending e-mails - not as pretty as a postcard, but just as satsifactory in the jealousy creation department (my mom saved the one I sent from Cinque Terre, where I proclaimed I was never, ever, ever coming home again because I found paradise).

We sent our post cards (to Canada) from the mail box at Termini Station and we purchased our stamps at a shop in the station as well. They got her really fast, within about a week. I was surprised after hearing so much about Italian mail.

I mailed several postcards from each of Rome, Vatican, and Florence. One of the Florence postcards got there first, which was rather surprising. Then the Vatican cards showed up, and then the Rome ones. They all made it home in less than 2 weeks. As with the U.S. postal system, it's a roll of the dice.

I bought Vatican stamps from the Vatican post office, and Italian stamps from a tabbachi shop. "Francobolli for United States America" in my terrible Italian-English mixture was understood just fine.

Also consider stopping by an internet cafe if you have time and emailing a picture or 5. That'll REALLY make them green with envy!

My wife and I just returned home from a month in Italy and we mailed post cards from the Vatican, they arrived back to the States within a week. For some unknown reason postcards get to the States quicker from the Vatican than the regular post offices. Last June when we were in Italy we mailed postcards and it took 3 to 4 weeks to arrive in the States.

Greg

Ray, another thing you can do is send an "E" Card to your family/friends. Internet cafes are everywhere, and if you have a digital camera, you can send a photo of your latest destination.

My friend blogged his trip, and I was so jealous of his 3 months in Spain.