Don't want to carry a passport around all the time...I know we need it for checking into hotels. For some reason, also need it when picking up a SIM card.
Are there any other times? Any major attractions in Rome/Florence that will want to see a passport?
Thanks.
Italian law requires you to have passport on your person
You can be asked for it at any time
Keep it secure in a money belt
Many discussions on this topic
https://search.ricksteves.com/?button=&date_range=6m&filter=Travel+Forum&query=Passport+&utf8=%E2%9C%93
Whenever someone of authority, in any city overseas, asks you to produce it.
Are there any other times? Any major attractions in Rome/Florence that will want to see a passport?
Most if not all timed entry tickets to major attractions are nominative - your name is on the ticket - and you must show that the name matches what's on your passport - which is the only acceptable ID.
As I recall, it has been cited numerous times on the forum that Italy requires foreigners to have their passports on them at all times.
and Spain
I've been able to use my driver's license for the Last Supper as id. In my case, I had my passport on me, but in a money belt under a dress and didn't want to take it out unless I had to. I tend to carry the passport in a money belt and a copy of the passport and driver's license in my crossbody purse.
Now for Spain, I found that I needed to show the passport frequently to gain access to attractions.
You actually need to have your passport on your person at all times whilst outdoors in Italy as it is the law. It’s really not such a big deal. I’ve been traveling internationally since I was 3 and to Italy for 25 years and even though my wife and her family are all Italian I still carry it on my person at all times. It’s the law. If you’re from the USA a real ID IS NOT a proper form of identification. The passport is. Period. This has been discussed and questioned endlessly here and in other forums for decades and it still doesn’t negate the fact that if carabinieri ask for your passport and you don’t have or you show them your “real ID” they might laugh but it’s not a government issued ID, your passport is. The USA is one of very few countries that don’t have a national ID that citizens carry with them at all times because that’s the law too. When I lived in Italy I carried my carta d’identità on me along with a copy of my passport because, as a resident, my carta identità superceded my passport and that’s what the carabinieri told me to do.
You're supposed to always have it on your person, as others have noted, but I only needed to show it at hotel check-in. For any attraction that asked for an ID (either for a nominative ticket or as a deposit for an audioguide), they accepted a US driver's license.
Keep it under your clothes in a money belt. Losing it or having it stolen is a pain because you can have it replaced only at a US consulate and there are only 4 in Italy (Rome, Florence, Milan, Naples).
Carry also a photocopy for easier access (and in case you do lose it).
In most cases you will need it only to check in at hotels (for that they need it for sure).
Occasionally the police may ask for it at train stations or on trains, as random checks, but it is not frequent. Not sure the police would accept your US driver's license. It's really up to the discretion of the officer. Probably for US citizens, they would close an eye. Those checks are to catch undocumented migrants, especially from certain 'at risk' groups.
For entry at museums I think they are more lenient and they will accept any ID (like your DL).
For SIM cards I've used also my California DL (I had forgotten my passport or my Italian ID at home) and the telephone store clerks didn't care, they put down my Calif. DL number as the carta d'identità number. The SIM card paper is a useless bureaucratic think they have to do, but they don't need to see if you are in the country legally. There are half a million undocumented migrants in Italy and they all have cell phones.
Getting off the train in Rome and Naples the police were directing people randomly to a line for an ID check. Also one evening they'd set out a barricade a few blocks from the Spanish Steps and were checking ID. I'm glad I carry it as it is the law to have a passport with me and I'm not sure what the consequences would be if I didn't.
Another thing you’ll need to present it for is when you’re stashing luggage at a train station.
Unless I am taking a train or plane, or plan to go shopping, I leave my passport in my hotel room.
I know it is probably the law to have it on you, but I feel safer leaving it hidden in my room when I am not moving from city to city, as mentioned, by train or plane.
I do take it along is I plan to do shopping because it's required in order to fill out the paperwork for the tax refund.
But that's my personal choice, and I've never had an issue. I am not saying that anyone else should necessarily follow my lead, only pointing out that up until now, I've been fine leaving it behind. I just feel that it's more secure to not walk around with a passport, especially in cities..
Again I am in the minority but I carry my usual handbag, the same one I use back home; it can be worn across my body and I position it that way if I am walking in a crowded area like a food market, or if I am out walking alone in the dark, let's say after dinner....(I often travel alone and I am a female)
This goes for both Italy and Spain.
When do you actually need...
There are lots of things in life that may be either required legally or highly recommended, under some circumstances or when things go sideways. You get to decide what level of risk you are willing to take. If you don't have it with you and circumstances dictate that you should have, you may regret skipping it. Or maybe you'll just be lucky and will never actually need any of those things. But it's hard to guarantee you'll always have good luck, and sometimes having it along will save you a lot of trouble.
Personally, I never travel without my IDP...you may make other choices. Vive la difference.
It is not “probably the law”
It is the law
We have been asked by police to show passorts at random locations while just out sightseeing
As I have posted in the past -it is the most important thing in your possession while traveling abroad
Why would you not keep it on your person?
I understand that Italian law only requires you to have your passport on you when you are breathing. That's the only time I would worry about having it.
Agree about the IDP; I always have a valid one.
I do not need to show it when renting the car (some rental agencies do require it, however, but the one the I use does not) but in case of an accident....or traffic violation I imagine it's important to have on hand. I'd love to hear personal experiences about that topic.
I'd also love to read if anyone here has failed to produce a passport during a police check.
I'd be curious as to what happened. Not what could happen, but what actually did happen, to someone who had left their passport back in their hotel room, or simply was not carrying their foreign passport..
What would be the usual penalty? A fine?? Jail time?
Please understand here--my curiosity has gotten the better of me...would love to hear personal experiences.
I have used 'nominative' tickets for museums, for opera, etc etc in Rome and in Florence and Venice and Milan and have never once been asked in a couple of dozen trips to show my passport when using any of these tickets. I have read that one must at the Vatican -- that was not the case on my many visits to the Vatican including the museums, the scavi tour and the Basilica but it is possible there are recent changes.
Losing a passport is a major pain and it isn't getting easier with the withdrawal of support to consular offices (the Florence consulate is being closed for example). If you feel you must carry it at all times, have a money belt under your clothes to keep it secure. You don't want to be getting into it in public. but you aren't going to be asked to. The places you need it are border crossings including boarding airplanes although you probably won't be asked to show it at border crossing within Schengen, when buying phones or phone plans or sim cards, when doing banking and when doing visa related business at the town haul if you have a long term visa and need a local residence permit which doesn't apply to tourists. . In months in Italy we have never had to show it at any other time.
my rule is to have ID including passport copy and passport card when out and about in a place with the passport securely stowed at my lodging and to carry the passport under my clothes when traveling away from my base e.g. a day trip from Florence to Bologna or whatever i.e. when I could not quickly arrange to get it if needed. If you carry it everywhere, make sure it is absolutely secure.
Agree in full with your plan, and thank you, Jane!!
To address the question as to why I do not always carry my passport in an Italian city:
Because I feel that it is safer for me to leave it in my hotel room than on my person, especially when I am walking around alone late at night, or walking around in a crowded market...or taking a crowded bus (rarity).
For me, and I stress that this is only MY personal view and I am not advising anyone to follow my lead, I feel that being asked for my passport by the police and not immediately producing it, would bring far lesser consequences than having it nicked while walking about on my own.
Let's imagine: I'm walking home from a visit to the market in Trapani when I am stopped by a pair of uniformed officers. They ask me to produce my passport. I tell them I left it back in my hotel. My guess, and this is only a wild guess, is that if they want to see it, they will return with me to my hotel and I will produce the document..
Obviously all speculation...
And then...and then...... I'd love to hear from anyone who has had a similar experience...
Since our Community Guidelines say we’re to follow the law, just a reminder that having your passport with you is required in Italy. Wearing it in a money belt is out if the way but still available if I was required to show it. I do also bring my driver’s license for the times when some type of ID is needed to hold a deposit, such as renting a bike or audio guide.
If you choose to not carry it with you, I’ll just share that my husband & I were on a train near Italy, and two serious police agents with bullet proof vests came on the train at one town and were checking & scanning all male passengers’ passports. They definitely didn’t look like they would have been fine with someone saying this was just a day-trip adventure & had no passport.
There was a question above about the IDP (International Driving Permit).
An IDP is required by the Motor Vehicle Code (art 135) and failure to have it will result in a fine from €408 to €1,600+ (but they generally give you the minimum fine). It is rarely required to rent a car at rental agencies but it is required when you get pulled over.
Random road checks are common, and Italian law (unlike the US) does not require you to commit an infraction for the police to pull you over. I’ve been pulled over twice (for no reason other than a routine check), since traveling with a California DL, and I had to produce my IDP (which I had).
Regarding Passports, and the failure to produce one when requested by an agent. The article of the law is below (it’s in Italian but you can use Google translate if you don’t know the language). Section3 is the relevant part. The sanction for failure to produce the passport proving you are in the country legally is the arrest for up to one year and a fine of up to €2,000. Whether that really happens or not I don’t know. I presume it will be up to the agent’s discretion. Taking people to jail is extra work and many Italian agents are lazy. But if it will be applied to you, I hear that the food in Italian penitentiaries is not that bad, and all cells have a bathroom with shower and a bidet. Even better than some hostels.
https://www.brocardi.it/testo-unico-immigrazione/titolo-ii/capo-i/art6.html
You can be asked to show your passport by government officials at any time. (Including crossing Schengen borders. Countries have the right to do passport checks. Germany is doing that now with everyone arriving by train.)
What a business or museum will accept as ID is not the same as what the government wants.
Under Italian law, you must have your passport on you whenever you are outside of your hotel room/apartment/hostel/etc.
Insist on only carrying a photocopy and your drivers license. Assume they will accept it. Your choice but they can fine you for that.
Assume they'll do nothing if you don't have it? Maybe. Or, take you to their station, fine you and give you time to produce it. If you don't show up, they can arrest you.
What you do is your choice. Just understand that not following the law may have its consquences.
I carry my passport in a "Hidden Pocket" type moneybelt. And unless someone is cutting my pants off, they're not getting my passport.
I've been to Italy many times over 39 years of travel and have been asked randomly to show my passport a few times.
At train stations by police, and once in the middle of nowhere on a trip up to the Dolomites at a random traffic stop by armed military police.
Plus, what if for some reason you can't get back to or back into, your accommodation?
