ITALY: Prime Travel Data.

NEED TO KNOW

So here you are in Italy and you need to know some elementary stuff — like how to make a phone call, get local money, or contact the American Embassy to report your stolen passport. Here is a convenient source for that information, plus a bit more.

This web page originally appeared in the first editon of my book How To Europe: The Complete Travelers Handbook in a section titled "Country Data Sheets" over thirty years ago. I've updated and improved it for 2016.

Important information about this data sheet.
Native name	Italia
Capital	Rome (Roma)
Postal code	I
Telephone code	+3 See chapter 19, Telephoning to, from, and within Europe.
Language	Italian
Currency	Euro, € See The Euro and Other Currencies.
European Union	Member. See chapter 25, Customs Duty, USA and Europe.
Schengen Agreement	Not a Member. See chapter 3, Passport and Visas.
Time zone	GMT+1 See chapter 28, European Dates and Time Zones.
Electricity	220 volts, 50 Hz. See chapter 11, European Electricity: Travel Voltage Fundamentals..

Date	Holiday	Festa
Jan 1	New Year's Day	Capodanno
Apr 25	Liberation Day	Anniversario della Liberazione
	Easter Monday	Lunedi dell`Angelo
May 1	Labor Day	Festa del Lavoro
Aug 15	Assumption	Assunzione di M.V.
Nov 1	All Saints' Day	Tutti i Santi
Dec 8	Immaculate Conception	Immacolata Concezione
Dec 25	Christmas	Natale
Dec 26	St. Stephen's Day	Santo Stefano

Italian Offices in the USA
Embassy	Ambasciata d'Italia 3000 Whitehaven Street, N.W. Washington, DC 20008 Tel 202.612.4400 Fax 202.518.2151
Consulates	Boston, Chicago, Detroit, Houston, Miami, New York, Los Angeles, Newark, Philadelphia, San Francisco
Tourist Office	Italian Government Tourist Board 630 Fifth Avenue, Suite 1565 New York, NY 10111 T 212-245-5618 F 212-586-9249
	Chicago, Los Angeles, Toronto

American Offices in Italy
Embassy	Embassy of the United States, Rome, Italy Via Veneto 119/A 00187 Roma T (+39) 06.46741
Consulates	Milan, Naples, Florence

USA is known as	Stati Uniti

Recommended books for further information:

There are plenty of guide books for Italy. Michelin Red Guides (hotels and restaurants) and Michelin Green Guides (man-made and natural wonders) are my favorites but there are many other good ones. Notice that I do not recommend any Frommers, Dummies, Steves, or other inferior guides. For some of the reasons please go to the hoi polloi.

As one example of a substandard guide, I have a 400+ page book titled Rick Steves' France, Belgium, & The Netherlands which has not a single mention of Marseille, Dijon, or Aix-en-Provence. That's like leaving Chicago, New Orleans, and Newport Beach out of a USA travel guide. But this book did include enough pages to promote his whirlwind guided bus tours, videos, backpacks, sink stoppers, and Steves' other branded products. A page of sophomoric French phrases plus sort-of maps cap off the disaster. Steves is strong on self promotion but weak on meaningful content.

For the good stuff, the links below take you directly to a page at Amazon.com. That page details the item, and in some cases includes candid comments from others who have bought the item. Enjoy-Europe.com benefits when you order here. Thanks for your support!

Note: emphasis in the titles is mine -- to help you in finding the information you need. Don't worry too much about publication dates. Many books are updated every three to six years. The monuments and cathedrals haven't moved in 500 years!