Safety in Italy

Pickpockets: In Rome, Naples and Milan thieves work the stations and public transport hard. Wear your backpack on your front and never put a phone in a back pocket.
Street scams: Ignore the free bracelet or the single rose pressed into your hand. The moment you accept it, someone starts demanding money. A polite "No, grazie" and steady walking solves it.
Taxis: Use only the official white cars with a meter. Freelancers outside airports will quote several times the real fare. Insist the meter goes on before you set off.
Your bags: Do not hang a bag on the back of a chair at a pavement cafe. Snatch thefts are routine in the tourist quarters, and passports and serious cash belong in the room safe.
At night: The cities are broadly calm, but the areas immediately around the central railway stations are worth avoiding late. They attract the kind of company you do not need.
Getting help: Dial 112 if something happens, and operators generally speak English. Travel insurance is worth having on its own merits here, since it genuinely smooths out any visit to a doctor.

Italy is safe from serious crime and very unsafe for pockets. The hotspots are Rome, Naples, Milan and Florence.

Rome's metro and stations. Line A between Termini and the Vatican is the country's premier theft location. They work in groups: one presses against you in the doorway, one takes the wallet, one receives it. Wear a backpack on your chest in the metro, and never put a phone in a back pocket.

The friendship bracelet. By the Colosseum and on the Spanish Steps, a thread is deftly tied to your wrist and payment is then demanded, loudly. It cannot be removed without scissors — that is the point. Keep your hands to yourself.

"Gladiators." A photograph with the costumed men outside the Colosseum ends with a demand for 20 to 50 euros a head. It is formally prohibited, but the scheme persists.

Taxis from Fiumicino. The fare from the airport to Rome's historic centre is a fixed 55 euros, set by law and printed on the car door. Any other figure is a breach, and you can say so.

Restaurant bills. The coperto — a 2 to 3 euro cover charge per person — is lawful and stated on the menu. What is not is a "tourist menu" beside a major sight, or fish sold "by weight" without being weighed in front of you. Ask the price before ordering.

ATMs. When withdrawing cash, decline your bank's offer to convert into your home currency — the rate is 5 to 10 percent worse.

The ZTL is the classic Italian holiday fine. Zona a Traffico Limitato covers the centre of nearly every city: Florence, Rome, Milan, Bologna, Pisa, Siena. Entry is camera-enforced, the fine is around 100 euros per pass, and it is recorded automatically. The notice reaches your rental company six months later, and they charge the fine plus an administration fee. People collect three or four fines in a single day simply by driving in and out. Navigation apps often do not know about ZTLs — watch for the round white signs with a red border marked ZTL.

Counterfeits. Italy fines the buyer, not the seller: purchasing a fake bag or sunglasses from a street trader carries a substantial penalty, and the finance police run checks on beaches.

Monuments. Sitting on the Spanish Steps, eating beside Rome's fountains, wading in fountains and climbing on monuments are prohibited, with fines from 100 to 500 euros. Venice fines people for sitting on the ground in the wrong places and for feeding pigeons.

Alcohol. Many historic centres ban drinking in the street after a certain hour and takeaway alcohol sales at night.

Drones require ENAC registration and are prohibited over cities and heritage sites.

Documents. Carry a copy of your passport: checks are rare, but the document is requested at check-in and on trains.

Vaccinations. None. Italy is an ordinary European country in infectious terms.

Water. Tap water is drinkable nationwide. Rome's nasoni drinking fountains give excellent cold water for free and can be used without hesitation. The sign "acqua non potabile" is uncommon and means what it says.

Heat. July and August in the south and Sicily pass 40°C, and in recent years heatwaves have reached the north as well. The two-to-five siesta is not laziness but a way of staying out of hospital.

The sea. Jellyfish off Sicily and Calabria are common in late summer. Sea urchins on rocky beaches make swim shoes worthwhile.

The tiger mosquito. Established nationwide, biting by day and extremely persistent. Not dangerous, but it ruins an evening — bring repellent.

Healthcare. The public system is good and an ambulance on 112 comes to anyone free of charge. Emergency treatment at a pronto soccorso is provided to all, but non-EU citizens are billed afterwards. Insurance is needed.

Pharmacies. Look for the green cross. Italian pharmacists advise willingly and competently, and will select most over-the-counter remedies on the spot.

Italy sits in the upper half of the Corruption Perceptions Index. Nobody takes bribes in the street, and offering money to an officer is a poor idea.

Three forces, which confuses people. Polizia di Stato (113) is the ordinary urban police. The Carabinieri (112) are a military gendarmerie with the same functions, approached on equal terms. The Guardia di Finanza is the financial police, which also handles counterfeits and receipts. The European 112 works and routes you to the right service.

Reporting theft. Your insurer needs a denuncia. You can file it at any police or carabinieri station, and larger cities have offices with English-speaking officers. It takes between half an hour and two hours. Without a denuncia there is no payout, and you will also need it to replace a passport at your consulate.

Receipts are compulsory. By law the buyer must take a receipt and keep it until leaving the premises — formally both seller and buyer can be fined. In practice tourists are not pursued, but take the receipt.

Traffic enforcement. Fines arrive from cameras and are almost impossible to contest from abroad. Speed, ZTLs and parking on yellow lines are the three main sources.

Emergency numbers: 112 unified, 113 police, 118 ambulance.