Food and Drink
Each region takes pride in its own specialities. It is recommended to travel into the hinterland, away from tourist resorts in order to taste all the different foods. In restaurants, you have to generally order a full course menu. For snacks, a trattoria, or pizzeria can fulfil your appetite. Lunch is served between 12 noon and 2 pm, dinner from 7:30 pm. Service is included in the bill, but it is common practice to leave a supplementary tip. When leaving the restaurant, you should keep the bill and receipt for up to 500 m from the restaurant, or else in case of a police control for fraud, you are liable to a fine of up to EUR 1,000.
Don't
Italians are generally open and friendly, if you use the regular politeness, you will have no problem.
Italians, especially those in the North, are very different from the stereotype of ""pulcinella, pizza and mandolino"" seen in American ""B"" movies (and you won't find roads full of Fiat 500's). Not surprisingly, for many people this stereotype is quite offensive. The same goes when talking about the stereotype of Italians and the Mafia.
During WWII, Italians had a difficult time under the dictator Benito Mussolini, especially after the infamous alliance with Adolf Hitler fell and the Germans turned into enemies. After 60 years this still is a very sensitive subject and you should simply avoid it, unless you want to seriously discuss. Avoid jokes on the subject too. All Fascist symbology is prohibited by law and it is well enforced; punishments extend from fines to several years in prison. Just like in Spain and other former-Axis countries and Axis-occupied areas, foreigners are not exempt from this law.
Italy has a high population of senior citizens, and it is wise to be respectful. Do things like offering your seat on a bus if the situation arises.
Italians are almost open to discuss everything but the wages; never they speak about their salary.
Taking pictures around is not a problem but you may find people not willing to be portrayed, just ask before. It's not recommended to take photo of children: italian parents can get very upset with it. Source: Wikitravel.
Tips
Money Italy is part of the Eurozone, so the common currency of the European Union, the Euro (€), is legal tender in Italy. If you plan to travel through countryside or rural regions you probably should not rely on your credit cards: in many small towns they're accepted only by a small number of shops (particularly restaurants).
Talk
Not surprisingly, Italian is the language spoken by the vast majority of Italians. Parts of the Trentino-Alto Adige region are predominantly German speaking with Ladin, a Rhaeto-Romance language related to Switzerland's Romansh, spoken by a minority. There is a small French-speaking minority in the Valle d'Aosta region and Slovene is spoken by a minority in the Trieste-Gorizia area. There are several small pockets of Greek-speaking communities in the southern regions of Calabria and Puglia. Local dialects are widely spoken as second language, often its accent is also maintained while speaking italian. There is a big variety of dialects, with small difference of accent even in adiacent towns. English is spoken fairly commonly on the well-travelled path, but you'll want a good phrasebook for anything remote although even this may not help for the smaller towns and villages as many areas still speak dialects that you won't find in any phrasebooks. Other Romance languages, especially Spanish, may be quite useful.
Electricity
Italy uses 220V, 50HZ. The plugs are special for Italy. The grounding hole does not work with other systems. The two other holes are too narrow to be used with some plugs. An adapter to convert other plugs to Italian outlets costs €0.80 in supermarkets in Italy.
Internet Access.
The Italian government has recently passed a law requiring all public-access internet points to keep records of web sites viewed by customers, and even the customer's ID. Hotels providing Internet access are not required to record ID's if the connection is provided in the guests room, meanwhile if the connection is offered in the main public hall then ID's are required. Publicly available wireless access is forbidden unless the provider has a special government license. This has caused only major phone-like companies to be able to afford that, so wireless access is generally expensive.
Stay safe
Like most developed countries, Italy is a very safe country to travel. There are few incidents of terrorism/serious violence and these episodes have been almost exclusively motivated by internal politics. Petty crime can be a problem for unwary travelers. Travelers should note that pickpockets often work in pairs or teams, occasionally in conjunction with street vendors. The rate of violent crimes in Italy is considered "moderate," and while a portion of violent crimes are committed against travelers, it is normally not a problem. However, instances of rape and robbery as a result of drugging are increasing. Travelers should be careful when going out at night alone.
Travelers should also be sure to ask for prices before making transactions with most vendors. Taking pictures with jovial, high-spirited costumed mascots will be followed up with a demand for payment. Some other examples are when gelato is purchased or a shoe shine is desired, prices should be asked for beforehand, since reports of extreme price gouging has occurred. There are many bars in Italy that cater to tourists and foreigners with "home country" themes, calling themselves such things as "American bars" or "Irish pubs". In addition to travelers, these bars attract a large number of Italians who, among other reasons, go there specifically to meet travelers and other foreigners. And while the motivation for the vast majority of these Italians is simply to have a good time with new friends, there can be one or two petty criminals who loiter in and out of these establishments hoping to take advantage of travelers who are disoriented or drunk. Traveling to these places in groups is a simple solution to this problem. For emergencies, call 113 (Polizia), 112 (Carabinieri), 115 (Fire Department), 118 (Medical Rescue), 1515 (State Forestry Department), 1530 (Coast Guard).
Stay healthy
The US Center for Disease Control recommends two vaccines for people traveling to western Europe: Hepatitis A (even though Americans are not at an increased risk) and Hepatitis B.
Italy has a small incidence rate of "Mad Cow" (bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE)) disease--about 14 cases per million head of cattle. Since 2001, when Italy had its high of 48 cases of reported BSE, the reports have dropped to 38 (2002), and 29 (2003). Travelers concerned with this should visit the US Center for Disease Control (CDC) website for information on how to limit their exposure Contact
[edit] Telephone
The telephone system is well diffused in all parts of Italy. Both the wire and mobile systems are widespread.
Telephone numbers used to have separate prefixes (area codes) and a local number. In the 1990's the numbers were unified and nowadays, when calling Italian phones you should always dial the full number. For historical reasons you can still hear of prefix and local number. The number of land lines start with 0. The number of mobile lines start with 3. Numbers starting with 89 are high-fee services. If you don't know somebody's phone number you can dial a variety of recently-established phone services, the most used are 1240, 892424, 892892, but nearly every 12** combination has a different service. Note that most of them have high fees.
To call abroad from Italy you have to dial 00 + country code + local part where the syntax of the local part depends on the country called.
To call Italy from abroad you have to dial international prefix + 39 + local part Note that you should not skip the starting zero of the local part if you are calling an Italian land line.
The Italian calling code is 39. To phone another country, dial 00 followed by the calling code and subscriber number.
In case of emergency call the appropriate number in the list below. Such calls are usually free and calls to 112, 113, 115, 118 can be made from payphones for free without the need of inserting coins. 112 (standard emergency number in GSM specification) can be dialed in any case for free from any mobile phone (even if your credit is empty or if you are in an area covered by a different operator)
112 Carabinieri emergency number - general emergency
113 Police emergency number - general emergency
114 Blue Phone emergency number - children-related emergency (especially various forms of violence)
115 Fire Brigade emergency number 117 Guardia di Finanza - for custom, commercial and tax issues 118 Health emergency number - use this if you need an ambulance, otherwise ask for the local Guardia Medica number and they'll send you a doctor.
1515 State Forestry Department 1518 Traffic Information 1530 Coast Guard 803116 A.C.I. (Italian Automobile Club) - road side assistance; this is a service provided to subscribers to ACI or to other Automobile Clubs associated to ARC Europe; if you're not associated to any of them you'll be asked to pay a fare (approx. 80 euros). Note: this list is not complete (please help us to expand it) Always bring a note about the address and the number of your embassy.
If you are in an emergency and do not know who to call dial 112 or 113 (out of major towns, better to call 113 for English-speaking operators).
Payphones are widely available, especially in stations and airports. The number of payphones has consistently reduced after the introduction of mobile phones. Some payphones work with coins only, some with phone cards only and some with both coins and phone cards. Only a limited number of phones (just a few in main airports) directly accept credit cards.
Mobile phones are heavily used. The main networks are TIM (Telecom Italia Mobile, part of Telecom Italia, formerly state controlled), Vodafone, Wind, and 3 (only UMTS cellphones). Note that cellphones from North America will not work in Italy, unless they are Tri-band. Most of the country is covered by GSM signal, while only a small part (2005) is covered by UMTS signal. A convenient way, if you are coming from abroad and you are going to make a consistent number of calls, is to buy a pay-as-you-go SIM card and put it in your current mobile (if compatible and if your mobile set is not locked). Please note that you may incur in subscription fares. Please note that, as a measure to counter crime and terrorism, you are required to give a valid form of identification to be able to use the SIM card. Subscription-based mobile phones are subject to a governative tax, to which pay as you go contracts are not subject. Sometimes hotels have mobile phone for customer to borrow.
Costs for calls can vary significantly depending on when, where, from and where to. The cost of calls differs considerably if you call a wired phone or a mobile phone. Usually there is a difference in cost even for incoming calls from abroad. If you can choose, calling the other party's land line could be even 40% cheaper than mobile. Beware of premium rate calls (prefix 892, 899, 12) which can be very expensive. Many companies are shifting their customer service numbers to fixed-rate number (prefix 199), this numbers are at local rate, no matter where are you calling from.
According to national regulations, hotels cannot apply a surcharge on calls made from the hotel (as the switchboard service should be already included as a service paid in the room cost), but to be sure check it before you use.
Calls between landlines are charged at either the local rate or the national rate depending on the originating and destination area codes; if both are the same then the call will be local rate. Note that local calls are not free.tr:İtalya
Driving
By car
The motorways are toll roads. On entering the country, at the border, you can purchase a pre-payment card that can be used at all the tollbooths. This will save you from constantly looking for small change. The speed limit is 130 km/h on motorways, 110 km/h on the ”superstrada” (fast lanes), and 90 km/h on departmental roads. Seat belts are obligatory. The alcohol limit is 0.5 pro mille. Any violation of the law will entail a heavy fine.
By train
The Italian rail system has different train types: TBiz, EurostarItalia, Eurostar City Italia, IntercityPlus, Intercity, Espresso, Interregionale and Regionale, Eurostar Italia and TBiz being the classiest. The main practical difference between train types is reliability. Intercity services are generally very reliable, but if you need to catch a flight, for example, it might be better to pay extra for the Eurostar Italia. Interregionale and Regionale are less reliable, and stops in many more stations along the way. The pricier train types are usually faster, but there is not a consistent speed difference between trains. The main difference being the number of stops made along the same routes. On some routes, the Eurostar will cut the travel time in half, but on others all trains go more or less at the same speed, and taking the Eurostar Italia might be a waste of money. Source: Wikitravel.