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Pickpockets and Purse-Snatchers Rome
163 Reviews Pickpockets are everywhere, especially where tourists like to hang out – so take common sense precautions as you travel in Rome. - Don’t flash your valuables around – expensive camera equipment,...
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Acqua Alta Venice
36 Reviews Acqua alta or high water is a phenomenon which generally takes place in Venice in automn or winter time and is due to a combination of tidal water and strong winds from the south. If you visit Venice...
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Pickpockets Florence
44 Reviews Pickpockets are everywhere, especially where tourists like to hang out – so take common sense precautions as you travel in Florence. - Don’t flash your valuables around – expensive camera equipment,...
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Central Station Milan
15 Reviews I've had to travel through Milan quite a few times now. I've been to Italy many times, I know the level of criminality is high but I've noticed Milano Centrale seems to attract so many criminals. I...
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Other Verona
11 Reviews Most attractions and other buildings, some shops etc will be closed on a Monday But don't worry, there's still plenty to see and do, especially a lazy walk between the piazzas or some people watching...
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The dogs Pompeii
12 Reviews While we were there in April 2010 the signs around Pompeii were quite clear. The dogs have started out as strays but have been 'adopted' by Pompeii which has been establlished as a dog sanctuary. All...
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The Tower Pisa
16 Reviews I have never felt the need to climb the Tower, but you may. You will certainly need to book your ticket online in advance. Tower tickets are strictly limited per day, and are frequently block-booked...
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Historic Centre: not always a safe place! Genoa
7 Reviews Large group of tourists invariably attracting all sorts of thieves. Those who can afford to travel usually carry cash money, even if small, and its exactly with which thieves count. The crowd is ideal...
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Beggars and Cons Rome
91 Reviews If it sounds too good to be true, it most likely is… The old adage is a good one to remember when in Rome and dealing with some of the shadier people that prey on naïve tourists. Hubby and I have...
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Pickpockets, etc Venice
16 Reviews Just came back from holiday in Italy and during a day visit to Venice I was pick pocketed within 5 mins. My gut feeling is that it happened on the Bridge of Sighs just before St Marks Square. The...
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Shopping Florence
13 Reviews I don't really know what happened; my Italian isn't good enough, and the shopkeeper couldn't/wouldn't speak English. But is was a most unpleasant experience, and possibly worth relating as a...
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Pick Pockets Milan
24 Reviews I was travelling with my Wife on 12th July 2012 to Tremezzo by taking the Train from Milan Central Station to San Giovani,the Train Schedule was at 15.10,but was late for 15 minutes,our Wagon was No....
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Pick Pockets Verona
5 Reviews This is Portoni della Bra, the City Gate - entrance into the Centro Storico of Verona. This part of the town is very crowded with thousands of tourists, also it is crowded with pickpockets too. Be...
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Pickpokets Pisa
16 Reviews When you arrive at the train station at Pisa, watch out for roma gypsies. They are just outside the train station. Whatever you do, do not go into the bar accross the square opposite the train station...
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Train Stations Rome
25 Reviews Termini was a nice train station mainly. Me and my mom were there together with more bags than we could handle (a mistake). At first, there was a man following us trying to "help us out" and showing...
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Pigeons Venice
34 Reviews Many tourists seem to delight in feeding the local pidgeons. Some even lie flat on the ground in St Mark's square and somewhat bizzarely cover themeselves in crumbs. Well, each to their own but...
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Traffic Florence
17 Reviews Everywhere! Lots of people, surrounding buildings, mixing with spread statues, filling your photos. I was there in winter, so... I may imagine what happens in summer. It's "forbidden" to make a...
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Traffic Milan
7 Reviews Driving car in Milan might be adventure (a nightmare) for you because of a very huge traffic. However, if you want to test your nerves and courage you are welcom in the club. The best entrance in the...
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Traffic Verona
1 Review Do not drive all around the arena, since you may get ticketed. There are unidentified places where it is tourist-pedestrian only, and no vehicles allowed, but the markings would not show that for you...
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Prices Pisa
7 Reviews On our way home from a trip to Florence we visited Pisa and wandered up the street away from the cathedral looking for somewher for lunch. We went into a modern, nice looking restaurant with friendly...
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Proper dress Rome
11 Reviews There is a dress code if you are to visit St. Peter's Basilica. Shorts are not allowed for men or women, Tank tops, bare shoulders or short skirts are not permitted. Dress appropriately or they will...
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Public Restrooms Florence
3 Reviews Like many European cities, there are not a lot of public bathrooms (WCs, Toiletten) available. I did see a couple signs for WCs around the town, usually in out of the way places. So it is always a...
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Lockers Pisa
1 Review There is a place at the trainstation to store the luggage, B U T : it is OUT OF ORDER due to the attacks of Sept. 11th. Recently at least the counter was reopened again, where you may hand over your...
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Traffic Rome
53 Reviews We are taught to walk on the sidewalk and not cross except at the striped pedestrian crossings. In fact, here in the States legal protection is related to using pedestrian crosswalks. Pedestrians do...
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Taxis Florence
3 Reviews Even with the taxis using meters I got ripped off three times. Once was by not being familiar with the city and I took a taxi from the train station to the Hotel--which was 5 blocks away! It still...
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When validating tickets, make sure they are not stuck together. Once i accidentally validated 2 tickets together,without realising that they were two tickets as they were stuck together. Although the back of one ticket was validated with the time and date, and the back of the other had no print on its back, i still could not pass it through the machine. It gave off a beeping sound and a red light.
Always validate your transport ticket especially to the one going to the airport. If caught , will be heavily fined. That money can be used for other things.I was told if the machine is not working then you need to write the date and day and time you boarded the bus/tram
Americans visiting Italy be careful with your American credit and debit cards. We are not issued the micro chipped cards that most Europeans are. This means that the banks there can and sometimes do tack on pretty large fees. The store owner will not even know about this. So they cannot warn you.We reviewed our purchases at home and found that in some cases the bank charge was more than the item we purchased. For example we bought a wallet as a gift for a neighbor that kept an eye on our place. It ran just 20 euro. The bank charge was 27 euro.So now we use cash at shops and restaurants. We have not had this problem at hotels but we often receive a discount for cash at hotels so we do not use a card for that anyway. So remember cash is king.
The Italian labor movement is very active. Strikes can unfortunately be a big inconvenience for the tourist. Luckily, many of the strikes are announced beforehand so there is some chance to make alternative plans. Based on my own experience, one suggestion would be to email the hotel you are staying at before leaving home. Ask them if they can check if any strikes are coming up. You might be able to make other arrangements in time so your vacation isn't interrupted.
New laws have popped up around Italy - notably in Venice, Rome and Florence - about eating and drinking in public places. Besides the usual problem of sloppy people leaving trash all over, it appears that Italians feel a bit differently about the indiscriminate noshing so common in the US. While they do indeed have their version of fast food, it is often eaten where it was purchased or discreetly in a quiet corner. I've read various online comments from Italians who are puzzled and repelled by tourists vigorously chewing away anywhere and everywhere in public and especially on, or near, their national treasures. Where most valuable antiquities in the US are safely behind glass, not so in Italy. Tourists may not realize that the fountain they're about to spill tomato sauce all over is 1000 years old? Food left about also draws pigeons: the scourge of historic monuments and valuable...
After spending 25 days traveling around Italy, this is a warning I must give to anyone intending to go to Italy: don't expect any local to be polite with you just because you are spending tons of cash during you visit to their country. Seems like that even with the crisis they just don't care. Rudeness is everywhere!!
It can be an enormous disappointment to finally get to Italy and find that must-see building, painting, fountain or other piece of antiquity covered in scaffolding, shrouded in plastic or missing entirely. Light, pollution, weather and crowds take a costly toll on these things and they all need the occasional sprucing up and/or inspection for damage. Sometimes they become too fragile altogether to be on display for very long. Fortunately, careful attention will keep these treasures intact for many centuries to come and, sad as it is to find them blocked by construction or missing in action, there are thousands of other fascinating things to see. More annoying can be temporary events which obstruct/disrupt historic sites with staging, very large pieces of amusement equipment, noise, incompatible contemporary art, etc.
Anywhere in the world that tourists go there will be light fingers itching to relieve them of their wallets, phones, cameras or anything else of value. Most of their victims made that easy, too. Some tips for avoiding vacation-wrecking theft:• Always make duplicate copies of your cards, passport, ID, and travel insurance documents and keep those separate from the originals. This way if a bag with the originals is lost or stolen, you have a backup with all the numbers and info needed to have everything replaced. Keep the originals and extra cash in the hotel safe and only take sightseeing what you need for the day.• A pocket, any pocket, can be picked. Cards and cash should be safely stowed in a money belt or other pouch under your clothing. I like to pin a small cloth pouch inside my waistband: comfortable, invisible and easy for me, but no one else, to get to. • The woman in photo #2 is...
Pedestrians can find crossing an Italian street to be a hair-raising experience. Traffic laws exist but they appear to be optional. The trick is to use crosswalks whenever you can and not to hesitate: put your head down and GO, and never stop halfway through or you'll just confuse everyone. Cars and motorcycles will either stop or zip around you depending on if there is a stoplight. As much as I'm sure they'd LIKE to kill some of the tourists that clutter up their busy intersections, they won't. If it's too much for you, shadow an Italian or, better yet, a nun - although I'm sure even the Sister in photo #3 was saying her prayers. Sidewalks can be harrowing as well, as you can see from my 2-foot margin of safety in photo #4. The good news is that as insane as the traffic can be, we haven't seen a single accident or pedestrian mishap. Yet.
Girlfriends, don't even think about sightseeing in strappy little heels: you'll be miserable. Even the ever-stylish Italians, who are famous for gorgeous shoes, don't wear anything flimsy if they have to walk any kind of distance. The older cities especially are cobblestones from one end to the other, sidewalks are narrow and uneven, and you'll be climbing lots and lots and lots of stairs; many of them smooth stone or marble that are deadly slippery when wet. Nope, you won't be out of place in athletic shoes, and comfort trumps fashion any day. Italians spend more time on their feet than we generally do (good for them.) Getting to the Metro, the market, to work or anywhere else usually involves a bit of shoe leather. I saw many young Italian women wearing flats, athletics shoes or knee-high boots for running about, and sensible heels to work. Seeing Italy on foot is a joy PLUS you burn...
Albergo Del Senato Rome
5 Reviews and 1469 Opinions The Pantheon is my favorite building in Rome and might be my favorite building in the world. The...
Gritti Palace Venice
5 Reviews and 32 Opinions The Gritti Palace hotel in venice was built in 1525 as the residence of the Doge of Venice, Andrea...
Hotel David Florence
7 Reviews and 1151 Opinions We have stayed with this establishment many times. Initially, it was because they have free parking...
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Comments (1)
I just found an article about manipulated ATM machines in Italy. Although it is in Italian only, but the photo they show speaks for itself.
Be careful and check the bancomates! These will more likely be in the tourist centres and bigger cities:
notiziario360.it/truffe-sui-...
Yes, similar has happened here too. It's also a good idea to make sure you keep a hand or something over the buttons as you type in your PIN: there have been tiny cameras used, fixed above the keyboard, as well as things which 'skim' the card details on insertion. It's always a good idea to check all ATMs, anywhere, before you start and, preferably, use bank ones when the bank is open.
Yes, it seems to be quite popular, happens in Germany since ages and surely happened in Italy as well since ages. I found the photo helpful.
And yes, never draw money in evenings - always when the bank is open :-) I do that too :-)