Entry requirements | Organizing your trip | Visiting | Eating | Paying | Speaking |

Entry requirements

Passport and visa service

For further information, consult the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs website

Diplomatic representations

To find out where the Italian Embassies and Consulates are in your country, consult the Ministry of Foreign Affairs website.

For more information

Embassy of Italy in Greece
11 Soutsou,
Gizi, 11474 Athens
Phone: +30 210 6438668 - 6438258
Fax: + 30 210 6438845
iic@it.ath.forthnet.gr

Organizing your trip

Means of transport recommended in town

Recommendation

The metro is not extensive, even in large cities. Taxis are expensive but there are a lot of them on the streets. If the light is green, they are free; if it is red, they are taken. Not all drivers speak English; have the address you are going to written down in Italian on a piece of paper.

Maps of urban networks

Rome metro map
Bus and metro lines in Rome

Means of transport recommended in the rest of the country

Recommendation

The train remains the easiest means of transport for travelling around the country. The tariffs per kilometer are more reasonably priced than in most European countries. The large cities are linked with each other: Turin-Milan-Venice, Milan-Bologna-Bari, Rome-Genoa-Turin, and Rome-Naples-Palermo. Apart from the "Pendolini' and "Eurostar", trains do not always keep to the timetable.

Rail companies

Italian railway company

Flight from Greece

The main european aircraft companies operate regular flights from Athens to the main Italian cities such as Rome and Milan: Olympic Airlines, Alitalia and Air One are the principle companies offering direct air connections between Greece and Italy. For low cost company, check Aegean Airlines and Easy Jet. To find out air connections from Greece to Italy click here

Traveling by yourself

Recommendation

Most of the road network is good. However, the lanes are very narrow and the curves very sharp on some motorways (Salerno-Reggio di Calabria for example) and this can make them dangerous when driving at excessive speed.

Road maps

Maps of Italian motorways

Find an itinerary

ViaMichelin.
Mappy

Visiting

Different forms of tourism

Historical

Italy is famous worldwide for its many tourist sites.
A great number of the most well-known and visited historical monuments are in Rome, among them: the Colosseum, the Trevi Fountain and the Vatican.
Other cities have many visitors, such as, for example, Venice and its famous canals, Florence and its Uffizi gallery, Pisa and its Tower.

Cultural

In Italy, you can walk around very typical historical centers such as those of Rome, Naples or Florence and you can also visit the towns of Tuscany and Umbria. The Reggia de Caserta (Palace of Caserta), the Villa d'Este, Villa Adriana, the Necropolises of the Etruscans are also very well know.
Night life in Italy caters for all tastes: Opera and theater, as well as many bars, discotheques and night clubs.

Nature

The places of natural beauty popular with tourists include the Aeolian islands, the island of Asinara, the Maddalena archipelago and the Strait of Bonifacio, the Cascades of the Marmore, the vineyards of Langhe, Monferrato and Valtellina. Mount Etna in Sicily is one of the biggest volcanos in the world.

Religious

The heart of Italian religion is the Vatican and Rome with its churches and basilicas.

Thermal

Italy has numerous spas, some of which were already famous in Antiquity. The biggest and best equipped spa and therapeutic resorts in Italy are Abano Terme and Montegrotto Terme (Veneto), Acqui Terme (Piedmont), Chianciano and Montecatini Terme (Tuscany), Fiuggi (Lazio), Porretta Terme and Salsomaggiore Terme (Emilia-Romagna), Sciacca (Sicily) and Sirmione (Lombardy).

Beach

Italy has countless beautiful beaches: in all the islands, Liguria, Tuscany, Puglia and Sicily.

Winter sports

The Alps make up Italy's northern border and the Apennine chain runs the whole length of the country: that is enough to highlight its vocation as a mountain holiday destination, ideal in winter for those who love snow and winter sports. For further information, consult the Skiinfo website.

Outdoor activities

In Italy golf is played quite a lot. Other available outdoor activities are climbing, sailing and trekking.

Shopping

Many Italian products are recognized all over the world for their class and high quality; some are made by craftsmen, at attractive prices. Florence, Milan and Rome are the fashion centers. Some places are known for their products: Como (Lombardy) for silk, Prato (Tuscany) for textiles, Empoli (Tuscany) for the production of bottles and glasses in green glass, Deruta (Umbria) and Faenza (Emilia-Romagna) for pottery, Carrara (Tuscany) for marble, Torre Annunziata (Campania) and Alghero (Sardinia) for coral crafts, Cremona (Lombardy) for violins, Castelfidardo (Marche) for accordeons, guitars and organs, Valenza (Piedmont) for goldsmiths, Vietri sul Mare (Campania) for ceramic tiles and Ravenna (Emilia-Romagna) for mosaics.

Tourism organizations

ENIT, National Tourist Office

Eating

Food specialties

Italian cuisine enjoys great international renown and is well-known for its use of olive oil and for its pasta.

Antipasti : this is the traditional hors-d'oeuvre, vegetables marinated in olive oil (artichokes, aubergines, mushrooms, olives, peppers, dried tomatoes, etc.).

Typical dishes: marinated aubergines, aubergines Parmigiana (Melanzane alla parmigiana : aubergines baked with Parmesan and mozzarella), asparagus with Parmigiano Reggiano, broccoli alla romana, scalopina alla milanese (veal escalopes), pizza, risotto alla milanese (risotto is served as a starter but it can become a main dish. It is a round-grained rice flavored with saffron).

Pasta: Lasagne, spaghetti, ravioli...

Desserts : Tiramisu, Zabaione (Zabaglione) and Italian ice-creams.

There is a wide variety of cheeses in Italy such as gorgonzola, Parmesan, mozzarella, mascarpone, ricotta and many others.

Drinks

Italian wines are well-known abroad. They are named according to region of origin and type of grape.

The most famous is Chianti from Tuscany. In the Rome region, the greatest wines are Frascati and Albano. In the Valle d'Aosta it is Barolo ; Valpolicella in the Veneto ; PinotBianco and PinotGrigio (white wines) ; Cabernet and PinotNero (red wines) in Friuli-Venezia ; and Chianti, Nobile di Montepulciano and Brunello in Tuscany.

The most well-known aperitifs are Campari and PunteMes ; among the liqueurs there are Amaretto, Limoncello, Grappa and Strega.

Italians enjoy drinking a coffee or a cappucino in a bar, usually in a hurry. Young people like going to bars in the afternoon for a tea or an aperitif. You can find plenty of bars, wine bars, pubs, etc. ready to serve aperitifs from 6pm until dinner time.

Dietary restrictions

There are no dietary restrictions in the country.

Paying

Domestic currency

Euro

ISO Code

EUR

To obtain domestic currency

There are no ATMs, but small bureaux with a sign "change". They are in all the large towns, but they are not so common in small villages, so make sure you have enough cash on you.

Possible means of payment

You can pay in cash or with a credit card: Diners Club, MasterCard and Visa. Cheques are also taken but they must be in euros, pounds Sterling or American dollars.

Exchange rate on

Automatic Teller Machines (ATM)

To find out the locations of ATMs in in Italy, click on the link to your credit card: Visa, Mastercard or American Express

Speaking

Official language

The official language is Italian.

Other languages spoken

You should note that the use of dialects persists in this country. Albanian is spoken by approximately 80,000 people in the South and 50,000 people in the rest of the country. 20,000 residents in the North East of Sardinia speak Gallurese. In addition, the Sardinian language is also spoken in Sardinia by approximately 1.2 million people.

Business language

More and more people have some knowledge of English.

Getting some knowledge

Use the travlang website

Free translation tools

The Evta website - To do on-line translations
Eurovoc Thesaurus - Multilingual thesaurus (21 official European languages)
IATE - Interactive Terminology for Europe

We can translate your foreign-language documents.

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Last updates: May 2012