Nearly every illegal thing tourists do in Italy, ranked by severity: fines, city bans, and the common beach souvenir that almost always ends in criminal charges.
As a rule of thumb: Italy is an open air museum, not a Disney park. Be polite, do not litter, make it also pleasant for others, respect the millennia old sites and buildings - they are so amazing because others before you also respected them.
This is very helpful. Many of these ordinances have been passed since I lived in Rome in the late 1980’s. My nephew and his family are visiting in about one month and I have passed this along to them for study. I would not expect them to knowingly break any of the laws but sometimes not knowing to validate your tram ticket can be an oops fine.
You missed out the rules about using parmigiano inappropriately. Not punishable by any terrestrial law but I'm pretty sure that one of Dante's nine circles of hell awaits you.
Not being allowed to sit on monument stairs seems quite draconian. How do you know which ones? Are there signs? And I’ve read somewhere there’s some laws about where you’re allowed to eat in some cities? If you’re eating a piece of fruit and walking down certain streets?
Yeah the one about no meals on certain streets in Florence is kind of crazy… maybe it was a trash issue? What if you live on that street - no dinner for you!
Passed by the fountain at the foot of the Spanish Steps last weekend and was shocked to see people wading in and filling their water bottles or grabbing a selfie. I'm just hoping someone got hit with one of those fines. It's unbelievable that you have to make rules for these kinds of things.
As a rule of thumb: Italy is an open air museum, not a Disney park. Be polite, do not litter, make it also pleasant for others, respect the millennia old sites and buildings - they are so amazing because others before you also respected them.
Benvenuto a Italia!
I hope the seagull feeding law doesn’t apply if (and when) they rob you in Venice. they are some aggressive birds 😅
😂
This is very helpful. Many of these ordinances have been passed since I lived in Rome in the late 1980’s. My nephew and his family are visiting in about one month and I have passed this along to them for study. I would not expect them to knowingly break any of the laws but sometimes not knowing to validate your tram ticket can be an oops fine.
Likewise. I also lived in Rome in the late 80s/early 90s. Very helpful.
You missed out the rules about using parmigiano inappropriately. Not punishable by any terrestrial law but I'm pretty sure that one of Dante's nine circles of hell awaits you.
Interestingly, Friday’s article on food labels talks about Parmigiano Reggiano. 😀
Not being allowed to sit on monument stairs seems quite draconian. How do you know which ones? Are there signs? And I’ve read somewhere there’s some laws about where you’re allowed to eat in some cities? If you’re eating a piece of fruit and walking down certain streets?
Yeah the one about no meals on certain streets in Florence is kind of crazy… maybe it was a trash issue? What if you live on that street - no dinner for you!
Passed by the fountain at the foot of the Spanish Steps last weekend and was shocked to see people wading in and filling their water bottles or grabbing a selfie. I'm just hoping someone got hit with one of those fines. It's unbelievable that you have to make rules for these kinds of things.
Ahh, the ZTL. Fond memories of that one…
Me too. I lived in the Centro of Rome and had a permisso. Still the traffic when I lived there was insufferable and even odd was being spoken of.
I had no idea about the flip flops at the Cinque Terre. But I guess I've never considered that to be a good idea so it's never been an issue.