The following basic information about Italy will come in handy and useful to people who are planning to eventually move to this romantic and magnificently beautiful country:

Climate

The whole of Italy has varying climates depending on which three geographical regions you are in. The northern regions have cold Alpine winters and warm wet summers. The winters are damp in the Po Valley, winters are damp and icy while summers can be exceptionally dry. And, the rest of Italy, compliments of a temperate climate, generally has pleasant weather with long, hot summers and mild winters.

Language

The official language of Italy is Italian although different dialects are spoken in different regions. To illustrate, the language spoken in the South Tyrol region bordering Austria is German. In all the border areas from the Riviera to the area north of Milan bordering France and Switzerland, it’s French. In the bigger cities and in the major tourist areas the most widely used languages are also English, German and French.

Time Zone

Italy is ahead of the Greenwich Mean Time by one hour.

Currency

The Euro is the currency used in Italy. Made up of 100 Cents, Euro notes come in denominations of €100, €50, €20, €10 and €5. Coins in use are €2, €1, 0.50C, 0.20C, 0.10C, 0.05C, 0.02C and 0.01C.

Visas

US, Australian, Canadian and New Zealand nationals only need their passport to be allowed to stay as a tourist for 90 days. EU residents are free to travel and work in Italy using a valid passport. This is not applicable to other nationalities who may want to work in Italy.

Business Hours

Generally, shops open at 9:00 am and close at 1:00 pm then open again at 4:00 pm till 7:30 pm. Smaller shops may take a half day closing the store by lunch time. The bigger stores, however, are open the whole day including Sundays.

Business hours for Government Offices are from 8:30 am until 2:00 pm but they do open until 5:00pm in the major cities. Museums are open from 9:00 am until 7:00 pm but are closed on Sunday and Monday.
Banking hours are from 8:35 am to 1:35 pm and again from 3:00 pm to 4:00 pm except in the larger cities where they do not close for lunch.

Electricity

Italy uses 220V, 50 Hz although, in some places including Rome, 125V is still used.

Tax

All goods sold in Italy carry a value added tax. Non-EU residents though get a refund once they leave the country for purchases that cost more than €155. They only have to fill in a form in the shop where they bought the item, have it stamped at customs and return it to the shop within sixty days. The refund will be issued by cheque or to your credit card.

Telephones

Inbound calls to Italy from abroad use 00 followed by 39, the local area code and the local number. Outbound calls use 00, followed by the international calling code for the particular country and then the local number. For both inbound and outbound calls, the first zero is dropped from the local area code.

Post Office

The post offices are open from 8:30 am to 2:00 pm from Monday to Friday and from 8:30 am to 12:00 pm on Saturdays and on the last day of the month.

Tipping

Although a service charge of 15% to 18% is included in all restaurant bills, it is customary to leave a small tip of between 5% to 10% of the total bill if the service merits it.