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.

Aside from its rich history, architecture and art, Italy is also well known for its beautiful and mouth-watering cuisine. People who have the good fortune of traveling to Italy will definitely be treated to the added pleasure of partaking of world-renowned Italian food and drink.

A typical Italian breakfast normally consists of a cup of rich Italian coffee or cappuccino and a croissant. For lunch, you may go to the local store known as alimentari to get yourself deliciously toasted ciabatta sandwiches called ‘pannini’. For dinner, you may have a full course consisting of an appetizer (anti-pasto), a pasta/shop (primo), meat/fish (secondo) which is normally accompanied by a salad and sometimes vegetables (contorno). You can also just go grab a pizza in one of the many pizzerias. Though relatively cheap, this option is a tasty one for the simple reason that Italy is the home of the pizza. When partaking of sumptuous Italian food always remember to be careful as Italian cuisine can sometimes be quite spicy and very often dishes are tomato based.

Wine is the most popular drink in Italy with most Italian wines prepared for a specific menu item. Wine is drunk with almost every meal and can be purchased in restaurants in quarter, half and litre bottles. The cheaper option is, of course, to purchase the wine from supermarkets.

Most people think that planning an Italian meal is highly complicated and that preparing one takes hours. This is simply not the case. While Italian food is always high in the taste department, Italian meals are very flexible and can be prepared consisting of one or two courses that compliment each other.

Formal meals can consist of a combination of the following:

Antipasti: Appetizers

Literally meaning “before the meal”, these do not form a part of the typical family meal but play an important role in a formal dinner.

Primi Piatti: First Courses

These consist of either a soup, a pasta or a rice dish. The Italian staple, pasta, can be prepared in numerous ways.

Secondi Piatti: Entrees

These consist of a meat or fish dish. Because an Italian meal is usually started with a pasta dish, this serving is usually small. Seafood of all types are also served.

Contorni: Vegetables or Side Dishes

These are side dishes of deliciously cooked vegetables that compliment the meat or fish course.

Insalata: Salad

In Italy, salads are served after the final course, which both refreshes the diner after a heavy course and cleans the palate before the desert course.

Frutta: Fruit

This is usually fresh fruit kept ice cold in a bowl of ice water.

Dolci: Desserts

A typical meal at home is normally followed by a fresh bowl of fruit, but on special occasions a little sweet is offered complemented by coffee, usually an espresso. Cappuccino is considered a morning drink, rarely served in the afternoons.

There are many ways to reach the magnificently beautiful and historical country of Italy. You can go by land, rail, air, or sea. Most tourists though, especially the ones from non-European countries, go by air. This is, of course, the quickest although the most expensive means to travel to Italy which has two main airports: Rome Fiumicino and Milan Malpensa. Both these airports have direct connections to the European capitals and main cities of North America. International flights are also available from other countries to the smaller airports in every region of Italy.

For tourists from within Europe, the most popular means of entering Italy is by train. This is a relatively cheap but agreeable option considering the Italian rail service is more efficient than the bus service. Moreover, direct trains to Italy also connect the main European cities. Traveling by train is particularly appealing especially for destinations in the northern part of Italy because the stations in Turin, Milan, Verona, Venice and Trieste all serve as arrival points of the very comfortable Eurocity trains. An alternative means to entering Italy is by ferry boat from Albania, Croatia, Greece, Malta, Spain, Turkey and Tunisia.

Once you are inside Italy, the best means of going from city to city is by train or bus. Trains can bring you to all major cities and towns and the buses can do the same plus take you to the smaller, less known and accessed villages. The most practical and enjoyable means of discovering the still unknown and rarely visited parts of Italy though is by car. Car rental in Italy can be quite expensive compared to traveling by train. However, the cost difference between a car and a train narrows as the size of the card is decreased and the number of days of driving and the number of people that will be riding and paying for the car rental is increased. In the event that you should decide to take this option, always make sure that you take with you your international driver’s licence (with an Italian Translation) and your International Green Card of Insurance.