Anytime we’re outside our familiar surroundings, it’s a good idea to take safety precautions you might not think about at home – even when you’re traveling in a country like Italy. This doesn’t mean you need to go overboard, and if you approach travel saftey in Italy properly you’re unlikely to notice your own precautions after awhile.
I’ve covered each of these individual topics in different articles on WhyGo Italy, so consider this your table of contents to the “Italy Travel Safety” series.
First things first, if you’re going to get travel insurance that’s something you need to do before you leave home. There are different kinds of insurance you can get, from medical insurance to trip protection, and the type that’s best for you will depend on a few things – where you live, the kind of trip you’re taking, the activities you’re planning to engage in while traveling, etc. You can see the differences between several major and highly-rated travel insurance policies on the BootsnAll Travel Insurance section – it breaks each policy down into individual components so you can figure out which one applies best to your situation. Travel insurance is often much cheaper than you think it will be, and it’s free to get a quote, so definitely do that.
>> Get a quote on travel insurance for your Italy trip
Having your purse or wallet stolen can be a nightmare at home, and it’s even worse when you’re traveling. Pickpocketing is certainly a problem in some parts of Italy, and tourists often make good targets – they’re distracted and, what’s more, they’re likely to be carrying expensive cameras and more money than the average local. You can’t prevent a pickpocket from trying to steal from you, but you can make yourself a less-appealing target. You can also take precautions before you leave your hotel each day to make sure that if your wallet does get stolen, you’ve got a backup plan.
>> Read more about money safety in Italy and anti-pickpocketing tips
After you pass through passport control to get into the European Union, you might think you could put away your passport in a safe place and you wouldn’t need to have it available again until you leave. In Italy, you’re required to hand over your passport at any hotel to which you’re checking in, and they may end up keeping it for up to 24 hours – they’re registering it with the authorities, as they’re required to. In other words, you’ll need to have your passport at the ready when you check into a hotel – and after that, you’ll need to make sure it’s in a safe place.
>> Read more about passport safety in Italy
Some countries are notorious for their tourist scams – and although Italy doesn’t tend to rank highly on that scale, there are a couple of scams that you should be aware of.
>> Read more about tourist scams in Italy
You don’t need to invest a huge amount of money in safety gear for traveling in Italy, but I do think there’s one item no traveler should be without – and others that you might want to consider, depending on your circumstances.
>> Read more about safety-related travel gear you may need in Italy
