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Italy

7 destinations & festivals · 5 etiquette rules

Photo: Wilfredor · CC0

Before you go

Read before you go

Red lineDriving

Italy: don't drive into historic-centre limited traffic zones (ZTL)

  • Park outside restricted zones and walk into town
  • Driving into a ZTL zone without a permit

You will be fined.

Verified Oct 19, 2026Source: GOV.UK: Italy travel advice

Red linePublic transport

Italy: validate your ticket before boarding

  • Validate your ticket in the machine before using public transport
  • Travelling with an unvalidated ticket

Inspectors will fine you on the spot.

Verified Oct 19, 2026Source: GOV.UK: Italy travel advice

Red lineEveryday manners

Italy: don't buy from unlicensed street vendors

  • Shop at proper stores
  • Buying from unlicensed street vendors

It is illegal, and local police may stop and fine you.

Verified Oct 19, 2026Source: GOV.UK: Italy travel advice

Red lineEveryday manners

Italy: rules around monuments and fountains

  • Keep the area around monuments clean and quiet
  • Going into or splashing in public fountains (Florence, Rome and elsewhere)
  • Swimming in Venice's canals
  • Eating and drinking next to major churches, monuments and public buildings
  • Sitting on monument steps, littering, or scratching or writing on monuments

All are local offences; urinating in public can bring a fine of up to €10,000.

Verified Oct 19, 2026Source: GOV.UK: Italy travel advice

Red lineEveryday manners

Rome's Spanish Steps: no sitting, eating or drinking

  • Walk up the steps and keep moving after your photo
  • Sitting, resting, eating or drinking on the steps

Banned by Rome's urban police regulations since 2019; media report fines of €250, rising to €400 for dirtying or damaging the steps.

Verified Oct 19, 2026Source: ANSA: Rome bans sitting on the Spanish Steps (2019)

Festivals

Festivals & celebrations

Places & local life

Landmarks, hidden gems & local life

Colosseum · photo 1

Classic landmarkRome, Italy

Colosseum

The heart of the empire, where gladiators' cries still seem to echo among the arches

Pizza Margherita in Naples

FoodNaples, Italy

Neapolitan pizza

The original soft, thin pizza with a puffy rim — though the Margherita story may have been made up later.

The Doge's Palace facing the lagoon

Classic landmarkVenice, Italy (Piazzetta San Marco)

Doge's Palace

The seat of power of the Venetian Republic: the doge's residence, council chambers, courts and prisons were all in this Gothic palace.

The façade of St Mark's Basilica

Classic landmarkVenice (St Mark's Square), Italy

St Mark's Basilica

The Venetian Republic's 'state chapel': golden mosaic domes and four bronze horses brought back from Constantinople.

The Pantheon's portico and rotunda

Classic landmarkRome (Piazza della Rotonda), Italy

Pantheon

A concrete dome almost two thousand years old, still the largest unreinforced concrete dome in the world, with sunlight pouring in through the o…

The counter and espresso machine of a Roman bar

CaféItaly (nationwide) (Rome)

Italian coffee bars

An espresso knocked back standing at the bar is how Italians start the day.