For now, carry your passport with you in Rome (Sep 2023)

[ninjacat123]

30 minutes ago, slidergirl said:

My vax card is just inside my passport wallet, just like my yellow fever/malaria card.  Not a big deal to have it.  

I carry mine as well👍

[-Lew-]

3 hours ago, jsn55 said:

7 hours ago, Cooper30 said:

Their country, their rules.  I choose to go to their country so I will follow their rules. Italy wants everyone to carry a government issued ID?  Cool.  I'll carry my US passport.

 

Here in the USA I can play the "Am I being detained?" game all day long but I'm not going to in another country where I have a limited vocabulary.

 

Something else that comes to mind is that with my passport and a credit card, I can get back home in a crisis a lot quicker than having to run back to my lodging to get my passport, and there are a lot of potential crises that could happen when traveling abroad nowadays. 

 

There's nothing like that sinking feeling when you are stopped and reality hits ... law enforcement people don't communicate in English (rightfully so) and I don't speak their language.  Not a positive experience to just get ordered around with gestures and meekly wait until they're 'done and wave you on'.   Just read the rules before you travel ... their country, their rules.  What's the point of remaining stubborn and/or ignorant?

 

It's best to add your reply to the message you quote outside and below the quote box.  If you add your response within the quote box, readers do not know where the quote ends and your response begins. 🙂

[cruisemom42]

9 hours ago, -Lew- said:

 

It's best to add your reply to the message you quote outside and below the quote box.  If you add your response within the quote box, readers do not know where the quote ends and your response begins. 🙂

A tip I can add to help with this: if your cursor gets “stuck” in the text box (mine sometimes does), just exit the post without submitting it and start over.

Edited October 11, 2023 by cruisemom42

[TheHawk1]

I followed this thread closely before my cruise the first week of October and decided, against my better judgement, to take my passport along with me for the day in Rome. Yes I have a money belt and yes it returned safely with me. I did not take it with me in Cinque Terre or touring Amalfi Coast towns.
 

However, I saw no police on the trains from Civitavecchia to and from Rome. In fact, the only time I saw a large police presence was about twenty of them “guarding” the Spanish Steps and I toured the city quite a lot for the entire day. Unless you look suspicious, I can’t imagine why they would even bother with a boring tourist. A lot of nervous nellies here seem to be over reacting, IMO.

[desibee]

If a common scam to rob you in Italy is to pretend to be police and demand to see passport and wallets, I don't understand how a tourist who doesn't speak the language can possibly defend themselves against getting robbed or ripped off with this demand by the Italian government.

 

Are they providing ways to determine whether the "policeman" demanding your papers is legitimate?  Even the whole "be prepared to pay a fine on the spot! if you don't produce your passport" nonsense works out excellently for scam artists with a fake badge or uniform handy.

[ninjacat123]

FYI, we are traveling Venice to Florence to Rome and haven’t been asked for our passports by a police person. But we are carrying them👍

[euro cruiser]

2 hours ago, desibee said:

If a common scam to rob you in Italy is to pretend to be police and demand to see passport and wallets, I don't understand how a tourist who doesn't speak the language can possibly defend themselves against getting robbed or ripped off with this demand by the Italian government.

 

Are they providing ways to determine whether the "policeman" demanding your papers is legitimate?  Even the whole "be prepared to pay a fine on the spot! if you don't produce your passport" nonsense works out excellently for scam artists with a fake badge or uniform handy.

 

??? Common?  Absolutely not.

[Girr]

8 hours ago, ninjacat123 said:

FYI, we are traveling Venice to Florence to Rome and haven’t been asked for our passports by a police person. But we are carrying them👍

To me it's like having your driver's license with you when you drive - you only need it if you get stopped.  You just never know...

[Hlitner]

On 9/20/2023 at 2:48 PM, euro cruiser said:

I've never understood why this is such a big issue for travelers.  With a very little bit of forethought it's easy to safely conceal your passport on your person.  Of course, I mostly travel in the fall/winter/spring when one wears more clothing than in the summer months, so that helps.

We sometimes like to post the very true story about a couple, both NYC Police Detectives, that had their Passports stolen while on the beach in Tel Aviv.  I kid you not.  It happened when we were on a Celebrity cruise and that pair was quite embarrassed.  (it did have an OK ending since there were a ble to obtain emergency replacements the following day since we were still in Israel).

 

Hank

[cruisemom42]

10 hours ago, Girr said:

To me it's like having your driver's license with you when you drive - you only need it if you get stopped.  You just never know...

A good analogy. Obviously not every one is going to run into these random checks. The question is how lucky do you feel that you won’t be asked to show passport.

[Host Bonjour]

On 10/17/2023 at 7:07 AM, desibee said:

If a common scam to rob you in Italy is to pretend to be police and demand to see passport and wallets,

 

It's not a common scam. But, police would generally be able to ask for your papers in English if they wanted to see them, especially in the touristy areas. 

 

Pickpockets operate quick. This sort of thing would mean they are standing around waiting for something, which isn't the routine of the wallet snatcher.

 

They aim to distract the target so you DON'T see or likely feel what's happening. Stopping someone in a fake uniform is counter to the exit strategy for thieving, but then not all thieves are clever. 

 

Don't worry about it is the thing. I only ever had one encounter with someone with a uniform while traveling and it was just a surly train conductor going from Milan to Monaco via Ventimiglia in 1994.

 

Several countries/continents/states etc later, no other uniformed encounter has been in my home city, which is exactly the only place I've ever been robbed, and that was partly my fault too. I also learned from that, which I think helped A LOT for traveling.

 

No one was/is getting near my stuff and I carried my passports (dual citizenship) all the time. 😂

 

 

[desibee]

22 minutes ago, Host Bonjour said:

Don't worry about it is the thing. I only ever had one encounter with someone with a uniform while traveling and it was just a surly train conductor going from Milan to Monaco via Ventimiglia in 1994.

 

Good to know that it's not as common a scam as feared.  I'm just going off of the warnings on the us government travel website.

 

"Thieves sometimes impersonate police officers. If you are stopped by a plainclothes policeman, ask for a uniformed officer or insist on seeing an officer's identification card (documento). Do not hand over your wallet and immediately report the incident to the actual police at a police station or by dialing 112 from a local phone."

 

https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/international-travel/International-Travel-Country-Information-Pages/Italy.html

[Host Bonjour]

On 10/26/2023 at 6:34 PM, desibee said:

If you are stopped by a plainclothes policeman,

 

This would be the critical thing: plainclothes police wouldn't be making random pedestrian stops and doing document checks. Undercovers generally do targeted operations when they're out in a designated, probably ordinary place, for a very specific purpose, which is probably not to pick out immigration violations in touristy locations.

 

It's always good to be aware, but other than your hotel or airport, maybe a MAJOR train station window, no one should be asking for your passport in public, unless of course, you're arrested? 😂 But even then probably no documents needed until the station? 🤷‍♀️ Even the police know what's up. No need to take documents out in public!! 🙂

[alserrod]

On 9/29/2023 at 4:41 AM, MdniteDrftr said:

So what happens if I get stopped without my passport and get fined? Do I have to pay it on the spot?

 

I had planned on carrying my passport on me while in Rome, as we are spending 2 days there pre-cruise. Wife, and pretty much everyone else said I was crazy.

 

 

Hello:
With one regulation or another, in the countries of the European Union it is mandatory to carry a passport.

I translate literally

****************
.....has the right and obligation to keep and carry with him current documentation that proves his identity, ...
****************

The passport is not only used to cross the border but may be required and is mandatory.
In fact, it is mandatory to carry any documentation you needed to cross the border. I assume that people of all nationalities will read me here. In many cases it will be the passport. In some it may be a passport and a visa.

In the event that Italy has an agreement, the national ID card is sufficient, as is my case. It takes up the same space as a credit card and I always carry it with me. But if you didn't carry it, you could still be fined.

Additionally, although less and less frequent, they may ask for your passport to prove your identity when paying with a credit card.