Tips for the First-Time Traveler to Italy

Here are a few notes that may prove helpful for the first-time traveler to Italy, some from Rick Steves' Italy 2009, others from our own experience:

• Don’t forget to validate train tickets at machines before boarding trains, or pay a huge fine. Simply insert your train ticket into the yellow validating machines around the tracks, and pull out when stamped, before boarding the train.
• To check train schedules via Internet, visit http://bahn.hafas.de/bin/query.exe/en
• Pack light (go for carry-on baggage only), and do laundry in Italy. Not only do you gain freedom of movement and time at each airport, you also gain mobility throughout your trip and the chance to meet locals at the lavanderia (laundry mat). Check your guidebook for the nearest laundry mat, or ask your hotel staff.
• A new anti-terrorism law requires international travelers to show their passports before using the Internet at hotels or cafés. Even if not enforced consistently, have it handy, just in case.
• Do not worry about registering with police in Italy, another aspect of the anti-terrorism laws: your hotel will borrow your passport to do it for you upon arrival. Don't freak out: they will give it back, and they're just following the law.
• Tip 5-10 percent at restaurants if there’s table service and if a service charge is not included on the bill. No need to tip at a bar without table service. The menu or a sign in the window or the ricevuto (receipt) will indicate if there is a service charge included. Don't confuse the Coperto charge (cover charge) for a service charge. The cover charge is for the space you take up, and not going to your server. For gratuity with taxis, round up a Euro.
• Calculate 24-hour time easily by subtracting 12 and adding PM to the time (so that 17:00 is 17-12 = 5 PM).
• Commas and decimals are used in the opposite way on the continent (but not in Britain): e1,25 is one euro and 25 cents
• Calculate metric distance by cutting kilometers in half and adding 10% of the original (so that 100 km is 100/2 = 50 + 10 = 60 miles)
• Calculate temperature easily by doubling the Celsius temperature and adding 30 (will get you a temperature within just a few degrees, so that 21 C is 21x2 = 42 + 30 = 72 degrees F)
• To call the US using an international phone card we purchase in Europe: call the number on the card, and enter your PIN when prompted; then enter 001-area code-seven digit US number.
• When in need of a water closet consider upper floors of department stores, book stores, bars or restaurants. No need to buy anything, especially at restaurants with outdoor seating: they have no idea inside that you’re not a guest outside. Many public water closets cost .50 Euros to 1 Euro. Seems odd to Americans, but in fact this payment covers the cost of the porter (usually a female Italian senior citizen) who keeps the place clean and fresh.
• "Toast" is grilled cheese or grilled ham & cheese, and somehow tastes so much better than grilled cheese at home, especially with an Italian birra alla spina (beer on tap) at an outdoor table overlooking a busy piazza. Usually running only a few Euros, toast is a great snack or even lunch if you plan on a big dinner each night. Toast is also easy to get and eat da porta via (for the road).
• Dinner is later than usual, with many restaurants closing shop between 2 or 3 PM and 7 PM. Not quite Spanish dining hours, but not American Midwest, either.
• Italians never drink cappuccino after about 11 AM, although it's very popular with biscotti or a pastry for breakfast.
• Italian regional trains are slow, unreliable, and often without working air conditioning; the Eurostar/Eurorail trains, however, are cool, comfortable and very reliable. Try to avoid the slower regional trains when possible, or when you can't, relax, and plan for delays.
• Particularly if you do not have much luggage to haul, the difference in quality between 1st and 2nd class train tickets is negligible. Save the money, and go 2nd class.
• Be an extrovert: talk to people. At one dinner in Sorrento last summer we ended up in a group conversation with fellow travelers from Italy, Sweden, Turkey, and Great Britain (we were the American representatives to our mini United Nations session!)
• Wear a money belt under your shirt/pants with cash reserves, credit card, and passport. Violent crime is very rare, but pickpocketing is less so. Just keep a small amount of money in your pocket, and everything else secured under your clothing, and you'll have no problems at all.
• Winter in Italy, even up north in Milan or Venice, can be damp and a little gloomy, BUT in terms of temperature, at least when you're from Chicago, 35 to 50 degress FT seems like early spring! Plan for shorter hours for museums and key sites. The good news is you'll also encounter smaller crowds, more locals, and festive decorations for Christmas. Buon Natale e Buon Ano!
• Try Italian everywhere you go! You'll get smiles and appreciation, even if you're like me, and you sound like you're from the south side of Chicago no matter how many hours you study and practice.
• Don't expect your hotels to have elevators or cool room temps equivalent to those in the US. Also, don't expect cold beverages to be served as cold as at home, or hot beverages to be as hot. Don't complain. Just roll with it. Pretend to be Italian/European. Isn't that the whole point?