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HEALTH

EXPLAINED: What are the Italian lockdown rules in your region?

Italy has imposed tough new restrictions for most of the country, as a 'third wave' of infections takes hold. Here's how it affects you in your region.

Published: 13 March 2021 10:26 CET
Updated: 19 March 2021 09:10 CET
EXPLAINED: What are the Italian lockdown rules in your region?
Photo by Alberto Pizzoli/AFP

From Monday, schools, restaurants, shops and museums shut down as most of Italy becomes a ‘red’ or an ‘orange’ zone.

READ ALSO: Italy placed under new lockdown as Covid ‘third wave’ takes hold

Every region with more than 250 cases per 100,000 inhabitants (according to official weekly health data) were automatically placed in the highest-risk red zone, a spokesman for Prime Minister Mario Draghi’s office said.

Most of the country turns red from Monday. There are seven regions under slightly less stringent orange zone restrictions, while Sardinia is the only low-risk ‘white zone’.

The new restrictions are in place until Easter, when the whole nation will be placed in a ‘red’ zone over the weekend of April 3-5, government officials have confirmed.

The Easter restrictions will not apply in white zones, the prime minister’s office confirmed on Friday.

EXPLAINED: What are Italy’s new coronavirus ‘white zones’?

The regional classifications from Monday are as follows:

Red zone: Trentino-Alto Adige/South Tyrol, Campania, Emilia Romagna, Friuli Venezia Giulia, Lazio, Lombardy, Marche, Molise, Piedmont, Puglia, Veneto, Basilicata.

Orange zone: Abruzzo, Calabria, Liguria, Sicily, Umbria, Tuscany and Valle d’Aosta.

A 10pm-5am curfew remains in place nationwide, and all non-essential travel between regions is banned.

Public transport is still running, including long-distance trains, though some routes may be suspended or operating on reduced schedules. Check with your transport provider for details before departing.

Here’s a look at how the rules differ between red and orange zones, according to the government’s latest decree released on March 13th. You can find the full text here (in Italian).

What are the rules in orange zones?

In orange zones, you can only travel within your municipality (town) and it is forbidden to move between municipalities unless for essential reasons.

If you leave your municipality, or travel within it during the 10pm-5am curfew, you must complete a self-declaration form justifying your movements.

Bars, cafes, restaurants, pastry shops and other food businesses are closed.

Home delivery is still allowed, and takeaway is permitted until curfew at 10pm.

Museums and art galleries are closed.

All shops can remain open.

Hairdressers and beauticians can remain open.

Visits to the homes of family and friends outside your municipality are not allowed.

You can visit a second home within your region.

Schools remain open, but local authorities can order schools to close and to move learning online.

Photo by Filippo MONTEFORTE/AFP

Red zones:

Some local red zones have been previously enforced in towns and provinces. Now, this may extend from a province to the entire surrounding region, For example, Bologna’s red zone will now expand to the whole of Emilia Romagna.

In addition to not being allowed to travel from one municipality to another, people in red zones are not allowed to move around within their own area unless for essential reasons, by either public or private transport.

You must justify any movements, including within your own municipality, using a self-declaration form.

You can only enter or leave an orange or red zone for urgent reasons, such as for work or health.

You cannot travel to any private home other than your own.

All schools in red zones are closed. Authorities may choose to enforce additional closures in orange zones.

Shops are closed except for those deemed essential, which include supermarkets and other food shops, tabacchi (tobacconists/newsagents), and pharmacies. Childrens’ clothes shops are also open.

Hairdressers and beauticians are closed.

All team sports activities are suspended (solo exercise such as running or walking is allowed).

Travel to a second home is allowed only if you can prove you had the right to enter the property (as owner or tenant) before January 14th 2021. This means new short-term rentals are not allowed, and you can’t stay with relatives. “The house of destination must not be inhabited by people not belonging to the family unit”, according to the health ministry. 

Visits to relatives and friends are not allowed, even within your own municipality,

Exceptions to this rules are made for Easter in red zones. You can move within the region between 5am and 10pm to visit friends and relatives, once a day. A maximum of two people, plus children under 14, are allowed to move in this way from April 3-5, the Italian health ministry confirmed in a statement.

The health ministry notes that individual regions or provinces may set their own additional restricions on top of these national rules, and the details can be found on your local authority’s website.

Find out where to get the latest information for your local area here.

Please note The Local is not able to advise on specific situations.  For more information on the restrictions please see the Italian Health Ministry’s website (in English).

Member comments

  1. They may be able to control the virus this way…they MAY…but the long term adverse impact on mental health and the decline in scholastic aptitude will be incalculable and last for decades. Needless to say, Italy’s precious remaining WWII memories will disappear into thin air. So sad how disastrous Italy has handled this.

      1. First person accounts. That generation is dying out…Covid has increased the rate both directly and indirectly. There are so many memories that have not been recorded.

    2. So easy for you to say “how disastrous Italy has handled this” and how wrong. The government has worked hard to follow most current science, while being true to democratic institutions, and mostly wisely erring on the side of caution. The people of Italy as a whole have handled this admirably, with determination and no small amount of warmth, generosity and humor. There are always those who have no active public life who take potshots from the sidelines at those who are actually in the game, who are trying their best to do something to mitigate effects of a bad situation. Perhaps excuse them for their less then godlike ability.

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BREXIT

‘In the dark’: Why Brits in Italy are still unable to prove rights to free healthcare

Despite UK and Italian authorities confirming that British residents covered by post-Brexit rules are entitled to healthcare in Italy, many still face "significant problems" in accessing it, the British government has said.

Published: 22 May 2024 13:38 CEST
Updated: 23 May 2024 11:57 CEST
'In the dark': Why Brits in Italy are still unable to prove rights to free healthcare

Cancer patients are among those in need of treatment but unable to access the Italian national health service amid confusion over post-Brexit rules, campaigners say, after clarifications from the UK and Italian governments have so far failed to resolve bureaucratic deadlocks at local authority level.

Since the end of the Brexit transition period in 2021, many British nationals resident in Italy covered by the Withdrawal Agreement (WA) have reported difficulties in proving their right to free healthcare under the Italian public system.

The problem was exacerbated this year after the Italian government in January hiked the minimum annual fee for ‘voluntary’ healthcare registration from €387 to €2,000, which many said they were unable to pay.

The British government in February stepped in to clarify that UK nationals covered by the WA should not be subject to charges for healthcare, and on its Living in Italy website it advised those affected to show their local health authority office (Azienda Sanitaria Locale, or ASL) an official note published by the Italian health ministry on February 15th which sets out their rights (find it here, in Italian.)

WA beneficiaries “can compulsorily enrol (iscrizione obbligatoria) with the Italian National Health System,” states the final section, pointing out that the deal, “in Article 23, provides for equal treatment with domestic nationals.”

But for some local health officials, even this written confirmation does not appear to be enough to clear up the confusion.

READ ALSO: ‘Life or death situation’: Brits facing high Italian healthcare costs amid rule change uncertainty

The UK government on Friday, May 17th, updated its guidance to say it had become aware that “some beneficiaries of the Withdrawal Agreement are facing significant problems accessing health services and renewing their healthcare cards,” despite its advice to show local health authorities the official note.

British nationals continue to report that local health authorities around Italy remain unwilling to issue them with a health card, while campaigners say the situation is further complicated for some by the fact that Italian authorities have also refused to issue proof of their permanent residency status, which entitles them to free healthcare.

This was the case for Graham Beresford, a British citizen living in Abruzzo who has been diagnosed with a rare cancer and remains unable to access the free healthcare he is entitled to, as he says local authorities don’t understand the post-Brexit rules.

Graham told The Local in April that the government’s clarifications on the issue had made little difference – his ASL continues to demand he pay the 2,000-euro charge.

READ ALSO: Can I get a refund after wrongly paying Italy’s €2,000 healthcare fee?

“Every time I go to my ASL office, I always feel like I’m dismissed,” Graham said. “I told the ASL worker I need medication for my cancer and she replied lots of people come in here with sob stories.

“There genuinely seems to be no compassion whatsoever.”

Graham’s story was reported in The Guardian on May 12th ahead of UK foreign secretary David Cameron’s first major meeting with European commission vice-president Maroš Šefčovič to discuss post-Brexit relations.

Campaigners also wrote to Cameron in April to appeal for help with the “desperate” situation faced by those unable to access care in Italy.

In its update to the Living in Italy website on Friday, the British government stated: “Since [the health ministry’s note] was published, and particularly in recent days and weeks, it has become clear to us that not all Italian authorities are consistently following this guidance.”

“We are urgently speaking to all relevant parts of the Italian government to clarify the situation so that we can give clear advice to those affected as soon as possible. 

“We also know that this problem is linked to the many difficulties some are experiencing with obtaining an attestazione di soggiorno permanente and/or the Carta di Soggiorno permanente. We are working to help with these issues too.

“We will update this page as soon as we have further news.”

READ ALSO: ‘We are desperate’: Why the UK must help Britons with Italian healthcare charges

Clarissa Killwick from Beyond Brexit, a group for UK citizens in Italy, said the situation “should never have been allowed to happen” and that there had been “a series of communication failures and inconsistencies.”

“We’re not far short of five months after the introduction of the €2,000 new minimum for voluntary contributions and there is still no clarity,” she added.

“There are fraught exchanges in public offices because people on both sides of the counter are in the dark or with conflicting information.

“People need information they can rely on, unequivocally. What do you say to someone who is waiting for an operation but has no idea what is going on?”

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