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REVEALED: How strictly is Italy enforcing rules on Covid testing and quarantine for UK arrivals?

Many travellers to Italy including those coming from the UK still face quarantine requirements. But what does this involve and how strict are the rules? Readers who arrived recently told The Local about their experiences.

Published: 16 July 2021 18:11 CEST
Updated: 31 July 2021 10:05 CEST

REVEALED: How strictly is Italy enforcing rules on Covid testing and quarantine for UK arrivals?

Photo: Andreas Solaro/AFP

The Italian health ministry toughened its rules for UK arrivals from June 21st due to concern about the rise in new coronavirus cases in Britain fuelled by the highly transmissible Delta variant.

This means Italy now requires two coronavirus tests and five days in quarantine for any travellers who have been in the UK in the past fortnight.

That includes people who have been vaccinated against Covid-19.

But though Italian authorities have clearly stated what the rules are (you can find a complete guide here) the way things actually work in practice can differ slightly from one part of Italy to another.

As many readers have asked about how exactly the Italian authorities are monitoring arrivals and enforcing the rules, we spoke to those who’ve travelled recently about their experiences.

What should I expect when travelling to Italy?

Several readers said they were unsure about which documents they’d be asked for when travelling, particularly due to confusion about the rules for vaccinated travellers.

At the moment, Italy is not recognising proof of vaccination issued in the UK for entry.

For travel to the country, the Italian rules state that passengers must show two documents: a negative test result from within the previous 48 hours – this can be either molecular (PCR) or a rapid antigen swab – and a completed European Digital Passenger Locator Form (dPLF), giving details of where you’re departing from and where you’ll be staying. The form is available online here.

These rules seem to be being applied consistently, according to those we spoke to.

“After feeling very stressed about the required private Covid test and uploading it to my boarding pass along with the EU Passenger Locator Form before departure, it all worked very easily,” said Julia in Calabria, who flew from Stansted.

“My Covid test was looked at every step of the way – it’s a good idea to print it off as well as having it on your phone. On entering Italy they checked the Covid test and the print-off of the EU-plf, and asked me to self-isolate for five days.”

Reader question: How likely is Italy to change its restrictions on travel from the UK?

Photo: Marco Sabadin/AFP

Linda in Tuscany said: “I was worried that I wasn’t going to be allowed to leave the UK until the plane actually took off. I had been really careful to gather all the documentation required but still wasn’t sure I had it all.

“When leaving the UK I was asked for my passport, passenger locator form and my Covid test certificate. When I got into Pisa I was asked for the same things. I had also collected my vaccination certificate (Scotland), proof of where I was staying, permission from the property owner, evidence of travel insurance and all my car hire documentation including extra insurance and none of that was asked for.”

All those who drove from the UK meanwhile said they had their documents checked when crossing the French border but not when entering Italy.

As the France-Italy border is within the EU and Schengen zone, fewer checks may be carried out – but the same rules still apply regardless of whether you enter Italy by plane, ferry, train, coach, private car or any other means of transport.

How do I report to the local authority and organise testing?

Once you’re in Italy, the rules say you should contact your local health authority to report your presence within 48 hours of arrival.

Depending on where you’re going, this may involve filling out an online form, sending an email or calling a regional helpline. Find contact details here.

Several readers in the region of Tuscany told us that, despite some initial confusion when calling the regional helpline, doctors from the local health authority not only called them back, but also arranged for them to be tested at the end of the quarantine period.

“I phoned the Sistema Informativo Sanitario della Prevenzione Collettiva (SISPC) to announce my arrival and to start quarantine. I was 47th in the queue! However it didn’t take long to get to speak to someone,” said Linda.

“They sent me an email repeating the information I had given them and also telling me what to do if I had Covid symptoms.

“The following day, a doctor phoned and asked if I had symptoms, and reminded me to quarantine.”

Linda added that when a friend attempted to make an appointment for her to be tested at a local pharmacy, “she found out I already had an appointment, so the doctor must’ve made me one.”

“I was quite impressed with their efficiency and how careful they are being.”

Not all regions do this, however. Whether you can organise your own test via a private provider such as a pharmacy or need to go through the public health service depends on the rules in your region.

If in doubt, ask your local health authority or the regional Covid helpline for advice.

Photo: Alberto Pizzoli/AFP

In the region of Emilia Romagna, reader Carlo said his test was also arranged for him, and he was able to complete an online form instead of phoning.

“During my quarantine period I was contacted by phone and email by the health authority informing me of the quarantine requirements, part of this was how I would take a quarantine release test.

“They organised this test, which needed to be a molecular test, at a local hospital for me to take on day six.”

Several readers in different regions noted that their local health authority insisted on a molecular (PCR) test, even though Italy’s national rules (and therefore the Italian travel rules published on the UK government website) state that either a PCR or antigen test will be accepted at the end of the quarantine period.

Differences such as this exist because each of Italy’s 21 regional authorities are free to set stricter rules of their own, on top of the national measures.

Will the helpline staff speak English?

Though some regional helplines say they’re available in English and other languages, in practice it appears likely that you’ll need to speak to someone in Italian, at least initially.

If you’re worried that your Italian language skills aren’t up to the task, you are allowed to have someone else (such as an Italian friend or relative) phone on your behalf, though they will need to be able to provide your personal details.

In Sicily, reader Peter in the province of Messina reported that he was able to get by despite not yet having mastered the language.

“The Sicilian Covid helpline is Italian language only, and you are met with a long recorded message – still not sure what was being said! However, a few minutes after calling, I got a return call and read in Italian (from my scripted research) that I was calling to report my wife’s re-entry to Sicily and that I couldn’t speak enough Italian to hold a conversation,” he said.

“God bless her, the young lady on the other end of the line spoke in pretty poor English, but much better than my Italian and we got there, although the process seemed to simply regurgitate the information on the PLF form.”

He later received a call from the local hospital – this time from a fluent English speaker – who organised a PCR test for the day following the end of quarantine.

“The reporting in and test arrangements have been undertaken efficiently, professionally and with a great deal of courtesy,” Peter said.

Will anyone check up on me?

Local health authorities have the right to call or even visit you in person to check that you’re observing quarantine.

Many of the people The Local spoke to said they’d received some kind of follow-up from their area’s local health authority during their quarantine period, while others said they hadn’t heard anything.

But, as penalties for failing to follow the quarantine rules can be stiff, including fines of up to a thousand euros, it’s best to assume the rules will be enforced and act accordingly.

Find more details of the Italian quarantine rules here.

If you need to book a coronavirus test in Italy, find a complete guide to doing so here.

For more information about the requirements for travelling between the UK and Italy see the Italian Health Ministry’s website, or consult the Italian Embassy in London or British Embassy in Rome.

Thank you to everyone who took the time to share their travel experiences with us, including those whose comments we weren’t able to include in this article.

Member comments

Anonymous - 16 July 2021 at 22:43 CEST

Hi, do you know if during quarantine, you can get your dog out to exercise? For us is OK being indoors, but my problem is the dog…
Anonymous - 20 July 2021 at 09:43 CEST

My sisters who travelled from England to stay with us in Emilia Romagna were provided with an email setting out quarantine guidance after they had notified the health authority. This should give you the information you need. We didn’t notice anything about dogs but it was only provided in Italian and we only really read what applied to our situation. I do know that we (we self isolated with my sisters to avoid complications) were not even allowed to take rubbish out during the five days so it is quite restricted. Do you have a friend, family member or neighbour who could walk the dog for you?
Anonymous - 3 August 2021 at 14:44 CEST

As stated above if driving the only control you will come across is the French at the Euro tunnel who do not even want to let you through unless vaccinated. In Italy, nobody knew i had been in the UK as i did not inform anyone.

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Europe's new EES passport checks: Your questions answered

Two big changes are coming for travel in and out of the EU and Schengen zone – EES and ETIAS.

You can find an overview HERE on what they mean, but broadly EES is an enhanced passport check at the border including biometric information while ETIAS is a visa waiver required for all travellers, including tourists making short visits.

Despite being scheduled to begin later this year, many aspects of how EES will actually work on the ground are still unclear – while much of the available information is for people who are travelling as tourists (rather than foreigners living in an EU or Schengen zone country).

So we asked readers of The Local to send us your questions.

Here we take a look at some of the most commonly asked questions – including the situation for dual-nationals, for non-EU citizens resident in Europe, for second-home owners and the situation at the UK-France border.

Some answers are still unclear – either because they have not yet been finalised or because the available information is not very specific. Where we have had to answer “we don’t know”, we will continue to badger the European Commission plus national and port authorities on your behalf. We will update this article when we know more.

When is this coming into effect?

Good question. Believe it or not, discussions on the Entry & Exit System began in 2011. At that time the UK was part of the EU and was reportedly enthusiastic about EES. Things changed and now the border between France and the UK – an external EU border since Brexit – is a major worry. More on that below.

Anyway, it’s been a long term project and the start dates have been postponed multiple times, first because of Covid and then because infrastructure was not ready. The most recent postponement came at the request of France, which wanted to get the Paris Olympics over with before any border changes were made.

The EU now says that the start date for EES is the “second half of 2024” – UK media have reported October 6th as a possible start date while European airports have reportedly told to be ready by November. Meanwhile the French interior ministry says that the start is envisaged “between the final part of 2024 and the beginning of 2025”.

We’ll see.

Who does it affect?

EES is aimed at non-EU travellers who are a crossing an EU/Schengen external border.

EU citizens will not have to complete EES registration.

Neither will non-EU citizens who have residency in an EU or Schengen zone country – they will need to produce proof of residency such as a residency permit or long-stay visa.

Neither will non-EU residents who have a valid short-stay visa for a country in the EU. This could include second-home owners who have obtained a short-stay (under six months) visa in order to allow them unlimited visits to their holiday home.

However citizens from countries which do not benefit from the 90-day rule and who therefore need a visa even for short visits (eg Indians) will have to complete EES registration.

It does not apply when travelling between Schengen zone countries (more on that below).

Where does it apply?

EES is about external EU/Schengen borders, so does not apply if you are travelling within the Schengen zone – eg taking the train from France to Germany or flying from Spain to Sweden.

Ireland and Cyprus, despite being in the EU, are not in the Schengen zone so will not be using EES, they will continue to stamp passports manually.

Norway, Switzerland and Iceland – countries that are in the Schengen zone but not in the EU – will be using EES.

The full list of countries using EES is: Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czechia, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Italy, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, and Switzerland.

Therefore a journey between any of the countries listed above will not be covered by EES.

However a journey in or out of any of those countries from a country not listed above will be covered by EES.

What is EES pre-registration?

You’ll soon be hearing a lot about EES “pre-registration”. EES itself is basically an enhanced passport check – travellers will need to register their biometric details (fingerprints and facial scans) to enhance the security of passport checks.

Automated passport checks will also start to calculate how long you have been in the EU, and therefore automatically detect over-stayers (eg people who have over-stayed their visa or who have over-stayed their 90-day allowance). EES does not change any of the rules regarding length of stay, it just toughens up enforcement of them.

The first time that you cross an external Schengen border you will need to register additional details including fingerprints and a facial scan, and have them electronically linked to your passport. This takes place in a special zone at the airport/port/station that is your departure point.

Once you have completed the pre-registration, you then proceed to passport scanning.

The pre-registration only needs to be done once and then lasts for three years. Those three years renew every time you cross an external border, so regular travellers shouldn’t need to renew it until they get a new passport – at which point the pre-registration must be done again.

Does pre-registration have to be done at the airport/port/station? Can’t I do it on a website or app?

Advance registration is what many travel operators, especially in the UK, are calling for. They say that getting everyone to complete pre-registration in person on site will cause chaos.

However, the EU at the moment seems to be sticking to the original idea of in-person registration. There are a number of practical problems with trying to pre-register fingerprints, but a solution could yet be found.

What can I do now?

Many of our readers want to get organised now and register their details in advance to avoid border delays. Unfortunately this is not possible and at the moment all you can do is wait until the system comes into effect. Frustrating, we know.

What about dual nationals?

People who have dual nationality of an EU and non-EU nation (eg British and Irish passports or American and Italian passports) will not be required to complete EES checks if they are travelling on their EU passport.

If, however, they are travelling on their non-EU passport they would need to complete EES registration.

EES does not change any of the rules relating to dual nationality or to travelling as a dual national – full details HERE.

What’s the situation for non-EU citizens resident in the EU/Schengen area?

The European Commission is clear about one point: EES does not apply to people who have residency in an EU country. This is because a major part of EES is catching over-stayers – which of course does not apply to people who are resident here.

What the Commission is a lot less clear about is how this will work in practice.

Most airports/port/stations have two queues: EU passports and non-EU passports. It’s not clear which queue non-EU citizens resident in the EU should use, how they can avoid automated passport checks entirely and use a manned booth (so that they can show both a passport and proof of residency) or even whether manned booths will be available at all departure points.

What if I live in the EU but I don’t have a visa/residency permit?

For most non-EU citizens, having either a visa or a residency permit is obligatory in order to be legally resident.

However, there is one exception: UK citizens who were legally resident in the EU prior to the end of the Brexit transition period and who live in one of the “declaratory” countries where getting a post-Brexit residency card was optional, rather than compulsory. Declaratory countries include Germany and Italy.

Although it is legal for people in this situation to live in those countries without a residency permit, authorities already advise people to get one in order to avoid confusion/hassle/delays at the border. Although EES does not change any rules relating to residency or travel, it seems likely that it will be more hassle to travel without a residency card than it is now.

Our advice? Things are going to be chaotic enough, getting a residency permit seems likely to save you a considerable amount of hassle.

How does this affect the 90-day rule?

Citizens of certain non-EU countries – including the UK, US, Canada, New Zealand and Australia – are entitled to spend up to 90 days in every 180 in the EU without the need for a visa.

EES does not change this rule, so all the current regulations and restrictions continue to apply.

READ ALSO: How does the 90-day rule work?

What EES does change is the enforcement of the rule – at present non-EU nationals have their passports manually stamped on entry and exit, and border guards use these stamps to calculate whether people are sticking to their 90-day allowance.

It’s a bit of a hit-and-miss system, passports don’t always get stamped when they should, sometimes border guards misread the stamps and sometimes passports get stamped in error. EES should solve all of these problems by using an electronic scan of the passport and automatically calculating the 90-day allowance.

It will make it much harder for people to over-stay (indeed, this is one of its stated aims) but for people sticking to the rules it should actually be easier and more efficient. Should. If it works as advertised, that is…

What’s the deal for second-home owners?

For non-EU citizens who own property in the EU, it all depends on whether they have a visa or limit their visits to 90 days in every 180, as described above.

People who use the 90-day allowance will be subject to EES and use the system in the same way as short-stay tourists.

People who have a visa are exempt and need to show their visa at the border. As described in the “non-EU residents in the EU” section, however, it’s far from clear how this will actually work in practice at the border.

Why is the UK-France border such a problem?

As discussed above, EES will apply to all EU/Schengen external borders, but the biggest fears so far are about the UK-France border.

So is this just the Brits whining about the easily foreseeable consequences of Brexit? Actually no, there are genuine reasons why this border is likely to be a problem, mostly relating to volume of traffic and infrastructure.

Although it is true that EES wouldn’t have affected the UK-France border if it hadn’t been for Brexit, the current reasons for the worries are more practical.

Put simply, the UK-France border is one of the busiest EU external borders that there is, with around 60 million people crossing per year. Of those travellers, around 70 percent are UK citizens, meaning they will have to complete EES formalities.

Add to that the limitations of space: several UK destination points, including the Port of Dover and Eurostar’s London St Pancras terminal, are already in cramped areas with very little expansion room, meaning that creating the new infrastructure to deal with EES checks is very difficult.

For context, the newly completed EES pre-registration area at Coquelles (Calais) covers 7,000 square metres, in order to accommodate up to 60 passenger vehicles simultaneously.

The final factor is the Le Touquet agreement – the 2003 bilateral agreement between France and the UK means that passport checks for people entering France are done on UK soil, and vice versa. This creates a unique situation where people travelling from Eurostar Gare du Nord or St Pancras, the ports of Dover or Calais or the Channel Tunnel terminals of Folkestone and Coquelles go through two sets of passport checks on departure, and none on arrival.

READ ALSO: What is the Le Touquet agreement?

The double passport checks mean that delays at one area can have severe knock-on effects.

Since Brexit, the Port of Dover has reported long delays at several peak times such as the start of the school holidays while Eurostar has been forced to cut the number of trains it runs per day.

EES implementation problems won’t be limited to the UK-France border, but the volume of people crossing the border means that even slight delays to one system can easily lead to hours-long queues.

What about Nato staff or people with diplomatic passports?

People who have a special status such as diplomatic passports will not have to complete pre-registration. However, as with other exempt groups such as non-EU residents of the EU or visa holders, it is unclear how this will actually work on the ground and which passport queue they should join.

Will I need an extra visa to enter the EU as a tourist?

EES does not change anything with regards to visas – in essence all the current visa rules stay the same, only the enforcement changes.

However there is another change coming down the track – ETIAS, which will affect non-EU citizens entering the EU as tourists or visitors.

You can find an overview of how it works HERE, but one thing we do know is that it won’t be introduced until after EES is up and running and (hopefully) most of the problems ironed out.

One unholy mess at a time.

Will it really be an unholy mess?

The European Commission says: “The main advantage of the EES is saving time. The EES replaces passport stamping and automates border control procedures, making travelling to European countries using the EES more efficient for the traveller.”

Hmm.

As outlined above, there could be infrastructure problems at several departure points, there is as yet little clarity on certain import details and of course all new systems take time to bed in.

After the first year of operation things are likely to get smoother – by this time most regular travellers will have already completed the pre-registration and will therefore by able to move straight into getting their passport scanned, leaving only new travellers to complete the pre-registration formalities.

That first year, however, looks like it could be a little chaotic at certain borders, especially the UK-France one, at peak travel times such as the start of school holidays.

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