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COVID-19 GREEN PASS

Reader question: Do I need a Covid green pass for my trip to Italy?

If you're planning to travel to Italy soon, make sure you know the rules on using Covid-19 health certificates in the country.

Reader question: Do I need a Covid green pass for my trip to Italy?
Italy’s Covid green pass system has been in place since August 2021. As the rules have changed again April, here's what you need to know about using it now. Photo by Andreas SOLARO / AFP

Question: ‘I’m travelling to Italy in April and I’m fully vaccinated. I’ve read that I’ll need to show an Italian ‘green pass’ for entry to restaurants and other venues. How do I get one?’

Italy has eased some of its coronavirus containment measures as of April 1st, but its health certificate, known as the ‘green pass’, is still a requirement at many venues.

As travel restarts this spring, The Local has received dozens of questions like the one above from people planning to visit Italy from abroad, with confusion arising amid a series of rule changes by the Italian government over the past few months.

The good news for visitors is that you probably will not need to obtain an Italian green pass.

If you’re vaccinated, Italy recognises proof of vaccination issued anywhere in the world on par with its own ‘super’ green pass, so the vaccination certificate issued in your home country (such as a US CDC card) should get you into any venue in Italy that is subject to this requirement.

People who were vaccinated in the EU or UK will have received a QR code that can be easily scanned and checked just like an Italian green pass.

READ ALSO: How Italy’s Covid rules change in April

Those with a paper vaccination or recovery certificate without a QR code simply need to show their certificate to the person conducting the checks. You do not need a QR code for your certificate to be recognised.

Make sure however that your vaccination certificate will be seen as valid under Italian rules.

If you have been fully vaccinated and boosted, your proof of vaccination has indefinite validity as a ‘super green pass’ equivalent in Italy. If you haven’t had a booster dose but have completed the primary vaccination cycle, your certificate is valid for six months since the last dose.

You can find more detailed information about how the green pass rules work for vaccinated visitors to Italy here

If you have proof of recovery from Covid-19, you can also use this on the same terms as an Italian ‘super’ green pass. This must be a recovery certificate issued by a medical authority (evidence of a negative test result, for example, doesn’t count) and it will be seen as valid for six months since the date of infection.

If you have neither proof of vaccination nor recovery, you’ll need to show proof of a negative test result instead. This is where you would need to get an Italian green pass.

Many venues will now allow you to enter with just proof of a negative test result, known as a ‘basic’ green pass. This is a QR code issued based on a negative result after being tested at a registered facility, such as a pharmacy or clinic.

READ ALSO: How tourists and visitors can get a coronavirus test in Italy

Visitors enjoy an outdoor lunch in Rome's Campo dei Fiori.

Visitors enjoy an outdoor lunch in Rome’s Campo dei Fiori. Photo by Filippo MONTEFORTE / AFP

The pass will be valid for 48 hours from the time the test was carried out in the case of a rapid test, or 72 hours in the case of a PCR test.

This means that if you’re in Italy for a longer visit you will need to be tested repeatedly to retain access to a valid pass.

You can find more details about getting a Covid test as a visitor to Italy here.

Where and when do Italy’s green pass rules apply?

For several months now, Italy’s ‘reinforced’ or ‘super’ green pass health certificate or an equivalent, showing that the holder is vaccinated against or recently recovered from Covid, has been required to access most venues and services across the country.

After the most recent rule change on April 1st, these requirements have been loosened.

Hotels and public transport are no longer subject to any green pass requirements. Proof of a negative Covid test result – the basic green pass, therefore – will be enough for entry to indoor bars and restaurants. If you’re sitting outside a bar or restaurant, you’ll no longer need any form of health pass at all.

Some spaces require only the ‘basic green pass’, which can be easily obtained via a negative Covid test result from a pharmacy for those without a vaccination or recovery certificate (see above).

The rules apply to everyone in the country aged over 12.

Italy’s green pass rules are expected to be eased further in May, and could be scrapped entirely by mid-June.

See full details of the green pass system and requirements by venue here.

At the border

For entry to Italy, you again do not need a ‘green pass’ specifically, but must show valid proof of vaccination, recovery OR a recent negative test result under the current travel rules, in place until at least April 30th.

As Italy has outsourced the enforcement of these rules to airlines and other transport operators, this documentation will be required when boarding your flight to Italy.

If you’re travelling by road or rail, there may instead be police checks at the border. 

For more information:

See the latest news from The Local about travel to Italy here.

Find more information about Italy’s Covid-19 health restrictions on the Italian health ministry’s website (available in English).

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HEALTH

Italy’s schools warned to ‘avoid gatherings’ as Covid cases rise

As Italy’s new school year began, masks and hand sanitiser were distributed in schools and staff were asked to prevent gatherings to help stem an increase in Covid infections.

Italy’s schools warned to ‘avoid gatherings’ as Covid cases rise

Pupils returned to school in many parts of Italy on Monday and authorities said they were distributing masks and hand sanitiser amid a post-summer increase in the number of recorded cases of Covid–19.

“The advice coming from principals, teachers and janitors is to avoid gatherings of students, especially in these first days of school,” Mario Rusconi, head of Italy’s Principals’ Association, told Rai news on Monday.

He added that local authorities in many areas were distributing masks and hand sanitizer to schools who had requested them.

“The use of personal protective equipment is recommended for teachers and students who are vulnerable,” he said, confirming that “use is not mandatory.”

A previous requirement for students to wear masks in the classroom was scrapped at the beginning of the last academic year.

Walter Ricciardi, former president of the Higher Health Institute (ISS), told Italy’s La Stampa newspaper on Monday that the return to school brings the risk of increased Covid infections.

Ricciardi described the health ministry’s current guidelines for schools as “insufficient” and said they were “based on politics rather than scientific criteria.”

READ ALSO:

Recorded cases of Covid have increased in most Italian regions over the past three weeks, along with rates of hospitalisation and admittance to intensive care, as much of the country returns to school and work following the summer holidays.

Altogether, Italy recorded 21,309 new cases in the last week, an increase of 44 percent compared to the 14,863 seen the week before.

While the World Health Organisation said in May that Covid was no longer a “global health emergency,” and doctors say currently circulating strains of the virus in Italy are not a cause for alarm, there are concerns about the impact on elderly and clinically vulnerable people with Italy’s autumn Covid booster campaign yet to begin.

“We have new variants that we are monitoring but none seem more worrying than usual,” stated Fabrizio Maggi, director of the Virology and Biosafety Laboratories Unit of the Lazzaro Spallanzani Institute for Infectious Diseases in Rome

He said “vaccination coverage and hybrid immunity can only translate into a milder disease in young and healthy people,” but added that “vaccinating the elderly and vulnerable continues to be important.”

Updated vaccines protecting against both flu and Covid are expected to arrive in Italy at the beginning of October, and the vaccination campaign will begin at the end of October, Rai reported.

Amid the increase in new cases, Italy’s health ministry last week issued a circular mandating Covid testing on arrival at hospital for patients with symptoms.

Find more information about Italy’s current Covid-19 situation and vaccination campaign on the Italian health ministry’s website (available in English).

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