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DISCOVER ITALY

What are the rules on wild camping in Italy?

Is it ever possible to camp outside of officially designated campsites in Italy? Read on to find out the rules and restrictions on where you can and can't camp along the peninsula.

Wild camping Italy
Where can you wild camp in Italy? Photo by Kevin Ianeselli on Unsplash

It’s the ultimate Italian camping holiday dream, setting up your tent right on the beach or in a deserted pine forest and waking up to spectacular views, all to yourself.

But is this even possible or legal? Are you actually allowed to camp or sleep in open fields or on mountainsides or beaches in Italy?

The short answer is…not really. 

Simply showing up to an unmarked spot and staking your tent is generally prohibited in Italy, and could land you with a fine of anywhere between €100 and €500.

The situation is complicated, however, by the fact that each of the country’s 20 regions have their own rules governing wild camping, ranging from the very strict to the moderately lenient.

What do the rules say?

Firstly, it’s important to know that there’s a legal difference between wild camping and bivouacking.

The former is just camping outside of an equipped camping area, while the latter entails setting up some kind of makeshift camp (with or without a tent) at dusk and leaving around sunrise the next day, staying for no more than a few hours. In some situations where wild camping is banned in Italy, you’re still allowed to bivouac.

Don’t assume, though, that saying you’re bivouacking will get you out of a fine if you’re found by a park ranger or policeman: in many instances, you also need to get permission to bivouac before setting off.

READ ALSO: How to choose a camping holiday in Italy: A guide for the uninitiated

In some regions, both wild camping and bivouacking is occasionally allowed, but you’ll need to familiarise yourself with local rules to make sure you’re staying on the right side of the law.

If your aim in wild camping is to save money rather than to spend a night on a deserted mountaintop, there are less picturesque alternatives available.

Sicily and Abruzzo, for example, allow local municipalities to create designated (unserviced) parking lots where campers can stay for free for a fixed period of time; while asking private individuals for permission to stay on their property is another – often surprisingly effective – option.

Regardless of region, you can expect to find universal bans on wild camping on beaches or in built up areas in towns and cities.

In some parts of Italy you can camp in designated parking lots.

In some parts of Italy you can camp in designated parking lots. Photo by Anders Nielsen on Unsplash 

How do the rules vary between regions?

Some regions, like Sardinia, Veneto and Friuli Venezia Giulia, have a blanket ban on camping outside of campsites.

Others, like Basilicata and Lazio, say the decision is up to local municipalities, to whom would-be wild campers have to make a written request. If permission is granted, you can camp in Lazio for up to 15 days in the same spot (Basilicata doesn’t specify a time limit).

Trentino Alto Adige allows bivouacs for a period of no more than 24 hours in areas where they are not explicitly prohibited by the competent local authorities (e.g., all of Sud Tyrol’s national parks have a blanket ban). Val d’Aosta allows bivouacking above 2,500m, but not in Gran Paradiso National Park or nearby any existing shelters such as mountain refuges (rifugi).

Some regions don’t appear to have any regulations on wild camping; in these cases it’s safest to email the local council (comune) of the place where you’re planning on staying to seek permission.

READ ALSO: How much more expensive is it to holiday in Italy this summer?

For information on what each region says about wild camping, the lawyer Claudia Cimato has compiled a detailed list of the relevant regulations in each Italian region, which the website of the outdoor gear store Bergzeit has sorted into a helpful summary and table (in Italian).

Is it worth trying to wild camp at all in Italy?

If you’re a foreign tourist, probably not. You’ll need good Italian to make a request to the local authorities and decode their answer, and you’ll need to have your route mapped out well in advance.

For those coming on holiday to Italy from abroad, then, you’re probably best off booking a pitch at an official campsite.

If you’re a keen camper based in Italy and speak good Italian, however, exploring the option of wild camping might be worth the effort.

You might assume that a request to a local authority doesn’t stand the slightest chance of getting an answer – but that’s not necessarily the case.

The travel and camping blogger Simona Scacheri says she’s obtained permission to wild camp and bivouac by asking ahead, and particularly recommends a site along the Grande Traversata Elbana on Tuscany’s Elba Island, as well as the Via Degli Abati and the Asiago plateau.

READ ALSO: MAP: Which regions of Italy have the most Blue Flag beaches in 2023?

You’d also be surprised how willing other private landowners are to let you camp on their land in exchange for a nominal fee or donation, or simply an agreement that you’ll patronise their facilities (e.g., go to the restaurant of an agriturismo if you’re camping on their land).

The writers behind the Novo-Monde travel blog say that on their wild camping trips across Europe they’ve never once been turned down when they’ve asked to stay on someone’s private land, so it’s always worth asking!

In sum, plan well ahead, prepare to move on regularly, and don’t be timid about asking – when it comes to wild camping in Italy, fortune favours the brave.

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ITALIAN HISTORY

Five pre-Roman sites to visit in Italy

From the mountains of Lombardy to the shores of Sicily, there are traces of pre-Roman civilisations scattered across Italy - if you know where to look.

Five pre-Roman sites to visit in Italy

The Romans may be Italy’s best-known ancient civilisation, but with Rome tracing its foundations back to 753 BC, they were far from the first to get here.

From the Etruscans to the Greeks, a suprising number of early human societies left their mark on the Italian peninsula, with temples, fortifications, theatres and graveyards.

Here are five historic sites you can visit in Italy that pre-date the Romans.

Etruscan necropoli of Cerveteri and Tarquinia

The Etruscan civilisation, with its heartlands in modern-day Lazio, Tuscany and Umbria, at one time dominated Italy until it was wiped out in the Roman-Etruscan wars in the 4th century BC.

These days not much remains of the Etruscans beyond earthenware and sarcophagi, but we do have some impressive necropolises or ‘cities of the dead’ that served as graveyards.

READ ALSO: Four civilizations in Italy that pre-date the Roman Empire

One of the best preserved is in Tarquinia, where not far outside the medieval city walls you’ll find a complex with hundreds of painted tombs depicting ancient life.

Another is the Necropoli della Banditaccia in nearby Cerveteri, a sprawling cemetery containing thousands of large domed tombs in a city-like plan designed to mimic an actual living city.

A 7th century painted Etruscan tomb discovered outside Rome in June 2006. Photo by FILIPPO MONTEFORTE / AFP.

Matera’s Neolithic caves

Used as a filming location for Pasolini’s The Gospel According to St. Matthew or The Passion of the Christ thanks to its strong resemblance to ancient Jerusalem, Matera in southern Italy is believed to be Europe’s oldest continually-habited settlement.

Outside of the cave dwellings carved into the rock which form the residences and hotels you’ll find in the old town’s Sassi districts today, the city is surrounded by caves that have been dated as far back as 7000 BC, to the Neolithic and even the Paleolothic eras.

You can see traces of prehistoric settlements and and Neolithic graveyards and villages in the Murgia Materana regional park surrounding the city.

Caves dating back to the Neolithic area surround the ancient city of Matera. Photo by Filippo MONTEFORTE / AFP.

Sardinia’s nuraghi

Sardinia’s Nuragic civilisation lasted from around 1,800 BC in the Bronze Age to Roman invasion and colonisation in around the first century BC, but today few traces of it remain beyond the stone structures – nuraghes or nuraghi in Italian – from which it takes its name.

READ ALSO: Five surprising facts you didn’t know about Rome

Around 7,000 nuraghi, truncated cone-like edifices made from stacked stones and boulders, dot the island’s landscape. Historians debate their function: they might have served as fortresses, residences, temples, astronomical observatories, or a combination of any of these.

The Su Nuraxi di Barumini nuraghe complex in the south of the island is a UNESCO World Heritage-listed site, and is considered one of the best examples of the architecture.

An aerial view of Nuraghe Arrabiu, one of the largest nuraghi on Sardinia. Photo by Joran Quinten on Unsplash

Valcamonica’s pre-historic stone carvings

In Italy’s mountainous northern Lombardy region you can find one of the world’s largest collections of petroglyphs, or rock carvings, spanning eight millennia and dating as far back as the Epipaleolithic era, around 10,000 years ago.

The 300,000-odd carvings, found in multiple locations across the 90km-long valley, were Italy’s first recognised World Heritage site, coming under UNESCO protection in 1979.

Today, there are eight archeological parks you can visit to see the engravings in person, with the 140 rocks in the Naquane National Park of Rock Engravings considered some of the best preserved.

A British Museum employee dusts a carved stone dated 2,500 BC, from Capo di Ponte, Valcamonica, for a 2022 exhibition. Photo by Daniel LEAL / AFP.

Agrigento’s Valley of the Temples

From architecture to military strategy, the Romans were heavily influenced by the Greeks – which is no surprise considering that large parts of southern Italy were once part of ancient Greece.

‘Magna Grecia’, ‘Great[er] Greece’ as the Romans called it, started being settled by the Greeks from around the eighth century BC, and at its height stretched across modern-day Sicily, Calabria, Puglia, Campania and Basilicata.

READ ALSO: Did you know…? These parts of Italy were once part of ancient Greece

Scattered across southern Italy are the remains of Greek settlements, including soaring temples and ancient theatres.

One of the most renowned and impressive examples of these is the Sicilian city of Agrigento’s ‘Valley of Temples’, where you’ll find seven temples within just a few miles of each other.

The Greek Temple of Concordia in Agrigento’s Valley of the Temples was built in the 5th century BC. Photo by ludovic MARIN / AFP.

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