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UPDATE: What are Italy’s rules for travel over Easter?

Italy is tightening its rules across the country at Easter – but there are a few exceptions. Here's what you need to know if you're hoping to travel over the holiday weekend.

Published: 29 March 2021 15:39 CEST
Updated: 3 April 2021 09:00 CEST
UPDATE: What are Italy's rules for travel over Easter?
Passengers at Cagliari airport in Sardinia. Photo: Alberto Pizzoli/AFP

Can I visit Italy from overseas?

Italy has not changed the rules on who is allowed to visit as a tourist, but it has introduced extra conditions for people arriving from within the European Union.

Visitors from other EU countries or the Schengen Zone are still allowed to come to Italy for tourism or any other reason, but they must test negative for coronavirus no more than 48 hours before arrival and then quarantine for five days regardless. They will then have to test negative a second time after isolation. 

The quarantine requirement will apply from March 31st until at least April 6th.

EXPLAINED: Which travellers have to quarantine in Italy and for how long?

There are separate rules for people travelling from Austria, who are subject to testing on arrival as well as before departure, and have to spend two weeks in quarantine even after two negative test results. They must then take a third test after 14 days. The rules apply until at least April 6th: find full details on the Italian Health Ministry’s website (in English).

Visitors from a handful of low-risk countries outside the EU – Australia, New Zealand, Rwanda, South Korea, Singapore and Thailand – are also allowed to come to Italy as tourists, though they must quarantine for 14 days on arrival.

Testing arriving passengers at Rome Fiumicino airport. Photo by Andreas SOLARO / AFP

Italy currently has extra restrictions on the UK and Brazil. People departing from Great Britain or Northern Ireland are only allowed to enter Italy if they were officially registered as residents before December 23rd 2020 or can prove they need to come for “reasons of absolute necessity”. They must get tested before and after arrival, and carry out 14 days’ quarantine regardless of the results.

Meanwhile travellers from Brazil must have been registered residents before February 13th 2021, be returning to minor children living in Italy, or have other essential reasons to travel. They have to get tested before and after arrival, observe quarantine, and get tested again after 14 days.

READ ALSO:

Travellers from the rest of the world, including the United States, Canada, India, Russia, China and every other country unless specified, can only visit Italy for essential reasons, such as for work or study or to get medical treatment.

Nationals of other countries who live in Italy, as well as Italian or EU nationals and their family members, are allowed to return to Italy, but they have to quarantine for 14 days. The same applies to people who have “a proven and stable emotional relationship” with a legal resident of Italy and need to reach their partner’s Italian home.

Find more details of Italy’s current travel rules, including exceptions for people travelling for work or transiting briefly through Italy, on the Ministry of Health’s website (in English). 

Can I go abroad from Italy?

Yes – so long as your chosen destination allows you to enter, and you’re aware of the rules that will apply to you on your return to Italy (see above: residents of Italy are subject to the same testing and quarantine requirements as tourists, including when they’re returning to Italy from another EU country).

The Italian Interior Ministry recently confirmed that people in Italy are free to depart on holiday to other countries within the EU or Schengen Zone, even if it means travelling within Italy to reach the airport or ferry terminal. That stands even when Italy is a nationwide ‘red zone’ over the Easter weekend, with strict limits on leaving your town or region under most other circumstances.

However, Italy’s Foreign Ministry continues to recommend that people avoid travelling abroad unless “strictly necessary”, including within the EU. Further restrictions on entry to Italy from other countries are possible and could lead to difficulty getting home, the ministry warns.

Can I travel around Italy?

Italy currently has a ban on most travel between regions, which is only allowed for work, health or other emergencies.

With all regions either red or orange zones under Italy’s tier system of risk-assessed restrictions, non-essential travel between towns is also banned. 

EXPLAINED:

Over the Easter weekend from April 3rd to 5th, the whole of Italy will become a red zone with maximum restrictions in place, amounting to a form of lockdown.

Under these rules, people are required to stay at home except for essential reasons, including buying groceries, going to work or exercising (by yourself). 

If you need to make a trip either within your own town or beyond it, you should be prepared to fill in a self-declaration form justifying your reasons. 

Transport including trains and buses continues to operate for people who need to travel, but may be running a reduced schedule. You’re also likely to have your forms checked by police at train stations and bus terminals.

If you’re driving, you’ll also be subject to police stops on the road. 

Photo by Miguel MEDINA / AFP

Can I visit my second home in Italy?

It depends. If you live overseas and have a holiday home in Italy, you will need to follow the same travel restrictions as any other visitor (see above). 

If you live in Italy and have a second home within the country, the national rules do allow you travel there. You can return to a home in a different town or region even if it’s not your permanent residence and even if it means leaving a red or orange zone. 

But there are two conditions: you must have owned or rented the property before January 14th 2021, and there can’t be anyone else already living there. In other words, you can’t decamp to a short-term rental, or stay with friends or relatives. 

READ ALSO: ‘Don’t come’: Italian regions seek to stop second-home owners visiting

Remember too that certain regions of Italy have introduced their own restrictions limiting visits from second-home owners over the Easter break, including Tuscany, Liguria, Sardinia, Valle D’Aosta and Alto Adige/South Tyrol. These take the form of local ordinances that you can find published on each region’s official website: find links here.

Always check regional restrictions as well as national ones before planning a trip.

I live in Italy. Can I visit my friends and family here?

You can’t go and stay with your loved ones, as explained above. But you can spend the day with them, according to a special exception on socializing in Italy’s Easter rules.

Over April 3rd to 5th, when Italy is a red zone, you will be permitted to visit another nearby household once a day, and accompanied by no more than one other adult (though children under 14 can come too).

You must stay within your own region and should set off after 5am and return home by 10pm, in line with Italy’s nightly curfew.

Such visits are usually banned in red zones, but the latest emergency decree contains a temporary allowance for the holiday weekend.

When will the rules change next?

Italy’s current emergency decree came into force on March 6th and will remain in place until April 6th. 

The Easter lockdown applies from April 3rd to 5th. 

The Italian government has not yet confirmed the rules from April 7th onwards, though Prime Minister Mario Draghi has indicated that the tier system of regional restrictions will remain in place and that none of Italy’s regions will become a yellow or white zone – where restrictions are allowed to loosen – until at least the end of April.

For all The Local’s coverage of the coronavirus emergency in Italy, click here.

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TRAVEL NEWS

Reader question: What will EES mean for foreigners living in Europe?

The EU's new Entry & Exit System (EES) of enhanced passport controls is due to come into force later this year, but among many questions that remain is the situation for non-EU nationals who live in the EU or Schengen zone.

Published: 27 April 2024 07:59 CEST
Reader question: What will EES mean for foreigners living in Europe?

Currently scheduled to start in autumn 2024 (unless it’s delayed again, which is not unlikely) the EU’s new Entry & Exit System is basically an enhanced passport check at external EU borders, including a facial scan and fingerprinting.

You can find a full explanation of the new system HERE.

Travellers crossing an external EU or Schengen border for the first time will be required to complete EES ‘pre-registration’ formalities including that facial scan and fingerprinting.

There are, however, several groups exempt from EES and one of them is non-EU nationals who have a residency permit or long-stay visa for an EU country.

So if you’re a foreigner living in the EU or Schengen zone, here’s what you need to know.

Exempt

One of the stated aims of EES is to tighten up enforcement of over-staying – IE, people who stay longer than 90 days in every 180 without a visa, or those who overstay the limits of their visa.

Obviously these limits do not apply to non-EU nationals who are resident in the EU or Schengen zone, which is why this group is exempt from EES checks. They will instead be required to show their passport and residency permit/visa when crossing a border, just as they do now.

In its explanations of how EES will work, the European Commission is clear – exempt groups include non-EU residents of the Bloc.

A Commission spokesman told The Local: “Non-EU citizens residing in the EU are not in the scope of the EES and will not be subject to pre-enrollment of data in the EES via self-service systems. The use of automation remains under the responsibility of the Member States and its availability in border crossing points is not mandatory.

“When crossing the borders, holders of EU residence permits should be able to present to the border authorities their valid travel documents and residence permits.”

How this will work

How this will work on the ground, however, is a lot less clear.

Most ports/airports/terminals have two passport queues – EU and non-EU. It remains unclear whether the non-EU queue will have a separate section for those who are exempt from EES.

It does seem clear that exempt groups will not be able to use the automated passport scanners – since those cannot scan additional documents like residency permits – but should instead use manned passport booths. However it is not clear whether these will be available at all airports/ports/terminals or how non-EU residents of the EU will be directed to those services.

There’s also the issue that individual border guards are not always clear on the processes and rules for non-EU residents of the EU – even under the current system it’s relatively commonly for EU residents to have their passports incorrectly stamped or be given incorrect information about passport stamping by border guards.

Brits in particular will remember the immediate post-Brexit period when the processes as described by the EU and national authorities frequently did not match what was happening on the ground.

The Local will continue to try and get answers on these questions. 

READ ALSO What will EES mean for dual nationals

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.

Delays 

Although residents of the EU do not need to complete EES formalities, they will be affected if the new system causes long queues or delays at the border.

Several countries have expressed worries about this, with the UK-France border a particular cause for concern.

READ ALSO Travellers could face ’14 hours queues’ at UK-France border

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.

You can find our full Q&A on EES HERE.

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