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Reader question: What happens if I test positive for Covid-19 while visiting Italy?

As many people prepare for long-awaited trips to Italy this summer, readers have contacted The Local to ask what happens if you test positive for Covid-19 during your stay. Here's what you need to know about the current travel rules.

Published: 4 August 2021 16:43 CEST
Updated: 7 September 2021 17:28 CEST
Reader question: What happens if I test positive for Covid-19 while visiting Italy?
Photo by PIERRE TEYSSOT / AFP

Question: I’m planning a break in Italy and know the entry requirements before travel. But what do I do if I get Covid-19 while in Italy and test positive before I come home?

Travelling to Italy entails a different set of rules depending on where you’re coming from; see the rules on travel to Italy from any country here.

But after meeting the rules applied to your country of origin and making it into Italian territory, what happens if you catch the virus while in Italy?

Here’s a closer look at the rules in place.

What should I do if I have Covid-19 symptoms?

If you think you have symptoms of coronavirus while in Italy you should contact the local area’s health authority, or ASL (Azienda Sanitaria Locale) – the regional numbers are listed here on the Italian Ministry of Health website.

If you suspect you may have Covid-19, you need to minimise your contact with anyone else. The authorities will help you arrange an emergency test. Do not go to a medical centre or pharmacy in the meantime.

 Photo: PIERRE TEYSSOT/AFP

If you’re not sure which number you should call, the national Covid-19 helpline 1500 is available 24 hours a day and will direct you to the relevant authority.

Some readers have told us that they cannot access the 800 numbers and the 1500 freephone from a non-Italian phone number, however. In this case, you’ll need to scroll down to the bottom of the page to find the number to call from abroad (‘dall’estero’), which should work using an international number in Italy.

It’s worth noting that if, for any reason whatsoever, you spend 48 hours or two consecutive nights in hospital, you may also be required to take a coronavirus test in some regions, according to the UK government guidelines.

What if I test positive for the virus?

“If you test positive (in Italy), you will be required to quarantine, which may last from 10 days to three weeks,” the UK government’s travel advice page warns.

The guidance from the Italian Ministry of Health says there is a 10-day minimum quarantine requirement if you should test positive for a variant of concern (VOC).

According to the EU’s European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control guidelines, the VOCs are the Alpha, Beta, Gamma and Delta variants.

The Italian government’s latest circular contains criteria for isolation periods. Particularly related to the 202012/01 variant, commonly known as the Alpha variant, the advice stated, “Asymptomatic persons who test positive for SARS-CoV-2 may re-enter the community after a period of isolation of at least 10 days from the onset of the positive finding.”

On the other hand, if you’re symptomatic, you’ll need to be without symptoms for at least the last three days, “after which an antigenic or molecular test is performed,” according to Italy’s Ministry of Health.

READ ALSO: Italy confirms it will recognise Covid certificates from five non-EU countries

Photo by Ludovic Marin / AFP

This is also the procedure if you test positive for a variant of concern other than the Alpha variant. The only difference being a molecular test would be required – an antigen test is not listed as an accepted way to end isolation in this case.

If you continue to test positive, your quarantine period could be extended to 21 days.

Every Italian regional authority is free to set its own coronavirus containment rules above and beyond those required by the national government, and some areas appear to have very strict protocols in place.

According to media reports, groups of French tourists in Sicily have been confined to Covid hotels for 21 days after testing positive on the island.

Where would I quarantine if I test positive?

You’ll need to self-isolate in accommodation such as a holiday rental, a second home, a friend’s house (provided you avoid contact with them). A hotel may also be an option, if they agree to host you while observing the quarantine period.

If you are unable to find suitable accommodation, local authorities may require that you stay at a facility of their choosing for the required isolation period – a so-called ‘Covid hotel’. This would be at your own expense.

While travellers are advised to make sure that their travel insurance policy would cover them for such eventualities, these policies may in fact be invalidated if your home country has advised against travel to Italy at the moment.

In the UK, insurer ABTA for example states that its policies do not cover “travel to destinations where the FCDO advises against all but essential travel – this is easy to check.”

Insurance policies may be similarly affected in the US, which is currently advising unvaccinated people against travel, while Canada’s advice is to avoid non-essential travel outside Canada until further notice.

In some cases you may be eligible for state financial assistance, but you would need to check with your home country’s government what you could claim.

How do I get tested in Italy to return home?

If your country’s rules state that you need to get a negative test result for return travel, there are plenty of options for this in Italy including going to a pharmacy, a lab or a testing centre.

You’ll need to check what the requirements are to return to your home country to ensure you get the right type of test within the permitted timeframe, which could be between 48 and 72 hours before departure.

Here’s a full guide to the type of tests available, the costs, and where you can get them in Italy.

Please check our homepage or travel news section for the most recent reports on any changes to the Italian travel rules.

For more information about the current coronavirus-related restrictions on travel to Italy please see the Foreign Ministry’s website (in English).

Member comments

  1. What is not addresses is that many flights from New York and California to Italy transit through Heathrow. Are those fully vaccinated people on flights that transit through the UK exempt from the quarantine required by passengers who start their journey in the UK

    2. No – they are not -transiting UK/LHR triggers the 5 day quarantine. So US (and other) travelers should avoid transiting UK if their destination is Italy.

  2. If I test positive in Italy, and want to avoid a “Covid hotel,” I would need to find lodging immediately, that very day. A place that will accept Covid-positive guests. Is this a realistic possibility? A friend’s house perhaps, otherwise it seems very unlikely.

  3. One question that would be useful to address are these conditions:

    1) one is in Italy (EU) on a tourist visa allowing 90 days of stay within a 180 day period
    2) one tests positive for covid-19 requiring a quarantine
    3) complying with the quarantine causes on to overstay their visa

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TRAVEL NEWS

What’s the deal with passport stamping in Italy?

There are clear guidelines in place about who should have their passport stamped when they enter or leave Italy - but the letter of the law doesn't always seem to be applied on the ground. Here's what you need to know.

Published: 20 May 2024 12:56 CEST
What's the deal with passport stamping in Italy?

When you pass through an Italian border control post, officers will check your passport and – in some cases – stamp the date of your entry or exit of the country onto one of the blank pages in the booklet.

Although the system should be clear and simple, it becomes complicated when conflicting information is given on the ground.

Here’s what the rules say, and whether it’s really a problem if your passport is incorrectly stamped.

Who should be stamped?

The purpose of the date stamps for entry and exit is to calculate how long you have been in Italy, and therefore whether you have overstayed your allowed time – whether that is the time allowed by a short-stay Schengen visa or the visa-free 90-day allowance that certain non-EU nationals benefit from. 

Those people who are exempt from 90-day restrictions should therefore not have their passports stamped.

EU passport – people who have an EU passport should not have it stamped, because they have the right to unlimited stays due to EU freedom of movement.

Dual nationals – people who have passports of both EU and non-EU countries should not be stamped when they are travelling on their EU passport. However, because the passports of dual nationals are not ‘linked’, those travelling on their non-EU passports will be stamped, unless they have other proof of residency.

READ ALSO: Can I use my Italian carta d’identità for travel?

Italian residents – the passports of non-EU citizens who have a residency permit in Italy (carta di soggiorno) should not be stamped, because they have the right to stay in Italy for as long as their permit is valid. The passports of UK citizens covered under the Brexit withdrawal agreement should also not be stamped provided they can show some kind of official proof of pre-Brexit Italian residency; in practice, this is often ignored by border agents (see below).

Visa holders – people who have a long-stay visa or a short-stay visitor visa should not be stamped, because they have the right to stay in Italy for as long as their visa is valid. 

Tourists/visitors – people making short visits to Italy who do not have a visa should be stamped, with the stamps keeping track of their 90-day allowance. Visitors from nationalities who do not benefit from the 90-day rule (e.g. Indians) are also stamped.

Most tourists and visitors travelling to Italy will have their passports stamped. (Photo by Filippo MONTEFORTE / AFP)

Travel practicalities

When crossing an Italian border, you should present your passport along with other documents – visa or carta di soggiorno – if relevant. Don’t wait for border guards to ask whether you are a resident.

It should be noted that as a non-EU national, neither your carta d’identità Italian ID card nor your carta di soggiorno are travel documents and they cannot be used to cross borders, not even internal Schengen zone borders. The only valid travel document for a non-EU/EEA citizen entering Italy is a passport. Any other forms of ID – driving licence, residency card etc – cannot be used for travel purposes.

Border problems

While the rules on stamping are simple in theory, many readers of The Local have reported having their passports incorrectly stamped at the border, particularly UK citizens who have been legally resident in Italy since before Brexit and have the right to permanent residency under the withdrawal agreement.

READ ALSO: What to do if you lose your passport while travelling in Italy

Travellers are also often given incorrect information by border guards – for example being told that only holders of the post-Brexit carta di soggiorno elettronica, or post-Brexit residency card, are exempt from stamping, that all non-EU nationals must have their passports stamped, or that only being married to a Italian national exempts you from stamping.

None of these are correct, and Italy is one of a handful of “declaratory” countries in the EU where getting a post-Brexit residency card was optional, rather than compulsory.

In practice, the British government has long recommended that British nationals who were resident in Italy before Brexit should obtain the card as it’s the easiest way to prove residency rights and avoid delays at the border.

It’s also sometimes the case that people whose passports should be stamped – tourists, visitors and second-home owners who don’t have a visa – do not receive the stamp. For frequent visitors this can be a problem because it looks as though they have had a long stay in Italy, due to their exit not being recorded.

The system of stamping itself is also a bit haphazard with stamps scattered throughout the passport book in random order, so border guards sometimes make mistakes and miss an entry or exit stamp and therefore think that people have overstayed when they haven’t.

So how much of a problem actually is it if your passport is wrongly stamped?

It’s one thing to know the rules yourself, it’s quite another to have an argument with a border guard, in Italian, when a long queue is building behind you. Numerous Local readers have reported feeling that they had no choice but to accept a stamp when an implacable guard insisted upon it.

But is this really a problem?

One thing is clear – if you are a resident of Italy then you have the right to re-enter, and your proof of residency (visa or carta di soggiorno) takes precedence over any passport stamps. So it’s not a question of being barred from the country – it can, however, be inconvenient as it might lead to delays at the border while your passport record is queried.

Meanwhile people who did not receive correct exit stamps can be incorrectly told that they have over-stayed and even be liable for a fine. 

Will the new EES passport control system improve this?

Theoretically, the EU’s new Entry & Exit System – which does away with the manual stamping of passports – should get rid of these problems.

However, as we have seen, theory and what actually happens on the ground are two different things.

READ ALSO: How will the new app for Europe’s EES border system work?

The EES system, due to come into effect later this year, brings in two main changes: it makes passport checks more secure by adding biometric data such as fingerprints and facial scans, and it does away with manual stamping of passports and replaces it with scans which automatically calculate how long people have been in Italy.

You can read full details of how it works HERE. 

So that should eliminate the problems of unclear stamps, stamps being read wrongly or passports not getting the stamps they need.

Residents of Italy – carta di soggiorno and visa holders – are not required to complete EES checks and should have a separate system at ports, airports and railway terminals.

However, at present it’s pretty common for border guards to give incorrect information to non-EU residents who are resident in the EU – let’s hope that they are properly briefed before EES is deployed.

Have you had problems with passports being incorrectly stamped? Please share your experiences in the comments section below

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