Latest travel rules for Italy?

A snowHead

"..Somebody help! I’m trying to fill out the plf. we flying to Innsbruck first thing tomorrow and getting a taxi to Corvara. I take it that the ground transport is therefore car…. Will departure country be UK or Austria? .."

Departure Country = UK

A snowHead

We are going tomorrow morning - will be taking LFTs in the next hour

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@albob, Thank you!

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@Ben3210, I believe you are correct. I suggest that you confirm that your airline understands the transit exemption though.
You don't want some numpty at the check-in desk telling the un-boosted members of your party that they need a PCR test.

We are doing a similar journey on March 6th (from Heathrow to Innsbruck) but we are boosted so we're OK for Austria anyway.

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Anyone got any clues what I have to do to go to France via Turin?

Obviously I don't need anything to get into France now (apart from a statement of honour), but I'll need antigen test sub 24 hours before my flight to Italy.

I'm a bit confused by the Italian digital PLF. I'm not staying in Italy, I'm only transiting through, but that doesn't seem to be an option. I'm sure I'll work this out though.

My main concern is, going back, do I need another antigen test before I pass (the single manned) border control on the road from Montgenevre to Italy?

Presumably I don't need a test to board the flight back to the UK from Turin. Is that correct?

After all it is free

@Timmycb5, I think you are exempt from taking an anti-gen to enter Italy from France as you are 'transitting'

exemptions

"..anyone using private means to transit through the Italian territory for a period not exceeding thirty-six hours, with the obligation, on expiry of said term, either to immediately leave the country or to start a 5-day period of monitoring and self-quarantine and, at the end of said period, to take a molecular or antigen swab test.."

https://www.salute.gov.it/portale/nuovocoronavirus/dettaglioContenutiNuovoCoronavirus.jsp?lingua=english&id=5412&area=nuovoCoronavirus&menu=vuoto&tab=6

https://amblondra.esteri.it/ambasciata_londra/en/ambasciata/ufficio-stampa/news/2020/03/covid-19-avviso-per-i-cittadini.html

@albob, cheers. I took the 'private means' to be driving yourself by car. I'll be getting a cab then flying back to blighty from Turin.

I think to save my anxiety I might fork out £100 on tests just in case.

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@dode, good to hear, that's what we'll be doing in 4 weeks- How did you time doing your test as bit of a guess when we'll reach the Italian border (just in case)

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@MCL, We used Vivo, in the bumph they said that results could take up to 12hrs to be returned, so we did the tests late on on the evening before. We were due to cross into Italy about 8pm (ish) so did them about 10pm. As it happens the results came back, by text & email, in a matter of minutes. I reckon the 12hr thing was just a bit of a safety disclaimer for them. Our flight was delayed by an hour but we would have still been within the 24hr window (if anyone had actually asked to see it).

Thank you for your replies! Very helpful and certainly puts my mind at ease. snowHead

You know it makes sense.

My wife and daughter travelled Stanstead to Milan this morning to join us in Monterosa. Ryanair. Not one person checked test results, vaccine status or PLF either at the London end or in Milan. They were 25 mins from landing to car. No check in luggage though.

Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:

A snowHead

I know its a way off but anyone got any thoughts on super green pass being removed from 31st March. we are 2 families going to Cervinia for Easter but one child is 12 late March so will only be single vax and although had covid it will be longer than 180 days since...

Things going in the right direction it seems - but difficult to know what will be in place from April ?

A snowHead

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Any sign of relaxation of the LFT test requirement ?
Off to the Gnar in 12 days and just looking to order a couple of tests.

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The Italians take their time to change their rules it seems.
We’re going in two weeks time so we’ll order our LFTs next week.

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Arrived in Aosta today is GSB tunnel. Absolutely no check of any documentation’s at all be it passports, tests, plf or nhs certs Eh oh!

what a load of hassle cost and stress (tests) for nothing. Most people wearing masks at supermarket but many just in bog standard disposable ones or material ones not ffp2.

We will see what getting on the slopes tomorrow brings.

After all it is free

Just got back from Cervinia. FFP2 still mandatory, but no longer in the streets in the open (which was always dumb). Still mandatory on open chairlifts (really dumb).

Enforcement varies. On the slopes nobody really cares although you are fairly likely to get a pompous lecture from one of the older locals Smile

Wearing a buff pulled up over your nose tends to defuse any attention early on. Some workers at the base of the lifts get really excited though, in one case yelling at me for not wearing a mask in an empty gondola. That stuff gets a lot less as you go higher up the slope; just as well as an FFP2 is horrible, nothing like a simple surgical mask.

In shops and restaurants they still expect FFP2 but less vigorously than a month ago. Same with scanning the vacc cert (I laminated mine and have it around my neck).

Italy now no longer requires a test for EU citizens but does still require a 24hr LFT or 48hr PCR for the great unwashed EU-deserters of the UK Smile

The EU "arranged" Croatia to do the same last year (by UVDL popping down there and making EU funding conditional on it).
https://www.gov.uk/foreign-travel-advice/italy/entry-requirements

Re stress, the way to do it is to do one of the free tests for real, and then do the one which gets you the certificate by dripping 4 drops of the reagent on it and not use the swab Smile

If you are positive on the 1st one, it would be dumb to travel, not least because you might spend the whole week in bed.

Italians don’t need to wear FFP2s in the supermarket…. They should when on an enclosed lift.

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Are you sure? Not so last week, apparently.

The chairlifts are not allowed to have the clear covers down, which makes sense.

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When I was in Selva beginning of Feb -- FFP2 worn everywhere = Hotel/Shops/Restaurants/Cafes/Gondolas. Only relaxation was when sitting down to eat/drink

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@Peter Stevens, as far as I can make it out, in the Kronplatz area, FFP2 not required on open chairlift but is required in enclosed gondolas.
Not required in the open whilst skiing

One long lecture I got, on an open chairlift, is that FFP2 is mandatory everywhere except where people are able to achieve distancing. On a chairlift they aren't able to move, so you are supposed to wear it. In reality, last week I had nobody say anything. But then nowadays people mostly stick to their own group and the group piles onto the chairlift, or into the gondola, and most of the time lone skiers are avoided, which is quite nice Smile

In the main street in Cervinia, the mandatory-mask signs were gone, which looks official.

I am sure the answer is out there somewhere, if you can read Italian.

Definitely you need to bring an FFP2 for indoor stuff like restaurants, and the flights. The cabin crew do enforce them. They also stop you wearing an FFP3 with an exhaust port Wink

So I wore the FFP3 and FFP2 on top.

You know it makes sense.

This site gives a decent overview, in English, of the rules as of 20th Feb.

https://www.south-tirol.com/useful-information/coronavirus

Re mask type

The default is a normal blue type mask but there are exceptions.

Basically FFP2 on public transport (inc in closed ski lifts),medical facilities, hairdressers etc, public performances inc sporting events. Otherwise a std mask.

Once you get away from the ski areas the standard masks are very common. I guess if you drive to work and shop in the supermarket a normal mask is all you need.

Rules for chairlifts changed on 10/11th Feb so masks aren’t mandatory. It’s a bit of a grey area because you should wear a mask if you’re in a queue so there is some room for interpretation. We’ve just got back from 3 weeks and for a few days after the change of rules it was all bit unclear but once they settled down we noticed many lifties on chairlifts stopped wearing masks and some signs disappeared.

FYI, discussed all this in detail with my instructor who was a member of a local COVID committee so he was up to speed.

Just make sure you’ve got some FFP2 masks and if in doubt wear one. We still had an amazing trip Very Happy

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A snowHead

Last week there was 100% checking of the QR codes (vacc cert; Italians can't read the ex-UK LFT test cert QR code, it seems) when buying lift passes at the ticket office at the base of Plan Maison (Cervinia).
Same at the base of the lift.
Both these could be "walked past" if you were clever, but I would not rely on it.
So it is funny that these things are checked at Gatwick, aren't checked when you arrive in Italy, and are checked when you want to ski Smile

A snowHead

@Peter Stevens, did anyone try to read the LFT code?

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@Peter Stevens,

Only the airlines are interested in a LFT test result.

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Got back from Passo last week, bit late with the update so apologies...

LFT outbound, vaccines, and Italian PLF checked by TUI reps at Manchester Airport before bag drops.

Nothing required at verona airports ... Used egates and straight through to baggage reclaim.

Hotel in Passo required and scanned your latest vaccine QR codes...

Lift pass and ski hire place also checked QR codes when buying first time.... Not required again all week and at any lifts thereafter.

Italian police came into one bar we were in to check QR codes of punters, picked at random, we were not checked.

FFP2 masks required in bars, restaurants, toilet stops and enclosed gondolas ... Not required on open lifts. Buffs acceptable on open lifts, but even this was not enforced to be fair.

PLF not checked in Manchester on return to T2... Waited nearly 2hrs for all bags to come through... Swiss port baggage handlers are a total joke... Poor Jet2 baggage guys were taking the brunt of frustrations when they couldn't do anything Evil or Very Mad

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"did anyone try to read the LFT code?"

Easyjet at Gatwick, 100%.

Somebody at Turin, could not read QR code but I had a printout, this check is unusual.

"Only the airlines are interested in a LFT test result."

That isn't the case if one reads the Italian entry regs (listed in the EU PLF, under Italy). But also everybody knows that the airline is checking it. If going by car, I have no idea for entry to Italy, but I know it isn't 100% elsewhere if you pick a busy crossing point.

"Lift pass and ski hire place also checked QR codes when buying first time"

Agreed. No idea what happens if you buy the pass online but I never found a website which did that and offered a 5 day option. Someone said you can extend any old plastic pass by 5 days, online, but I never found that site; I found one which did 1-2 days but you had to go online every morning and upload your LFR QR code. So I just queued up on day 1 and got the real plastic thing.

"PLF not checked in Manchester on return"

IME nothing gets checked at the UK end, but they do check this stuff pre boarding at the Italian end.

The general regime in Italy is less crazy than it was a month ago. On the slopes, wearing a buff pulled up over the nose worked 100% last week, but not a month earlier when I got a load of pompous pontificatory lessons in Italian law.

That said, *I* don't like the 100 people in a gondola idea (which makes Italy a laughing stock, given everything else, because an FFP2 mask will do just about nothing there) so I always carried an FFP3 for those. You know FFP2 is crap because when you walk through the airport perfume shopping areas the disgusting stench is just the same Smile

whereas with an FFP3 you smell nothing (I use FFP3 for spraying 2K paint, though only outdoors; indoors you need much better kit).

https://www.salute.gov.it/portale/nuovocoronavirus/dettaglioContenutiNuovoCoronavirus.jsp?lingua=english&id=5412&area=nuovoCoronavirus&menu=vuoto

After all it is free

Was also in Cervinia last week, having been in Via Lattea at New Year so can contrast.

This time our LFTs & Green Passes were checked at Turin airport after passport control and before baggage reclaim by folk from some volunteer medical organisation backed up by volunteer polizia (presume the equivalent of special constables). It was walk straight through at NY.

After that, the only place our Green Passes were checked were at hotel checkin. I had prebooked passes which I picked up from the machine outside the gondola ticket office on arrival day, a member of staff came outside to watch for some reason and I expected to be asked to show green passes but I wasn’t. Beyond that, Cervinia has automatic GP readers just before each ticket barrier for enclosed lift, from observation these are being ignored by all nationalities and the lifties aren’t enforcing, so we did likewise.

Beyond that, wasn’t asked for green passes in any restaurant or bar on the hill - quite a contrast to NY when it was virtually universal. We were half board and hotel bar was nice so we were rarely out in the evenings to explore that situation.

Masks still worn by most on enclosed lifts, occasionally enforced by lifties. As Peter Stevens said, there are signs up saying not to close the chairlift covers, but on the windy and cold days at the start of the week, this was also, by negotiation, being ignored, even with mixed group loads. Unless the lift company disables the closing mechanism, it’s pretty unrealistic to expect people to voluntarily freeze when there’s an alternative…

A few caught out at checkin for the return flight by the continued requirement for PLFs and sent to the back of the queue to fill out.

In short, normality almost resumed.

Just back from Monterosa (Champoluc). EasyJet checked LFT results and PLF, did not ask for or look at vaccine status. Very strict in use of masks on the pane, FFP2 required and enforced by cabin crew. No checks on anything on arrival in Italy. No validation of vaccine status to buy lift passes online, just check a box declaring that you are fully vaccinated. There was a checkpoint at the bottom lift for Super Green Pass - was only manned 0915 - 1000 or so, rest of the time people simply walked straight through with no check. Quite good use of masks on enclosed lifts, no-one wore a mask for chairlifts.

Flight back PLF and vaccine status was checked by EasyJet.

Terrible mask adherence on the flight back home, entire families wearing a chin nappy for the whole flight, some not even doing that much. Typical entitled behaviour, very annoying to those who choose to follow the rules and want to avoid catching Covid on a busy flight. And lots of people pulling masks down to talk to each other, how thick do you have to be to realise this is the very time you should have your moth and nose covered? Also typical rude behaviour on arrival, people shoving past to get to passport control first only to hang around waiting for luggage. And my pet hate of people lining the very edge of the carousel looking for their bag, stupid and selfish.

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Latest travel rules for Italy?

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