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Practical information and good adviceBefore
departure Remember
your passport. This is an internationally recognised proof of legitimacy, which
you might need to show in many situations. Also remember your holiday voucher!
Without it you won’t be allowed into your apartment or hotel. Credit
card Roads and traffic If you have chosen holiday accommodation in the countryside you shouldn’t be surprised to find that the final stretch of road is unmade and is in a condition which might only seem accessible for 4-wheel drive vehicles and full track vehicles. For Italians these roads pose no problem and we encourage you to be like them in this respect. You just have to reduce your speed and be a bit more aware and bear with the dust on the car. If on the other hand you live closer to the road, you should of course expect other people to drive on it and create dust.
From the 1st April 2004, Italian law has made it obligatory to have a visibility vest in the car. The Danish motoring association writes that the ”the Visibility vest is made from reflective material and should be used in cases of accident outside urban areas in Italy. If you leave your car to place the warning triangle, you should wear the visibility vest, which can be yellow with an orange band or the other way round. The colour is not a requirement.” The vest can be bought at petrol stations in Italy for around 10 euros.
Arrival at your holiday accommodation Aside from hotels and a few large holiday centres, there are no 24 hour porters. Therefore it is important that as far as possible you try to arrive within the arrival times stated. You should not expect to be accepted before the arrival time shown on your holiday voucher. If you arrive late, you should inform us as soon as possible. If you don’t realise that you are going to be late until you are on the way, you should ring directly to your holiday accommodation and tell them. If you don’t report your late arrival in time, you risk spending the first night of your holiday in your car.
If when you arrive at the accommodation, find that cutlery, glasses, chairs etc. are missing, or that the apartment is not clean or if something is broken please report this to the place where you collected the keys, so that the owner can correct the problem or repair the damage as quickly as possible. This also applies if problems occur during your stay. If these complaints do not have the desired effect, please call us.
Furnishing and equipment in your holiday accommodation The quality of the apartment corresponds to the price paid, compare the marks we give the apartments in the form of suns. The apartments are generally clean, but there is not normally anything in the kitchen cupboards except for kitchen utensils. Salt, pepper, sugar, toilet paper etc. should be brought with you or bought on arrival. There is not normally a washing up brush or liquid in the apartment. Italians rarely use washing up brushes and it can be difficult to buy them. They use kitchen sponges instead. The kitchen normally consists of two or four hotplates (most often gas), a fridge and kitchen utensils and cutlery for the people staying in the apartment. Please note that the fridge should normally be switched on at arrival and that there is rarely an oven in the apartment. There is a great difference between the kitchen utensils used in northern Europe and in Italy – where they mainly eat pasta and fried meat with raw vegetables. The kitchens don’t have much equipment! Therefore you should not expect that there is an oven, kettle, coffee machine or similar. The apartments normally have a traditional Italian coffee machine. If you take your coffee machine with you should also take coffee filter papers and coffee as the coffee is roasted differently in Italy. A good tip, if you want to make more demanding dishes is to take a good knife with you. You will never find one in the kitchen. Real wine glasses are also a rare find in apartments. Many places have found it difficult to adapt to the idea that wine is no longer just a part of the meal but is a real pleasure which should not be enjoyed in small basic glasses.
We cannot comment on the beds in advance but one thing is certain: It is probably not the same sort of bed as you are used to at home. During the course of a season we receive complaints about the beds being too soft, too hard, too low, too high... A bed is a very personal piece of furniture and it is hard to find something that pleases everyone. As a result we don’t accept complaints about the beds’ quality.
Should something be wrong If you find serious deficiencies with the apartment which make the reality you find different to the description of the apartment you booked, you must contact us at soon as possible on +45 3315 1313 or by email on info@in-italia.com. Sometimes clients are given the wrong accommodation or the surroundings have changed since we last viewed the property. In these cases it doesn’t solve anything if you keep your frustrations until you return home. Contact us immediately! We might be able to solve the problem quickly.
Holiday centres If you have chosen to spend your holiday at an Italian holiday centre (typically by the coast) with restaurant, swimming pool and other facilities, you must expect to hear loud music until around midnight and entertainment for both children and adults is in Italian. When Italians go to this kind of centre they expect entertainment from the minute they wake up to the minute they go to bed, and this is what they get. On the other hand, siesta time (from 13.00 to 16.00) is taken seriously and peace and quiet is expected and enforced. Swimming pools are therefore shut at this time.
Heating Italian legislation makes it very clear when it is permissible to heat your home. At some times of the year it is punishable by fine to heat either a private home or a rental property. The specific dates are decided locally as the winter is different in Sicily and South Tyrol. In especially cold springs/autumns dispensation may be given. Italians generally have lower temperatures in their homes in the colder times of year than you might expect as a northern European and they often wear more clothes inside. If you are going to visit Italy during the cold period, and when it is not allowed to turn the heating on, there is nothing you can do but put some more clothes on, ask for an extra blanket and drink some more wine.
Bedclothes Find out before you leave whether you need to take bedclothes, towels and tea towels. Note that bedclothes and towels can be rented at some places but should be ordered at least a week before you arrive. If you are staying for more than a week, you are generally given a change of bedclothes and towels on the Saturday but you will have to collect these from the reception and remake the bed yourself. You will always find pillows and blankets in all apartments, houses and hotels. Duvets are rarely seen in Italian homes except for mountainous areas in northern Italy.
The standard of cleaning is different in Italy because it is defined differently. Italians usually wear shoes indoors so the floors are not the most important. On the other hand, the windows, window sills and furniture get more attention. There is not normally a vacuum cleaner in apartments. Instead you use a broom and cloth to clean the floors. If you arrive at your apartment and it is dirty, contact the reception or the owner immediately. We cannot clean the dirt when you come home, but someone local can do it very quickly.
Swimming and swimming pools The water on the Italian coastline is generally clean and clear. Over the past 15 years, Italy has focused on the quality of its seawater with good results. The northern part of the Adriatic coast is generally more polluted than other places. If you swim in a swimming pool, you should expect to have to wear a swimming cap. Pools have fixed opening hours in most places and you should not expect to be able to use the swimming pool after 19.00 - 20.00. During the middle of the day it may be closed for siesta time, as the noise from the pool is thought to interfere with other guests’ naps.
Additionally, open air pools are only open when the weather is good. A cold spring means that the pool opens a few weeks later than normal. All swimming pools are however normally open in mid and high season, i.e. from the 15th June to the 15th September. Some places by the coast have seawater swimming pools.
Animals Every year it comes as a great surprise for many of our clients that there are animals in Italy. Therefore we would like to emphasise that is more the rule than the exception that people have dogs if they live in the country. Neither should you be surprised to find cats. And if you are staying in the town, there will most probably be many cats. If you don’t close the doors and windows the cheekiest of them might well come in. Likewise, insects are not an unknown phenomenon in Italy either. So it is best to be prepared and buy some insect repellent – especially mosquito repellent.
Language skills Very often Italians don’t speak English, German, French or other languages. Only in a few places where tourists have been visiting for decades will you find translations of signs, menus etc. to English or German. We therefore strongly recommend that your borrow or buy a phrasebook or little dictionary. In all Italian cities and many smaller ones there is normally a tourist information office by the train station. Here you are able to get a map of the town and information about what you can see there. You will normally be able to find someone who speaks English there. Even if you do speak some Italian, you may well still encounter linguistic confusion – here at the office we know all about that! – so ask one more time and treat it as an experience.
Normal behaviour We would stress that behaviour in Italian society is very different to that of other parts of Europe. It is in fact the subject of many thick books. We would merely say that in Italy, as everywhere else, you get furthest by being polite. If you are dissatisfied with something you should first try a calm approach. You shouldn’t think that just because Italians have a reputation for being emotional that you get furthest by shouting and banging the table from the start. You can always try that if the polite approach fails. Remember the words of Al Capone that a friendly word and a pistol get you further than just a friendly word, but don’t ’pull your gun’ until the friendliness has been used up.
Opening times Note that the shops in Italy are normally open from 09.00 to 12.30 and again from 16.00 to 19.00 – also on Saturdays (although opening times can vary). At many summer resort towns by the coast the shops are also open on Sundays. There is also a rule about a half day closing. This varies from town to town and from shop to shop. Restaurants and shops are always closed one day a week but there is no rule about which. It is best to ask when you arrive at your holiday destination.
Transport If you go by train to Italy you must remember to stamp your tickets on the platform before you get on the train. It is expensive to travel with a train ticket that has not been stamped and there are ticket inspectors on almost all trains. Bus tickets are normally bought before you get on the bus. They are sold in bars and kiosks or places where you see the blue sign Tabacchi. Public transport is good north of Rome and the Amalfi coast but connections are more problematic south of Naples and in Sardinia and Sicily. It is a good idea to hire a care if you are going there. Taxis are expensive but you can hire a car for between 270 and 330 euro per week with free mileage. Petrol costs extra of course and you should fill the tank before you return the car unless you want to pay a fee of over 13 euro. Petrol stations in Italy are closed one day a week. This day normally changes from week to week. But you will be able to find self-service petrol stations. Make sure that you always have enough petrol in the car.
Assault Despite their reputation, the mafia is a very limited phenomenon who are normally uninterested in tourists. However, you should take the same precautionary measures as you would in any big city. Don’t walk around with a bulging purse sticking out of your back pocket, don’t flash money around if you are in a poor area and don’t leave bags in the middle of the street. Pickpockets operate found in many of the cities so you should take care. The emergency services number is 112 as it is in the rest of Europe but the staff speak Italian.
Departure And nothing now remains to be said but... Enjoy your trip!
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