Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
EU, get this voucher stamped at customs and take it to the nearest tax-refund counter where you'll get an immediate re-
fund, either in cash or charged to your credit card.
Telephone
Domestic Calls
Rome's area code is 06. Area codes are an integral part of all Italian phone numbers and must be dialled even when
calling locally. Mobile-phone numbers are nine or 10 digits long and begin with a three-digit prefix starting with a 3.
Toll-free numbers are known as
numeri verdi
and usually start with 800. Some six-digit national-rate numbers are also
in use.
For directory inquiries, dial
1240.
International Calls
To call abroad from Italy dial 00, then the relevant country and area codes, followed by the telephone number.
Try to avoid making international calls from a hotel, as you'll be stung by high rates. It's cheaper to call from a
private call centre or from a public payphone with an international calling card. These are available at newsstands and
tobacconists, and are often good value. Another alternative is to use a direct-dialling service such as AT&T's USA Dir-
ect (access number 800 172 444) or Telstra's Australia Direct (access number 800 172 610), which allows you to
make a reverse-charge call at home-country rates.
Skype
(
www.skype.com
) is also available at most internet cafes.
To make a reverse-charge (collect) international call from a public telephone, dial
170. All phone operators speak
English.
Mobile Phones
Italian mobile phones operate on the GSM 900/1800 network, which is compatible with the rest of Europe and Australia
but not always with the North American GSM or CDMA systems - check with your service provider.
If you have a GSM dual-, tri- or quad-band phone that you can unlock (again, check with your service provider), it
can cost as little as €10 to activate a prepaid
(prepagato)
SIM card in Italy.
TIM
(Telecom Italia Mobile;
www.tim.it
) ,
Wind
(
www.wind.it
)
and
Vodafone
(
www.vodafone.it
)
all offer SIM cards and have retail outlets across town. Note
that by Italian law all SIM cards must be registered in Italy, so make sure you have a passport or ID card with you when
you buy one.
Public Phones
You can still find public payphones around Rome. Most work and most take tele- phone cards
(schede tele- foniche),
al-
though you'll still find some that accept coins or credit cards. You can buy phonecards (€5, €10 or €20) at post offices,
tobacconists and newsstands.
Time
Italy is in a single time zone, one hour ahead of GMT. Daylight-saving time, when clocks move forward one hour, starts
on the last Sunday in March. Clocks are put back an hour on the last Sunday in October.
Italy operates on a 24-hour clock, so 6pm is written as 18:00.
