Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Italy has one of the highest levels of mobile-phone penetration in Europe, and you can get a temporary or
prepaid account from several companies if you already own a GSM, dual- or tri-band mobile phone. Always
check with your mobile-service provider in your home country to ascertain whether your handset allows use
of another SIM card. If yours does, it can cost as little as €20 to activate a local prepaid SIM card (some-
times with €10 worth of calls on the card). You'll need to register with a mobile-phone shop, bring your
passport and wait for approximately 24 hours for your account to be activated. After that, buy
ricarica
(pre-
paid minutes) from your selected mobile company at shops and
tabacchi
everywhere. If you have an
internet-enabled phone, be sure to turn off your data roaming function when you're not using it, as this de-
vours credit.
TIM
(Telecom Italia Mobile;
www.tim.it
),
Vodafone
(
www.vodafone.it
)
and
Wind
(
www.wind.it
)
have
the densest networks of outlets across the country.
Payphones & Phonecards
You'll find Telecom Italia payphones on the streets, in train stations and in Telecom offices. Most
payphones accept only
carte/schede telefoniche
(phonecards), although some also accept credit cards. Tele-
com offers a wide range of prepaid cards for both domestic and international use; for a full list, see
www.telecomitalia.it
/
telefono /carte-telefoniche. You can buy phonecards (most commonly €3, €5 or €10)
at post offices,
tabacchi
and newsstands. You must break off the top left-hand corner of the card before you
can use it. All phonecards have an expiry date, printed on the face of the card.
Time
Italy operates on a 24-hour clock. It is one hour ahead of GMT/UTC. Daylight-saving time starts on the last
Sunday in March, when clocks are put forward one hour. Clocks are put back an hour on the last Sunday in
October. This is especially valuable to know in Italy, as 'summer' and 'winter' hours at museums and other
sights (cited in this topic) are usually based on daylight-saving time.
Tourist Information
Practically every village and town has a tourist office of sorts. These operate under a variety of names but
are often known as 'Pro Loco'.
Italy's recent economic downturn has had a significant impact on the tourism sector in Tuscany, with
tourist promotion and information budgets being cut in every region. This has led to the closure of some
tourist information offices, and the introduction of reduced opening times at others.
When this topic went to print, the situation lacked clarity. We have included addresses and opening hours
for the tourist offices that were open during our research, but cannot be sure that this information will re-
main accurate.
