“Per l’ingresso, e’ obbligatorio indossare la mascherina.” (For entry, it’s mandatory to wear a mask.) 

One of the signs shown in Italian shops, restaurants, hotels, trains, buses, etc. 

After postponing a trip in early 2020 due to the pandemic, my husband and I watched the reports, got fully vaccinated, and waited for encouraging signs that would allow us to travel abroad once more. When one of our favorite destinations opened up to Americans again (with many provisions), we prepared for a trip to Italy.

After checking the U.S. State Department and CDC web sites, we enrolled in STEP, the Smart Traveler Enrollment Program, through which we would receive advisories from the US Embassy in Rome. We also checked the Italian Ministry web site to keep updated on their requirements. We learned that we must fill out EU Digital Passenger Locator Forms which would make contact tracing simpler.

We booked direct flights to and from Miami and Rome with Delta and its partner Alitalia, but due to Alitalia going out of business on October 15, those flights would be changed 7 times. We ended up flying Delta from Fort Lauderdale to New York then Alitalia to Rome. The returning 2 flights a few days from now, will be Delta to Atlanta then another Delta to Fort Lauderdale.

The final requirement would be either a PCR or negative antigen COVID test performed no more than 72 hours before arrival in Italy. We arranged for PCR tests which are considered more accurate then realized we wouldn’t have the results before we left Florida. We cancelled those appointments then scrambled to find rapid antigen tests. Many testing sites were booked, but we lucked out finding a drive-up site near our public library in Florida. We had negative results by 10am on Sunday—2 days before we headed for the airport on Tuesday and within 72 hours of our arrival in Rome on Wednesday morning October 13.

 At Fort Lauderdale Airport, they checked our passports, vaccine cards, our EU dPLFs, and our COVID test results when we checked our bags. Then we went through TSA to our gate. Even though our bags were checked through to Rome, we had to present all of our documents again to an official sitting at a table at JFK in New York, then we had to show that they were approved at the NY Delta counter. We were good to go, except for one thing—we were wearing cloth masks which weren’t acceptable and had to purchase a packet of surgical masks at a nearby airport shop. Once we donned them, we had to go through TSA again before heading to our gate.

 The flight to Rome was odd, but not because of COVID. We think it had more to do with Alitalia’s impending cessation of business. The only beverage available for the whole flight was water! No vino, no juice, no coffee.

 Arrival in Rome was easy because our papers had been verified in New York. However, we had to change terminals for a Ryanair flight to Palermo. Sicily, and once again, we had to provide all of our documents. They were especially interested in the “Green Pass”—the EU’s digital version of our CDC COVID cards. It was the first time of many that we had to explain that the US didn’t have a digital COVID system. The words “Pfizer” and “Moderna” on our respective cards convinced them they were official.

Boarding a train to Palermo Centrale from Falcone Borsellino Airport, where we had purchased our tickets from a machine, a train official requested our Green Passes. They were also required at our B&B in Palermo and at every restaurant we went to, even a small place we stopped for un caffe standing up at their bar. Masks were required everywhere one entered a building.

For our train trip to Milazzo Porto, we purchased our tickets from an agent at a window in the Palermo Centrale station, where they scanned our passports and checked our COVID cards. On the train platform, two polizie wearing masks, patrolled in a golf cart-type vehicle and asked for both of those documents again. They took photos with a cell phone and wished us un buon viaggio. Later on, they came by to tell us that there had been a platform change. Masks were required for the train ride which took several hours.

At the ticket window for the hydrofoils in Milazzo, we were told that due to bad weather, operations had ceased for the day. We purchased tickets for the following morning then scrambled to find a hotel room for the night. We booked online then walked a few blocks to a very nice place where we presented our documents as requested. That evening, we ate at a nearby restaurant where our COVID cards were required even for an outdoor table.

Hydrofoils have no outdoor seating, so we had to wear our masks for the ride to Lipari Island, which lasted a little over an hour (with a stop at Vulcano Island). We wore them again in the hotel taxi and masks and documents were required at our hotel.

Our 6-day stay in the Aeolian Islands gave us a lot of outdoor time where we could remove our masks, but inter-island hydrofoils always required them on board, as well as passports and COVID documents. They often checked our temperatures before boarding as well. Our masks were always at hand to enter shops and restaurants. We mostly ate at outdoor tables, but if we sat at a table inside, “Green Passes” were requested and our US card versions were scrupulously scoured.

Our long day of traveling from the Aeolian Islands back to Sicily’s main island and then southeast to Siracusa required constant mask-wearing and presentation of documents. At a train station café in Messina with well-spaced tables and every-other seat marked as no occupancy, a waiter made a careful check of our COVID cards before he would serve us cappuccino.

For our flight out of Catania, our temperatures were taken and documents checked. Here in Roma, masks and “Green Passes” are required in museums, churches, restaurants, and hotels. To buy gelati cones, we had to mask-up to walk inside and choose our flavors. We ate them sitting down on little stools outside the shop.

We recently stopped at one of the farmacia-operated COVID tents to get information in preparation for our return flight on Thursday. We were given papers to fill out and we will return to be tested on Tuesday.