Interesting, thanks Sandy!

I have never been charged a fee by any bank in Europe for using an ATM. Up till now, my bank has never done so, either. But beginning this very month, my bank will assess a 1% "foreign transaction fee" on all purchases and ATM withdrawals.

Another ATM question. I read somewhere that your PIN for an ATM in Italy cannot start with a zero ("0"). Is that true?

As far as the zero: Ours starts with a zero and we had no problem in Rome, Siena or Venice.

Brian, I'm knocking on wood with you. I'm glad they don't charge fees now, pray they never do and hope that this little piece of civilization someday infects the U.S. banking system.

I have been told that you must have Cirrus displayed on the back of your bank card for it to work in Italy. Is this true. PLUS apparently works in England will PLUS work in Italy as well as CIRRUS.

grinnell, we heard the same thing before our trip in April and also had some people saything they never had a problem with a pin starting with zero.

Ours did start with zero and we decided to change. Better to be safe that sorry. I know all the people who have never had problems will come out of the woodwork now (not to bring wood into this again) but AGAIN I say, better to be safe than sorry. You may or may not have a problem but if your pin doesn't start with zero that is one less problem you will have to worry about.

sealion, I don't want to make promises to you, but my ATM card is PLUS and it worked fine on 2 different trips to Venice.