I will travel to Italy. If I bring some dried meat product as a gift do I need to declare them to the custom when i arrive in Rome?

They are prohibited, assuming you're coming from a non-EU country.

Prohibited

• Meat and milk and any items thereof from non-EU countries with the exception of limited amounts from Andorra, Croatia, the Faeroe Islands, Greenland, Iceland and small amounts of specific products from other countries

I once brought two live cats into Italy without customs even noticing -- and the two cats were yelling their heads off.

I don't know if things are different in Rome, but around Milan, customs officials at the airport exits tend to be chatting up a storm,, smoking cigarettes and looking for attractive sexual partners, not dried meat. Unless you are hauling, say, an entire dried animal the size of an elk, I wouldn't worry about it.

PS; St Cirq and i were posting at the same time.

Of course you should follow the law.

zeppole,

Tell me about bringing your cats to Italy. Did you arrive from the USA? How were they transported and how did they respond to the ordeal?

It never occurred to me that someone wold bring food INTO Italy.

zoecat,

Bob and Ray traveled under the seats of our Alitalia/Delta economy class flights from NYC to Milan in regulation soft-sided carriers, having been chipped and rabies-tested according to all appropriate regulations. I had paperwork with me attesting to the fact they were disease free. You can find the information about how to do this online.

Passing through security at JFK, I was required to remove both Bob and Ray from their respective carriers and walk them through the metal detector, while their empty carriers went through the x-ray machine. I then shoved them back into their carriers, carried them on board and stowed them under our seats. During the transatlantic flight, one cat never stirred or made a meow. The other screamed, clawed, cried, begged and howled for 8 hours straight, and chewed a dime-sized hole through the carrier guaranteed by the manufacturer to be impervious to rips. The cat suffered bloody gums and I got bit trying to calm him down, a first.

Upon arrival in Milan, I was so concerned that the hysterical cat would claw me to shreds or escape in the airport if removed him from his carrier that I didn't attempt to present either cat or their meticulous documentation to customs officials. Instead, I affected worldly calm as I wheeled my cart of luggage --topped by cat carriers -- past custom officials to the taxi rank. I'm not exactly sure what would have happened if they stopped me, but I doubt it would have been more than a check of my paperwork.

I took the cats in a taxi to the hotel near the airport I had booked to guarantee immediate access to a hotel room at 7am. (Essentially, I booked the earlier day.) When I liberated the cats, they silently investigated every square inch of the room, found the bidet to be an amusing fascination, then colonzied the best spots on the bed for themselves.

Thereafter, Bob and Ray never displayed any negative reactions to living in various hotels and apartments in Italy during the ensuing years. They never lost their fascination with European bidets and they loved the Italian sun and the new smells. They died within a few months of each other last year, simply old age. (They were twins of the same litter , and they were 13 years old when they they flew Delta transatlantic).

This is not my artwork, but they looked a bit like this

http://www.pet-artist.com/twos5wm.GIF

I can't say about bringing dried meat INTO Italy, but on my return from one of my Italian trips, at the customs counter, a young couple brought a big beautiful Parma ham into the US. Needless to say, it was immediately confiscated. Some customs officers must have had a party that night. The poor couple were completely destroyed. If it were up to me, I think I would have found some way to make that gorgeous ham inedible.

zeppole,

Thank you for taking the time to share. I've never seen cats on board international flights, just shorter domestic flights. It's good to know it is possible. I fear that my cat would react poorly to the adventure, but I guess I'll never know until we give it a try. Thanks again.