To each his own, but I do not understand the logic of traveling with a passport only to leave it in the hotel once arrived, unless once does not walk around doing tourist things between hotel stays.>>

Michael, my mind-set is different when I'm in transit. i have a set place for our passports and am on the alert even when we are doing some sightseeing en route.

However, when we've arrived, i prefer to be able to relax at least a little, and if the passports are in the safe, that's one less thing to worry about.

though it does bring another worry - that we'll leave the hotel without our passports, and have a loong journey back to collect them. That happened to us once in France/Spain when en route through the Pyrenees - we stopped for a coffee in a cafe on the French side, then drove all the way up the mountains and down the other side to the border [when these things mattered] only to find that DH had left his jacket with his passport in it in the cafe.

two hours of complete silence later we were back at the cafe when the jacket and its contents were exactly where he'd left them, and 4 hours later we were back at the border, just about talking to each other again.

ann: I hope your husband forgave you.
(We members of the Husbands Union have to stick together.)

I guess I carry my PP around with me, but I honestly never really thought about it. Other than going through customs and checking in at a hotel, I can't remember ever being asked for a passport.

I rented a car in Catania a couple of years ago. I gave the clerk my US driver's license and international DL. She then asked for my passport. All I had with me was a copy. She sighed, accepted it, and I signed the rental contract without problems.

Remember, this is Italy. Ignoring the law is trumps soccer as the national pasttime. ;-)

So we've agreed that a copy isn't acceptable as the FBI would escort you to your hotel room to retrieve the original.

So what's the point of a copy - piece of mind?? Do people carry a copy of their driving licence and leave the original at home I wonder?

ann: I hope your husband forgave you.
(We members of the Husbands Union have to stick together.)>>

and how! given this was 30 years ago and we're still married i think that we can assume that he did!

So what's the point of a copy - piece of mind?? Do people carry a copy of their driving licence and leave the original at home I wonder?>>

the point of a copy is that if the original IS stolen [and there is a trade in passports, or so I understand] you have something to prove to the authorities of your own country who you are.

you may be right, and having a copy is a waste of time; in fact I don't think that I have ever advocated having a copy. normally I don't bother to take one, but on our next trip, I probably will as it's a longer trip than normal, and outside europe where I feel less confident.

I think you can go thru this back and forth, but the only real fact that remains is the legal obligation as stated in 1st two answers here.
The rest is subjective judgements if or not non-compliance will have any effect - based on anecdotal evidence or non-evidence.
Whether or not carrying the passport is beyond your personal comfort zone is of no relevance.
Eventually, OP will have to make that judgement.
But as any Continental European is carrying national ID cards more or less all the time, the whole issue is to us as if someone was complained to an American about carrying a drivers license.. it's just a non-issue.

<i>that's twice in about 50 years. not a common problem then. </i>

More common than losing my passport, which was never.