ooops. Sorry. That is France.

The year doesn't matter.

I think Italian dress code is to wear clothes on the street and not go naked :-), and don't wear a dress if you are a man :-)(-:

Jokes aside be comfortable, you are a tourist and no straniero will ever look like an Italian who are born with style in their jeans. If you are American they will forgive you, but I would wear a nice pair of pants in the evening except if you are in the country.

Painted on jeans and platforms and lots of gold jewelry for the women

Whenever this topic comes up (and it comes up frequently), for me the primary issue is "what is comfortable clothing"? and secondarily "looking like a tourist."

On the issue of what is comfortable, there are completely polar distinctions. Some people simply mean casual, i.e. for men a polo shirt and jeans or dockers with deck shoes or loafers; for women a nice blouse (not skin tight tank) with slacks and flats (Anne Klein has many flats with good support). Others interpret comfortable to mean the most effortless outfits, i.e. t-shirt and shorts that look more like someone is going to wash the car rather than visit another country. I've never understood how dressing comfortably means dressing down. Personally, I don't wear t-shirts out of the house and likewise I wouldn't consider them appropriate travel attire anywhere, but particularly France or Italy.

Jeans are completely acceptable for day, but I wouldn't wear them at night unless I put a blazer/dressy top and some funky jewelry with them. Jeans can be easily dressed up.

With regard to "looking like a tourist," this is important to some and just not a big deal to others. But again, it's not so much whether you're blending in or not, but that you're being respectful of another culture. As has been mentioned hundreds of times here, there are people who will target tourists whether for a scam or otherwise. If you make an effort to wear clothes more in line with the locals, you won't stick out like a sore thumb and it's less likely to happen.

IMHO the "dress code" is just to dress age appropriately, look nice and don't be sloppy. After all, you're going to get your picture taken!

I was too timid to aim my camera at the elderly French woman wearing all black including a mini skirt and very high stilettos as we climbed the steep stone pathway to Castle Beynac in France. She was permanently sun-tanned and had her hair artfully styled, but obviously was in her 70s. Her companion appeared to be her adult daughter who was casually dressed and in more appropriate shoes. I've vowed to never let that happen again. She must have been a faded film star, or perhaps a model (she was that slender.)

I also grew up in a tourist area, but I don't have any problem with people bring their home cultures with them. Just because they are on a beach in CA, are traditional Muslim women supposed to shed their head scarves and modest dress to sport a bikini? People are who they are and we are all different - spice of life and all that. I do think appropriate clothing is important, of course, but there is only so much blending people can reasonably be expected to do.

I'm tired of Americans coming to Canada with overcoats in July. Geez it's not that cold up here.

Uh-oh busted: what a hilarious mental image! Thanks for that. I think you should have gotten the photo.