Passport, ATM cards, identification question
 

My soon-to-be wife and I are heading to Italy for our honeymoon next week. Is it necessary to carry around our passports to use as our primary I.D.? Will we be asked for identification when using our credit cards in Italy? I'm assuming our drivers licences will be pretty useless as secondary I.D.? What's the advice on that?
Thanks!

Hi ym,

We have no problem carrying our passports with us.

Some people prefer to leave their passports in the hotel safe (not th one in your room) and carry a copy of the first two pages.

I don't recall anyone asking for ID to use a charge card.

((I))

I carry my passport in my purse. I've never been asked for I.D. except to cash a travelers check. I leave my drivers license at home. I have a black and white xerox of the front page of my passport tucked away somewhere.

Some hotels in Italy will hold your passports. You will not need them to use a credit card. Be sure to call your credit card company before you go and let them know when and where you will be. If you do not call them, you could have a problem with a fraud alert locking your card.

I usually recommend that people carry a color photocopy of their passport and leave the original back in the hotel safe. While I've never been asked for my passport when traveling (except to cash traveler's checks), I think it's wise to carry something you can show authorities if it is necessary. Your driver's license is a reasonable secondary ID if it has a picture.

I keep my passport and drivers license with me. I don't use the hotel safe for my passport because, I know myself. I would be at the airport, ready to board the plane and guess where my passport would be? NOT a pretty picture!!!! LOL

A copy is not a passport. Should something so terribly wrong, my passport and I are always in the same place.

Agreed - I never let my passport off my person. Not that I'm worried about something going terribly wrong - but if it is stolen/lost I want to know immediately - so I can take care of it. Not find out 5 days later when I'm about to leave the country. Same with credit cards.

But we do leave a litle mad money - about $200 US - in our luggage - so we have another source of funds if something happens to both purse and wallet (nothing has ever happened to either - in more than 100 trips between us).

Thank you all for the insight. This forum really is a big help for all details, big or small.

You now need your passport to use an internet cafe in Italy. (I have no idea why...) I would think a photocopy should be fine for that, though.

Congratulations, ymmy!

Does your wife-to-be have her airplane tickets in her maiden name or married name??

It might be a problem if passport and ticket names do not match. It happened to us in London last year. My daughter's middle initial (and lack thereof on the ticket) was the problem.

Italy passed a law regarding the need to show your passport due to the terrorist worry. The internet cafe records the information of your passport and as I understand it which computer you use and the amount of time (starting and ending times) you are on the computer. This is due to the fact that terrorist or suspected terrorist have used internet cafes to send emails to others.

If I remember correctly I "think" you have to show the internet cafe your original passport but I might be wrong regarding that.

Under Italian law the hotels in Italy do have to take your passport for a bit of time as they have to turn in a form to the local police department each day (or evening) giving all the information regarding their hotel guest to the local authorities. Some hotels will return your passport within a short amount of time but I have had a few that have held it overnight as they complete the required forms after things quiet down in the hotel. That has happened at very small hotels that don't have a lot of employees.

ymmy, I always leave a photocopy of my passport at home with my daughter and SIL also.

Congratulations on your marriage, may your have a long and happy life together. And a honeymoon in Italy..how beautiful! Enjoy every moment.
I always bring my drivers license with me. I put the original passport in the hotel safe (not the room safe) and carry a photocopy on my person. So far I have never forgotten to get my passport before flying home. That would be a disaster for sure!

LoveItaly - I rather fancy the thought of forgetting my passport...that much longer to stay in Europe!!

I keep my passport and credit cards in my money belt at all times. The one time I left credit cards in the hotel safe--you guessed it! Forgot them and had to figure out how to get them safely to me.

A US drivers license was accepted at Italian Internet Cafes. I did not have need to carry passports for this purpose this summer.

I keep my passport in hotel safe unless I am between hotel.

That is interesting greg as when the law was passed I believe any Internet Cafe that did not document ones passport information could be fined something like 1500 euro if caught.

Uhm canterbury, that is a GOOD thought, lol!! Well at least until ones money ran out.