Phone numbers in Italy - how many digits?
 

I'm leaving Saturday from the US to vacation in Italy with my 2 friends for a week. I have AT&T mobile phone service which I've used to call home on previous trips to Italy with no problem - after setting up the international roaming plan prior to the trip. I've never called a number from my cell phone while in Italy, however, and need a little lesson. For example, the limo driver's number in case we need him or our hotel, Albergo del Senato.

Before my lesson, I'm puzzled about how many digits to dial. The phone number for the hotel on the website and the business card I have is as follows:
+39 06 678 4343
As you can tell, this number has 11 digits. The number for Rome Shuttle Limousine is as follows:
+39 066 1969084
This number has 12 digits.
Why the difference?
Do I dial the number as it's written from my cell phone while there?
Thanks for the help!

Here's a pretty good rundown on phone numbers in Italy:

http://www.slowtrav.com/italy/instructions/dialing.htm

there is no standard number of digits for phone numbers as in North America, some land lines have 6 digits (after the area code)some 7 and I think in some rural areas some even 5. Area codes (in the case of Rome 06 or 066) can be 2,3 or 4 digits. when you dial from outside Italy using the 39 country code prefix do not drop the 0 in the area code, so dial the numbers as you have been given. Normally you don't have to dial the country code for an Italian domestic call with a cell-phone, but in my experience if you are using a non-Italian cell phone in Italy then you need to dial the +39 prefix before the number. You could consider getting an Italian sim card while you are here from any cell phone shop, for making your local calls at probably a much cheaper rate and allowing local people to call you without haveing to go through your ATT number. Roaming charges are expensive if you don't have a corporate account!

This is just the info I was hoping to garner - thanks for the lesson and website link!

Hello,

On the same topic...we will have 2 US based T Mobile cell phones in Italy to communicate with our travel partners. How do I dial the other cell phone? Is it like calling the US long distance from Italy?

Thank you.

these are great questions i also wanted answered. thanks!

have a fun trip, dfmom!