Hello Everyone...what can first time travelers to Rome expect when passing through customs at FCO? Do the customs agents usually speak English? What amount of time does this process usually take? Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Thanks for your advice!

Customs is the process by which an Italian customs officer may inspect your baggage to determine if you are bringing any prohibited items into the country. In my experience, you will not get stopped by customs at all if you go through the Green Channel (nothing to declare). They are not interested in what tourists are bringing in (other than drugs). They do generally speak English.

If you are referring to Immigration (i.e., where they inspect your passport), this occurs before you collect your luggage and go through customs. In my experience, Immigration formalities take only a few minutes and all officers speak English. However, if you arrive in the am on a US flight, you will be arriving with between 4-6 full planes. Therefore, the lines to get to the immigration officer can be long, up to half an hour. It may also take a half an hour for your luggage to arrive at the carousel.

Hi Clayfus,

My last experience in Rome (October) was a rapid passage through Immigration where I waited in line only a few minutes, said buon giorno to the official and then proceeded to baggage claim where I waited an hour for my bags. Customs was a wave through. There was no need to communicate at all.

I can't tell you how many times I have been through customs in Rome and half the time the agent never even looks at my passport. We hand them to him and he pushes them back. Literally. Sometimes they look and pass them back. Never has anyone asked to see my luggage. If you only have carry-on, you'll be on the street in minutes. If you have to wait for luggage, that can take a while.

Please note that the above is true if you have an American passport. If you are the citizen of another country just transiting through the US the time at immigration can be considerably longer depending on nationality.

We breezed right through, no problems. American passports.

The real time delay was waiting at the luggage carosel for our bags that never came. That was a different story....

Thanks everybody! Your input is most appreciated. Yes, we will be arriving at 825am, so thanks Cicerone for the heads up.

Hi clayfus:

Over the past holidays I flew LAX to Florence with change of planes in Zurich and Milan then on the return Rome to LAX with change of planes in Zurich. All the above posts are accurate.

In Milan the lines were long at both customs and immigration for our short stay in the airport and no words were exchanged on our part. People were jumping to the front of the line at both. I guess because they had flights to catch. At one point the immigration officials became upset and yelled at the people in line to stop crowding forward. I didn't know what to think but the lines did move rather quickly and we did make our connection.
Good luck.

I took an Air France flight from CDG a year ago, followed the signs, and literally, I never went through a customs area. I was a bit worried when I was leaving the counrty b/c I didn't have a stamp on my passport(US). But, I had no problems. I go back to Rome this Monday....and I want my stamp!

Hi clay,

As noted, it takes longer to get your luggage than to go through Customs, unless you are one of the lucky people who are tagged for a spot check.

mcf,

Most countries don't stamp passports anymore.

Fear not. You will get your stamps from Italy. At least we did last week flying into Rome and out from Venice.

It seems the EU countries quit stamping passports for a while but after 9/11 have started stamping again. Ours were stamped at FCO in June.

Shoot, I definitely want my passport stamped....I consider it a souvenir of sorts! lol

Good thread!

They will stamp your passport at FCO...just ask. They happily comply.

It seems to me that most places I have gone they run your passport through a bar code reader and thats it, Buck

It literally only took about 5 mins for me to go through customs. They don't even care how they stamp it! I only have half a stamp in my book - the other half stamped the counter.

Cicerone - May I ask how you got your screen name? I was just curious, because I stayed at Hotel Cicerone in Rome last September.

Thanks for all of the replies.