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Business Travel in Italy

Overview by Globlatrade.net:

Entry Requirements

Passport and Visa Service: For further information, consult the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs website

Diplomatic Representations: To find out where the Italian Embassies and Consulates are in your country, consult the Ministry of Foreign Affairs website.

For visa requirements and health advices based on your personal details and itinerary, check IATA Travel Website.

Organizing Your Trip

Means of Transport Recommended in Town

Recommendation: The metro is not extensive, even in large cities. Taxis are expensive but there are a lot of them on the streets. If the light is green, they are free; if it is red, they are taken. Not all drivers speak English; have the address you are going to written down in Italian on a piece of paper.
Maps of Urban Networks: Rome metro map
Bus and metro lines in Rome

Transportation From Airport to City Centre:

Airport	Distance	Taxi	Bus	Train	Car Rental
Roma - Ciampino (CIA)	15 km / 10 miles	EUR 40 / 25-40 min	EUR 8 / 40 min	EUR 1	Available
Roma - Urbe (LIRU)	6 km / 4 miles	Available	-	EUR 4.65, EUR 8.8 + RER ticket / 40 min	-
Milano - Malpensa (MXP)	43 km / 27 miles	EUR 70-90 / 45-60 min	EUR 5 / 50 min	EUR 11 / 30-40 min.	Available
Napoli - Capodichino (NAP)	6 km / 4 miles	EUR 20 / 20-35 min	EUR 18 / 20-25 min	-	Available

Means of Transport Recommended in the Rest of the Country

Recommendation: The train remains the easiest means of transport for travelling around the country. The tariffs per kilometer are more reasonably priced than in most European countries. The large cities are linked with each other: Turin-Milan-Venice, Milan-Bologna-Bari, Rome-Genoa-Turin, and Rome-Naples-Palermo. Apart from the "Pendolini' and "Eurostar", trains do not always keep to the timetable.
Rail Companies: Italian railway company

Airlines

Name	Type	Domestic Flights	International Flights
Alitalia(AZ)	Major	Yes	Yes
Air One	Low Cost	Yes	Yes
Alpi Eagles	Low Cost	Yes	Yes
Blu-express	Low Cost	Yes	Yes
Meridiana	Low Cost	Yes	Yes
eVOLAvia	Low Cost	Yes	No

You Can Consult the List of Airlines Banned Within the EU. Look Also at the rating of the United States Federal Aviation Administration (FAA).

Traveling By Yourself

Recommendation: Most of the road network is good. However, the lanes are very narrow and the curves very sharp on some motorways (Salerno-Reggio di Calabria for example) and this can make them dangerous when driving at excessive speed.
Road Maps: Maps of Italian motorways
Find an Itinerary: ViaMichelin.
Mappy

Visiting

Different Forms of Tourism

Historical: Italy is famous worldwide for its many tourist sites.
A great number of the most well-known and visited historical monuments are in Rome, among them: the Colosseum, the Trevi Fountain and the Vatican.
Other cities have many visitors, such as, for example, Venice and its famous canals, Florence and its Uffizi gallery, Pisa and its Tower.
Cultural: In Italy, you can walk around very typical historical centers such as those of Rome, Naples or Florence and you can also visit the towns of Tuscany and Umbria. The Reggia de Caserta (Palace of Caserta), the Villa d'Este, Villa Adriana, the Necropolises of the Etruscans are also very well know.
Night life in Italy caters for all tastes: Opera and theater, as well as many bars, discotheques and night clubs.
Nature: The places of natural beauty popular with tourists include the Aeolian islands, the island of Asinara, the Maddalena archipelago and the Strait of Bonifacio, the Cascades of the Marmore, the vineyards of Langhe, Monferrato and Valtellina. Mount Etna in Sicily is one of the biggest volcanos in the world.
Religious: The heart of Italian religion is the Vatican and Rome with its churches and basilicas.
Thermal: Italy has numerous spas, some of which were already famous in Antiquity. The biggest and best equipped spa and therapeutic resorts in Italy are Abano Terme and Montegrotto Terme (Veneto), Acqui Terme (Piedmont), Chianciano and Montecatini Terme (Tuscany), Fiuggi (Lazio), Porretta Terme and Salsomaggiore Terme (Emilia-Romagna), Sciacca (Sicily) and Sirmione (Lombardy).
Beach: Italy has countless beautiful beaches: in all the islands, Liguria, Tuscany, Puglia and Sicily.
Winter Sports: The Alps make up Italy's northern border and the Apennine chain runs the whole length of the country: that is enough to highlight its vocation as a mountain holiday destination, ideal in winter for those who love snow and winter sports. For further information, consult the Skiinfo website.
Outdoor Activities: In Italy golf is played quite a lot. Other available outdoor activities are climbing, sailing and trekking.
Shopping: Many Italian products are recognized all over the world for their class and high quality; some are made by craftsmen, at attractive prices. Florence, Milan and Rome are the fashion centers. Some places are known for their products: Como (Lombardy) for silk, Prato (Tuscany) for textiles, Empoli (Tuscany) for the production of bottles and glasses in green glass, Deruta (Umbria) and Faenza (Emilia-Romagna) for pottery, Carrara (Tuscany) for marble, Torre Annunziata (Campania) and Alghero (Sardinia) for coral crafts, Cremona (Lombardy) for violins, Castelfidardo (Marche) for accordeons, guitars and organs, Valenza (Piedmont) for goldsmiths, Vietri sul Mare (Campania) for ceramic tiles and Ravenna (Emilia-Romagna) for mosaics.

Top Highlights of the Capital City
Colosseum
Castel San Angelo
St Paul's Basilica
St John's Basilica
Basilica of St Paul Outside the Walls
St Clement's Basilica
Trevi Fountain
Bocca della Verità (the Mouth of Truth)
I Fori (Imperial Forums)
il Campidoglio (Capitoline Hill)

Top Highlights of the Country
The canals of Venice
The Leaning Tower of Pisa
The Sistine Chapel
Trulli (stone dwellings)
San Giuliano Etruscan Tomb
Palace of Caserta
Cinque terre coastal villages
Etna
St Peter's
Abbruzzo National Park
Dolomites

Tourism Organizations: ENIT, National Tourist Office

Living Conditions

Health and Safety

Health Precautions: There is no compulsory vaccination.
International Hospitals: International Hospital Salvator Mundi
The Milan Clinic
For Further Information on Sanitary Conditions: The World Health Organization webpages devoted to Italy.
Visit the Ministry of Health website.
For Further Information on Safety Conditions: The advice of the Canadian Ministry of Foreign Affairs
The Current Travel Warnings of the US State Department

Emergency Numbers

Police	113
Ambulance	118
Firemen	115
European Assistance	803803
Fire prevention	1515

Time Difference and Climate

Time and Time Difference: It is %T:%M %A In Rome, Milan (GMT+1 in winter, GMT+2 in summer)
Summer Time Period: Summer time from March to October.

Map of the Time Zone

Fuseau(x) horaire

Type of Climate: Mountain climate in the North, continental on the plains and Mediterranean in the coastal regions. On average, temperatures vary between 11°C and 19°C.
For Further Information: Italian Meteorological website

Average Annual Temperatures and Rainfall

Climate

Eating

Food Specialties

Italian cuisine enjoys great international renown and is well-known for its use of olive oil and for its pasta.
Hors d'oeuvres :
Antipasti : this is the traditional hors-d'oeuvre, vegetables marinated in olive oil (artichokes, aubergines, mushrooms, olives, peppers, dried tomatoes, etc.).

Typical dishes: marinated aubergines, aubergines Parmigiana (Melanzane alla parmigiana : aubergines baked with Parmesan and mozzarella), asparagus with Parmigiano Reggiano, broccoli alla romana, scalopina alla milanese (veal escalopes), pizza, risotto alla milanese (risotto is served as a starter but it can become a main dish. It is a round-grained rice flavored with saffron).

Pasta: Lasagne, spaghetti, ravioli...

Desserts : Tiramisu, Zabaione (Zabaglione) and Italian ice-creams.

There is a wide variety of cheeses in Italy such as gorgonzola, Parmesan, mozzarella, mascarpone, ricotta and many others.

Drinks

Italian wines are well-known abroad. They are named according to region of origin and type of grape.

The most famous is Chianti from Tuscany. In the Rome region, the greatest wines are Frascati and Albano. In the Valle d'Aosta it is Barolo ; Valpolicella in the Veneto ; PinotBianco and PinotGrigio (white wines) ; Cabernet and PinotNero (red wines) in Friuli-Venezia ; and Chianti, Nobile di Montepulciano and Brunello in Tuscany.

The most well-known aperitifs are Campari and PunteMes ; among the liqueurs there are Amaretto, Limoncello, Grappa and Strega.

Italians enjoy drinking a coffee or a cappucino in a bar, usually in a hurry. Young people like going to bars in the afternoon for a tea or an aperitif. You can find plenty of bars, wine bars, pubs, etc. ready to serve aperitifs from 6pm until dinner time.

Dietary Restrictions

There are no dietary restrictions in the country.

Paying

Domestic Currency: Euro
ISO Code: EUR
To Obtain Domestic Currency: There are no ATMs, but small bureaux with a sign "change". They are in all the large towns, but they are not so common in small villages, so make sure you have enough cash on you.
Possible Means of Payment: You can pay in cash or with a credit card: Diners Club, MasterCard and Visa. Cheques are also taken but they must be in euros, pounds Sterling or American dollars.

Speaking

Official Language: The official language is Italian.
Other Languages Spoken: You should note that the use of dialects persists in this country. Albanian is spoken by approximately 80,000 people in the South and 50,000 people in the rest of the country. 20,000 residents in the North East of Sardinia speak Gallurese. In addition, the Sardinian language is also spoken in Sardinia by approximately 1.2 million people.
Business Language: More and more people have some knowledge of English.
Getting Some Knowledge: Use the travlang website
Free Translation Tools: The Evta website : To do on-line translations

Useful Resources

To Find an Accommodation: See the National association of hotels website (Federalberghi)
Rentals in Italy
Easystanza.it
Look at the "Azienda Autonoma Soggiorno e turismo" website in the place where you want to go.
The Italian youth hostel association website.
To Find an Apartment: Casa click
Internet immobiliare

Immobiliare
To Find a Job: Infojob.it
Job on line
Agenzie Interinali

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