WHAT TO PACK FOR YOUR TRAVEL TO ITALY

Deciding what to pack for your upcoming travel to Italy is one of the most difficult things to organize when you prepare for your dream trip. Despite visiting the weather forecast app every day, you are still hesitant whether to pack that nice summer dress -or that wonderful, flowered shirt- that you bought out of enthusiasm after booking your flights or to travel easy and only pack your usual sports gear.

So, what to pack for Italy?

I know the forums about travelling to Italy are full of questions about what to pack for a successful and stress-free trip to Italy. As an Italian/American, I totally understand you, and I’m here to help.  In this article, I will give you tips and insights about the best way to dress for your trip and the things you absolutely shouldn’t forget to pack for your travel to Italy.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

TO START

As a general rule, I would first of all advise you to travel light. Unless you plan to fly to a single resort where you will spend the whole time and you won’t change accommodation at all, keep in mind that a big, heavy luggage is not the ideal companion for a stress-free travel.

In Italy we have a very efficient railway network, so you will most probably use one of our high-speed trains, which are amazing, but you will have to carry your luggage throughout the stations, where there might not be escalators. Also, it is common to find carriages where you need to climb 3 steps to get on and the corridor in some trains is not extremely wide, so you might have trouble in rolling your big suitcase (for more info about trains and how to get around in Italy see here).

Even if you decided to rent a car and drive (see here my article about driving in Italy), a light small luggage will make the difference for your road trip, especially if you have planned many stops and various accommodations. What to pack is really the key for a successful trip.

I know, I know, you are commenting that it’s not easy to travel light when you are deciding what to pack and you don’t want to miss important things during your dream trip to Italy. Everything seems to be essential to you! LOL.

I have travelled all over the world with only my hand luggage, even for a 3-week holiday to Australia, which gained me compliments from all my husband’s male family members. And I know exactly how to do it, so just follow my tips and you will thank me later! LOL.

What to pack

WHAT TO PACK: SHOES

Another aspect that you need to take into consideration when deciding what to pack, is that in Italy you’ll walk a lot. Unlike the US, Italy is not a country that you can tour sitting in a car or on a bus. Normally the most interesting area of a city or a village is its downtown, which is also the historical old town. And normally our downtown areas are closed to the traffic and are completely pedestrian areas.

Of course, if you plan to visit an archaeological site, roman ruins, large museums, royal residences, you will have to walk. And last but not least, if Venice is in your plan, of course you will only walk the whole time you spend there.

So, what to pack for a trip to Italy? Well, first of all, just pack a pair or two of your most comfortable shoes. Sport shoes (trainers or sneakers), or sport sandals in summer, are my go-to for exploring cities. Ladies: I wouldn’t bother bringing high-heeled shoes or elegant shoes unless you plan to attend an opera theatre show.

In fact, despite Italians are well known for our elegance and good taste for clothes, we don’t dress up as much as Americans when going out. I mean, we have a casual/cool way of matching clothes that allows us not to wear the long dresses and high heels that I saw in San Diego and Miami, when I lived there, and still look fashionable. Plus, you are tourists, and we don’t normally care about how tourists are dressed.

Now that the shoes have been chosen, let’s talk about clothes. As Italy is in the temperate climate area, we get to experience all of the four seasons here, so my advice for the clothes will be specifically related to the time of the year of your travel.

WHAT TO PACK IF YOU TRAVEL IN SUMMER

If you travel during summer, you will experience very hot and humid weather. Especially if you plan to visit our cities of art, be ready to walk around at 95 degrees Fahrenheit or more. What to pack for such hot weather?

Unlike the US, we don’t commonly wear short shorts and singlets in the city, as that kind of clothing is considered for kids/teenagers or for the beach. My advice is to avoid tight clothes like leggings, for example. Use large clothes made of light cotton, linen or silk; avoid polyester and non-natural material as they normally keep the warm and make you perspire more.

Don’t forget that if you plan to visit the inside of a catholic church, your shoulders, belly and knees should be covered. After all, you don’t need to be naked or show your skin to feel less hot. As I said before, you only need to wear light, large, long clothes and dress respectfully.

Which means that you don’t need to wear that thin strapped singlet or dress right on the day of your visit to a church. You can leave that for the beach day or the archaeological ruins. If you really can’t avoid wearing thin strapped clothes, bring a light scarf in your bag or backpack. You will thank me for this, as this will prevent you from buying those horrible paper triangles that some tourists use to cover their shoulders while in a church. LOL.

Italian women in the hottest days of the year normally wear long, large pants or skirts, with light cotton blouses or light knee-lenght or longer dresses (shorter ones are for the beach). Italian men wear knee-long pants or long pants made of light cotton or linen and light cotton shirt or linen shirt (singlets and shorter shorts are for little kids or for the beach).

I know that for some reason, it is difficult to find these kinds of light clothes in the US. I remember when I lived both in San Diego and Miami, I couldn’t find neither light, large clothes, I mean in size S or M but cut large (there were a lot of XL, XXL etc. but I couldn’t wear them) nor natural material (a lot of polyester or mixed material) in the common clothing shops (Marshall, Macy’s, Nordstrom, Forever 21, Billabong). I was able to find some light cotton clothes in H&M, but not all of their clothing was made of light cotton, so you will have to search carefully.

Otherwise, you might plan what to pack only for a couple of days and buy the rest of your clothes for the trip here in Italy: our prices are cheaper than in the US and the quality and material are better; plus, our models are stylish and cool. This could actually be a smart way to have souvenirs from Italy and once you’re back and wear Italian clothing everyone there will notice and envy you (believe me, it happened to me before!).

The only problem you might experience is if you need a very big size, as our shops might not have it. As a matter of facts, average Italians are quite small in comparison to average Americans, therefore our shops don’t offer all the range of big sizes that are offered in the US shops.

This said, I know you are dying to buy a wonderful dress or shirt or skirt full of bright-yellow lemons that you saw in so many pictures of Sorrento and the Amalfi coast. Sooo….buy it if you like it and if it makes you feel good, but I have to let you know….

Ehm, be aware that those clothes are only for tourists. No Italian would ever buy or wear something like that. LOL!

WHAT TO PACK IF YOU TRAVEL IN WINTER

If you are travelling to a ski destination to practice your sport, then I assume you already know what to pack.

If you are travelling to other destinations, to sightsee and experience Italy, you might need to keep on reading to understand what to pack for your winter holiday. Winter in Italy is generally mild all over the country. January is the coldest month of the year and temperatures can range from 30 to 50 degrees Fahrenheit. A warm puffy jacket will do for this. Of course, you will wear normal winter clothes (wool top and warm pants) under it. Winter is generally dry, so you might not even have to put up with rain. Sometimes, if you are lucky, you might experience some light and short snowfalls.

WHAT TO PACK IF YOU TRAVEL IN SPRING or FALL

Spring and fall are the best seasons to travel to Italy, but they also are our rainiest seasons, so when picking what to pack, leave some space for a light raincoat. Unlike places like San Diego, where you just wear a thick hoodie on the top of a cotton t-shirt, in these temperatures, Italians tend to wear a light jacket and a cotton pullover on the top of a cotton t-shirt.

WHAT TO PACK AS ACCESSORIES

For the summer season: don’t forget a light hat, your shades and I know that someone likes those little portable fans (of course that would stick a big “tourist” label on you, but who cares? LOL). If you like to avoid using plastic, bring your own sippy cup as we have many free drinkable water fountains in our cities and towns.

For the winter season: pack your warm beanie, gloves and a warm scarf.

For the fall/spring season: pack a portable umbrella and disposable raincoats (for when you are walking around, and it rains a lot). If you are travelling to Venice, don’t forget to pack rain boots (if you prefer to travel light, you might want to buy them there and keep them as a special souvenir) to wear in case of “acqua alta” (high tide).

WHAT TO PACK: ELECTRICAL DEVICES

This is very important: in Italy there are only European plugs (type C, 230V 50Hz), which are different from the American ones. If you are planning to pack electrical devices which need to be recharged, don’t forget to pack some plug adapters otherwise you won’t be able to recharge your devices.

WHAT TO PACK AS TOILETRIES

If you don’t know what differences there are between the Italian and the American bathroom culture, you might not imagine what to pack.

So, let’s start from the fact that in Italy we don’t use a scrubbing cloth to wash our bodies. We normally use sponges, but generally, when we travel, either we bring our own or we just use our hands. Therefore, you will not find any scrubbing cloth at the hotel. If you really think you can’t do without it, then definitely pack it.

Secondly, Italian make-up style is much lighter than American one. You will notice that Italian women wear very natural, almost invisible make-up. This means that there won’t be any scrubbing face towels to leave all your heavy make-up on. LOL.

If you want to remove your make-up, pack a lot of make-up removing wipes. Otherwise, my advice is just, don’t wear so much make-up. You are a tourist: you don’t need to look like a model or a theatre showgirl. Just put on a light something if you really want, or even, don’t bother wearing make-up. No one here will disregard you or think anything bad if you don’t wear make-up. Italians love the natural appearances!

If you travel during summer, I would suggest you to buy your sun screen here: it seems that the Italian research for sunscreen products has gone further than the American one, so the sunscreen you will find here is more effective, very respectful of nature and more cosmetic, so more respectful of your skin, that the ones sold in the US.

I know it for sure because when I lived in the US, I had trouble finding sunscreens that were not thick, sticky, and didn’t leave you completely white. Those sunscreens were still less effective against the bad sun rays than the ones I was used to buy in Italy. I made thorough research and I found out that in the US the sunscreen are considered medical devices and follow the medical legislation. Therefore not much research is dedicated to improving the products, whose composition hasn’t changed since decades.

WHAT TO PACK AS BAGS and BACKPACKS

Generally, in Italy the touristic areas of a city are kept very safe. Of course there are pickpockets in Italy, in the same way as there are in any other country in the world. You will feel safe travelling with your backpack everywhere in the country. But I would suggest you, if you want to feel even more comfortable, whenever you happen to be in overcrowded areas or in the public bus/metro, to pack a sling bag. The sling bag is ideal, as you can always keep a hand on it, and it is always under your control.

NOW YOU KNOW WHAT TO PACK…

This is all I can think of to help you decide what to pack for your trip to Italy, and I really hope this article will help to make your packing process smooth and pleasant.

But, please, don’t hesitate to leave a comment, if you have any questions or if I forgot something that can be useful to others to make their own list of what to pack.

Now that the packing is done, you will want to choose a good pocket guide to help you tour the cities (take a look at my city guidebooks section here).

I hope you’ll have a wonderful packing process and an unforgettable trip to Italy!

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