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About this tool
Build a prioritised Italy etiquette briefing for churches, restaurants, bars, trains and ZTL driving, with the fineable rules flagged.
This guide turns Italian etiquette into a ranked briefing for the places you will actually use, and it separates the customs from the rules that carry a fine. Tick churches, restaurants, bars, transport, shops, streets, homes, offices or the coast, and it returns the applicable rules weighted by severity and by the kind of trip you are on, with a readiness score for what you already know. The country's fineable rules — the camera-enforced ZTL zones, unvalidated regional train tickets, and the decoro ordinances in Rome, Florence and Venice — are shown whatever your itinerary.
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Add your input to the workspace.
Adjust the options until the result looks right.
Copy or download the output and put it to work.
ZTL zones, ticket validation and city decoro ordinances are surfaced regardless of what you tick.
Severity weighting and trip type set the order, so refused entry and camera fines come before coffee habits.
Tick what you already know and the weighted percentage shows what is still ahead of you.
A ZTL is a Zona a Traffico Limitato, a camera-enforced restricted zone covering the historic centre of most Italian towns. Every pass through generates a separate fine, delivered months later through your hire company with an administration charge added. The safe approach is to park outside the zone and walk in, and to give your registration to a hotel inside the zone in advance so they can register it.
Very little, and often nothing. Most restaurants apply a coperto, a per-person cover charge of a couple of euros that must be shown on the menu, and that covers the table and service. Rounding up or leaving a few euros for good service is generous; the 15 to 20 per cent habit from elsewhere is not expected and is not the local norm.
Shoulders and knees covered, for everyone, with hats removed inside. St Peter's Basilica and the Duomo in Milan and Florence check at the door and refuse entry on the spot, so a light scarf or a shirt in your bag saves the visit. Flash photography is banned near frescoes and altarpieces, and all photography stops if a Mass begins.
Yes, for a paper regional ticket that is not tied to a specific train. Stamp it in the green or white machine on the platform before you board, or on the bus as you get on. An unvalidated ticket is treated as no ticket and the fine is charged on the spot. Booked high-speed tickets and digital tickets issued for a named train do not need validating.