05/16/2026
As I plan my own Italy trip, these are the pieces you have to know or your vacation will not be enjoyable or even happen. Why would you not want a professional to help?!?
Ten rules changed this year.
Italy rewrote a long list of tourist rules between 2025 and 2026. Trevi has a ticket. The Uffizi puts your name on every ticket. The Amalfi Coast bans half the cars from driving on alternate days. Florence took away the e-scooters.
If you arrive with a guide printed two years ago, you walk into ten new systems at once. These are the ones that catch visitors at the worst possible moment.
1. The Trevi Fountain now charges €2
Since February 2, 2026, going down to the basin of the Trevi Fountain costs €2. There is a barrier, a ticket booth on Via della Stamperia, and on busy afternoons, a queue.
The fountain is still free to see from the square above. The fee only applies to the lower level where the coin toss happens. Paid hours are 9 in the morning to 10 at night, with a later start of 11:30 on Mondays and Fridays for cleaning. After 10 at night, the barriers open and the basin is free again.
Card or phone only. No cash at the gate. The basin holds 400 people at a time, so even with a ticket you queue. The €2 funds fountain maintenance. The actual coin tosses, as always, go to Caritas.
2. Venice charges day-trippers on 60 days
In 2026, Venice runs its access fee on 60 specific dates between April 3 and July 26. On those days, anyone aged 14 and up entering the historic centre between 8:30 in the morning and 4 in the afternoon, without an overnight reservation, has to pay.
The fee is €5 if you book at least four days ahead. €10 inside that window. You register on the Comune di Venezia portal and you receive a QR code. Inspectors check the code at random points around the city, especially at Santa Lucia and Piazzale Roma. No code, no fine, until they catch you. Then it is up to €300.
If you sleep in Venice, you do not pay the fee, but you still register and download an exemption code. Hotel guests who skip that step have been fined.
3. The Uffizi now puts your name on every ticket
Since October 13, 2025, every Uffizi ticket is nominative. The name on the ticket has to match the photo ID at the entrance. If they do not match, you do not get in, and the ticket is not refunded.
Each account can buy a maximum of 10 Uffizi tickets per day, with a separate cap of 5 for the Vasari Corridor. There is also a new afternoon discount since January 1, 2026: tickets after 4 in the afternoon cost €20 online or €16 at the door, instead of the standard €25. You get the same access to all collections, just a shorter window before the 6:30 closing.
The same rule applies to the Accademia, the Bargello, and most other Florence state museums. Name on the ticket equals name on the ID, or no entry.
4. Pompeii caps entries at 20,000 and prints your name on the ticket
Since November 15, 2024, Pompeii admits a maximum of 20,000 visitors per day. From March 16 to October 14, the day is split: 15,000 tickets in the morning between 9 and 1, and 5,000 in the afternoon between 1 and 5:30.
Every ticket is nominative. Name on ticket must match the ID at the gate. From March 2026 onwards, the only legitimate online seller is Vivaticket. Anything else is a markup or a fake. Morning slots in July and August sell out two to four weeks ahead.
Bag size limit at the gate is 30 by 30 by 15 centimetres. There is no luggage storage on site. If you arrive with a suitcase, you do not get in.
5. The Colosseum compares your name to your ID
The Colosseum now uses the same nominative system as Pompeii. Every ticket carries a name. At the entrance, staff match that name to your passport or ID. If they do not match, you do not get in, and the ticket is not refunded.
The change was designed to kill the resale market. The men outside the Colosseum still try to sell skip-the-line tickets to anyone holding a guidebook. Those tickets no longer work. The only legitimate seller is the official Parco Colosseo ticketing site, and the underground slots disappear within hours of release, exactly thirty days before each visit date.
6. The Amalfi Coast bans half the cars on alternate days
On the SS163, the coastal road from Vietri sul Mare to Positano, plates ending in an odd number can only drive on odd-numbered days. Plates ending in an even number, only on even-numbered days. The restriction runs from 10 in the morning to 6 in the evening on designated dates.
The 2026 calendar: every day from March 30 to April 6, every day from April 24 to May 2, weekends and public holidays only between June 1 and July 31, every day from August 1 to September 30, and weekends in October.
It applies to foreign and rental plates exactly as it applies to Italian ones. Exemptions cover residents, taxis, buses, motorcycles, scooters, and guests with a documented hotel booking on the coast. If you drive on the wrong day, the camera fine starts around €80, and there is a camera at almost every town entrance. Some visitors have been caught by three cameras in one afternoon.
7. Capri tightened its rules from May 2026
The Capri Vademecum ordinance went into effect in May 2026. It changes how groups arrive, how guides speak, and what you can carry on the island.
Tour groups disembarking on Capri are capped at 40 people. Larger groups must split before they leave the boat. For groups of more than 20, the guide cannot use a loudspeaker. Quiet earpieces only. Coloured umbrellas and flags are gone. Hard-soled shoes that echo through the historic centre are discouraged.
The change that catches solo visitors is the single-use plastic ban. If you are caught on the island with a single-use plastic water bottle, the fine reaches €500. Most ferry passengers from Naples bring one without thinking. Carry a refillable metal bottle. Public drinking fountains are everywhere.
8. Florence banned outdoor dining on 50 streets and e-scooter rentals across the centre
From early 2026, Florence banned outdoor dining structures on 50 streets inside the UNESCO core. Ponte Vecchio, Piazzale degli Uffizi, Via Roma, Via Maggio, Via Romana, Borgo Santa Croce, and Piazza di Santa Maria Nuova are on the list. On another 73 streets, outdoor seating is allowed only under tighter rules: no plastic sheeting, no tarps, no semi-permanent structures, no bright signage.
Before you book a restaurant for its outdoor terrace, confirm the terrace is still legal.
From April 2026, Florence also banned e-scooter rentals across the city centre. The orange and yellow scooters that lined the Arno last summer are gone. If you came expecting to scoot from the Duomo to Boboli, plan to walk.
9. La Pelosa beach in Sardinia requires a reservation
From May 15 to October 15, the beach at La Pelosa in Stintino requires an online reservation. Daily admissions are capped at around 1,500 people. The ticket is €3.50 per person, free for children under 12.
You book through the official Spiaggia La Pelosa site or its dedicated app. Half the slots open in June. The other half release only 48 hours before the date, and in July and August they sell out in minutes.
You also need a mat under your towel. Towel fibres carry sand away from the beach each year, and the rule is enforced. If you forget, you can buy a mat at the entrance. Removing sand or pebbles from any Sardinian beach is also illegal. The fine reaches €3,000.
10. EES is live. ETIAS arrives by year end.
Since April 10, 2026, every external Schengen border in Italy uses the new EES biometric system. No more ink stamps. On your first entry, the officer captures your fingerprints, takes a facial photo, and stores it digitally for three years.
Lines at Fiumicino, Malpensa, and Venezia Marco Polo have been running 60 to 90 minutes longer than usual since the rollout. Build that into your connection time. Children under 12 give only a photo, no fingerprints. Anyone who refuses biometric capture is denied entry. There is no opt-out.
The second half of the new border system, ETIAS, arrives in the last quarter of 2026. From then on, every American, Canadian, British, and Australian traveller flying to Italy needs an approved travel authorisation before boarding. It works like the US ESTA. €20 fee, free for under 18 and over 70, valid three years or until the passport expires. Apply only on the official EU site. Fake ETIAS sites are already operating.
A few things to remember
Your passport must be valid for at least three months past your return date. EES will reject anything close to expiry.
Add 60 to 90 minutes to your arrival on the way in. The biometric capture is fast once your data is on file. The first time, it takes a few minutes per person, multiplied by everyone in front of you.
For Pompeii, the Colosseum, the Uffizi, and any other nominative ticket, the name on the booking has to match the name on the ID. If you booked your husband's ticket under your name, swap them before you travel. The gate is the wrong place to find out.
Most of these rules exist because the old system was being abused. Resold tickets at the Colosseum. Forty-person tour groups dumped at the Capri ferry. Plastic bottles in the sea. The rules are not going to be reversed.
Good luck, or reach out to our team!
