Italy to ease Covid entry requirements

Italy will ease testing requirements for vaccinated travellers from countries outside the European Union (EU) from 1 March, according to Health Minister Roberto Speranza.

“From 1 March, for arrivals from all non-European countries, the same rules already in place for European countries will be in force. For entry into Italy, one of the conditions of the Green Pass will be sufficient: vaccination certificate, recovery certificate or negative test,” said Speranza in a post on Twitter.

Under the new rules, fully vaccinated travellers will be able to provide EU Green Pass or equivalent certification of their vaccine status in lieu of a negative test result. Travellers who are unvaccinated or partially vaccinated will be required to provide a negative pre-departure test result or a recent recovery certificate.

The country previously eased rules along similar lines for travellers from other EU countries on 1 February 2022.

Italy’s new rules will be in line with those of other EU countries

The new rules bring Italy in line with other EU countries, such as France, Greece and Portugal, which have already implemented similar rules following an EU recommendation that member states ‘should lift temporary restrictions on non-essential travel’ for individuals vaccinated with an EU or World Health Organization (WHO) recognised vaccine.

Further easing of domestic Covid rules are expected to follow the relaxation of international travel rules, after Italy’s state of emergency legislation expires on 31 March. The legislation, which has been in place since 31 January 2020, was previously due to expire at the end of 2021, but was extended for a further three months.