Italy travel health guide

The data behind Italy's score 59.9/100 · #26 of 30

Eight metrics, scored 0–100 and weighted per the index methodology. Evidence and sources shown per metric.

Can you drink the tap water in Italy? Safe to drink

Italy’s tap water is safe to drink from the Alps to Sicily, and in Rome it’s a genuine pleasure. The capital is studded with more than 2,500 cast-iron street fountains — the beloved nasoni (‘big noses’) — that run continuously with cool, potable spring water piped down the city’s aqueducts, some of them ancient. Fill your bottle at any of them for free; the tap water in hotels and restaurants is just as good.

The same holds across the north and centre. Milan draws clean water from deep artesian wells and dots the city with Case dell’Acqua public water points; Florence, Bologna, Turin and even Venice — whose supply is piped in from the mainland — all have safe, drinkable tap water despite what the lagoon might suggest.

Head south and the water is still legally potable, but habit changes: in Naples, Sicily and much of the Mezzogiorno many locals drink bottled by preference — partly for taste, partly because older networks and summer shortages can affect supply in some towns. Italy has Europe’s highest bottled-water consumption for exactly these cultural reasons. Where a tap or fountain isn’t drinkable you’ll see «acqua non potabile»; otherwise the tap is fine the length of the country.

Mosquitoes and insect risk in Italy Very High

This is Italy’s headline health issue and the reason it scores Very High for mosquitoes — the toughest rating of any country in this guide. The Asian tiger mosquito (Aedes albopictus) has been entrenched since the 1990s and is now everywhere from city courtyards to coastal resorts, biting aggressively by day and peaking at dawn and dusk. On its own it’s a nuisance; the concern is what it and native Culex mosquitoes can carry.

Italy reports the most West Nile virus cases in Europe. The historic hotspot is the Po Valley — Veneto, Emilia-Romagna, Lombardy and Piedmont — where the flat, irrigated, mosquito-rich plains around the river see cases every summer, and in recent years clusters have also surfaced in Lazio, south of Rome. Separately, Italy has had home-grown outbreaks of chikungunya (Emilia-Romagna in 2007, Lazio and Calabria in 2017) and small locally-acquired dengue clusters in recent summers — arboviruses most European countries only ever import. The overall risk to a short-stay visitor stays low, but it is the highest on this list.

Protection matters more here than almost anywhere in Western Europe: use DEET or icaridin repellent day and night through mosquito season, wear long, loose clothing at dusk, and sleep behind screens or with air-conditioning, especially in the Po Valley and Lazio from July to September. There is no malaria and no traveller vaccine for these viruses — bite avoidance is everything.

How hot does Italy get in summer? High

Italy’s summers are hot in two very different ways. In the north, the enclosed Po Valley — Milan, Bologna, Turin — traps humid, muggy heat that feels heavier than the thermometer’s low-to-mid 30s suggests, while Florence, sitting in a river basin, is a notorious heat trap. Rome averages a July high around 31–32°C but reached about 42.9°C during the 2023 Cerberus and Charon heatwaves.

The extremes belong to the south. Sicily, Sardinia’s interior and Puglia routinely clear 40°C, and it was Siracusa (Syracuse) in Sicily that recorded 48.8°C in August 2021 — the highest temperature ever reliably measured in Europe, since verified by the World Meteorological Organization. Heatwaves in 2022, 2023 and 2024 were long and severe, and heat is now among the country’s leading summer health hazards.

For relief, Italians head uphill and north: the Dolomites and alpine valleys of Trentino-Alto Adige, the northern lakes (Como, Garda, Maggiore) and the breezy Ligurian coast all stay far more comfortable. The Ministry of Health runs an official heat-health warning system — the bollettini ondate di calore — that rates 27 major cities from green to red each day at salute.gov.it. Check it, hydrate hard, and avoid the roughly 12–5pm peak, particularly if you’re older or travelling with young children.

Food and stomach bugs in Italy Moderate

Italian food-safety standards are high and the tap water is safe, so serious food-borne illness is uncommon and the usual souvenir is nothing worse than mild traveller’s diarrhoea from rich food, gelato and heat. That said, Italy’s salmonella notification rate sits above the EU average, so a little care with certain foods pays off.

Watch the raw and the room-temperature: raw shellfish and seafood crudo, egg-based dishes and desserts such as fresh tiramisù or homemade mayonnaise, and anything left standing on a buffet in the heat. Gelato from a busy gelateria, cured meats, pizza and freshly cooked pasta are very low risk. Favour places with high turnover and keep oral rehydration sachets in the bag for the odd off day.

Do you need vaccinations for Italy? Routine (+TBE)

Most visitors need no special vaccinations for Italy beyond keeping their routine ones current: MMR (measles circulates in Europe), tetanus-diphtheria-polio and COVID-19 as advised. Hepatitis A and typhoid aren’t routinely recommended for standard tourism.

The one Italy-specific footnote is tick-borne encephalitis (TBE). Infected ticks live in the forests and alpine foothills of the north-east — parts of Friuli-Venezia Giulia, the Veneto Dolomites and Trentino — so if your trip involves a lot of hiking, camping or forest work there in spring or summer, ask a travel clinic whether the TBE vaccine is worthwhile. For city breaks, beaches and lakes it isn’t needed; just cover up and check for ticks after woodland walks. Rabies risk is negligible.

Healthcare in Italy: doctors, pharmacies & the EHIC/GHIC Excellent access

Italy’s healthcare is strong and widely accessible, with around 5.3 doctors per 1,000 people. The farmacia — green cross outside — is the natural first stop for minor ailments: pharmacists are highly trained, dispense many medicines directly and will tell you when you need a doctor. Towns run a farmacia di turno rota so one is always open at night and on holidays.

Public care runs through the SSN (Servizio Sanitario Nazionale). EU visitors should bring the EHIC and UK visitors the GHIC, which cover state treatment on the same basis as residents; for non-urgent problems out of hours, tourists can use the guardia medica (continuità assistenziale) service. As always, these cards don’t cover private clinics or repatriation, so pair them with travel insurance. Serious emergencies go through hospital pronto soccorso (A&E).

For the routine things that don’t warrant a pronto soccorso queue — a repeat prescription, a UTI, a skin infection, a lingering cough, holiday diarrhoea — an online consultation can get you assessed and prescribed for without losing a day of your trip.

Emergency numbers in Italy 112

Italy uses the single European emergency number, 112 (the unified NUE 112) — free from any phone, with English-speaking operators dispatching ambulance, police and fire. Older numbers you may still see — 118 for ambulance, 113 for police, 115 for fire, 1530 for the coast guard — generally still connect, but 112 is the one to remember.

Save it before you go, keep the address or a landmark of your accommodation handy, and note that in rural or mountain areas GPS coordinates help responders reach you quickly.

Italy travel health: FAQs

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