Mare d’Italia

Mail

Post offices in Italy are open Monday to Saturday, from 8am to 2pm, while the central offices in major towns are open also during the afternoon, usually until 5pm.

Postal Rates

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Telephone

Romagna has several area codes, one or more per province (county):
Ravenna 0544,
Forli’ 0543,
Cesena 0547,
Faenza 0546,
Rimini 0541,
San Marino 0549.

You never have to dial ‘1’ before entering area code and number, but you always have to enter the area code (called Prefisso, prefix, in Italian), even for local calls.

All calls are priced per minute, tariffs vary per distance and per company.

Phone booths usually have multi-language support explaining tariffs and dial options.

Toll free numbers start with the special area code 1800, like in U.S.

Cell phones

Cell phones in Italy are widely used and, sometimes, wildly used.
A cell phone number has a 3 digits area code, without 0 (e.g. 338, 339).

It’s always quite expensive to call a mobile phone from a home or public phone. On the other hand, rates for cell phones are quite low, and there are lots of calling plans to choose from. Unlike US, you don’t pay for “air-time” and incoming calls, but only to make calls.

All cell phones use the GSM system, like everywhere in Europe, and they are ‘empowered’ by a little chip card called SIM. You can buy a SIM card compatible with any cell phone in various outlets. The cards are pre-paid. The trasmission frequency is 900MHz, compatible with most tri-band phones.

Using a cell phone can save you money on international and long-distance calls.

International Calls

The country code for Italy is 39.
If you’re calling from US or Canada, you have to dial 01139 + area code + number to call an Italian number.
 To call abroad from Italy, dial 00 + country code (e.g. 1 for US) + area code and number. There’s no need to dial 00 to call San Marino or Vatican City: they’re assigned Italian area codes.

Fax and telegrams

Few places besides Post Offices and hotels offer fax services. Telegrams can be sent from any Post Office.

E-mail and Internet Access

Very few hotels and cafes offer Internet access, while most libraries in major towns do.

If you have a laptop with a modem, several major Internet Providers in Italy offer free internet access and e-mail.
The major ones are:
www.libero.it
www.inwind.it
www.tiscalinet.it

Remember that you will make local calls to connect, and you’ll be charged by the minute. For home phones, the rate is about 1c/minute. Hotels usually charge more, so be sure to inform yourself first.