Dress codes, entry fees, tourist taxes and a bridge waiting on an accounting court
For 2026 Venice confirmed its access fee on two tiers: five euros if you pay at least four days in advance, ten euros inside four days. It applies on 60 non-consecutive days between 3 April and 26 July 2026. The stated aim is to push people into booking ahead.
Source: Comune di Venezia, November 2025
On 13 August 2026 the mayor of Cortina d'Ampezzo signed an order running to 15 October banning, in the town centre, lying on the steps of monuments and churches, camping, eating, drinking, washing or sleeping on public ground in a manifestly indecent manner, and circulating in unsuitable clothing. Fines run from 25 to 500 euros.
Source: il Dolomiti, 13 August 2026
In 2026 the number of Italian municipalities levying a tourist tax rose to 1,411, with 24 new entrants and 53 raising their rates. Expected revenue is over 1.2 billion euros, double the 628 million of 2021. Rome alone collects around 288 million, Milan 110, Florence 82.7.
Source: Osservatorio JFC, 13 April 2026
For 2026 in Molise a single municipality, Sant'Elia a Pianisi, is running the scheme. There is no income limit and foreign buyers with an Italian tax code can apply. But the project must be filed within six months, work started within two months of the permit and finished within three years, with a 5,000-euro guarantee. Indicative restoration costs run between 20,000 and 25,000 euros.
Source: idealista, 23 August 2026
As of 21 August 2026 the bridge over the Strait of Messina had no final approval. It would carry a single 3,300-metre span. The cost has gone from 3.8 billion euros in 2005 to 10.5 billion. The Superior Council of Public Works gave a favourable opinion on 6 August 2026 with more than a hundred conditions, and the Court of Auditors had already rejected the 2025 decision.
Source: Il Post, 21 August 2026
On 10 December 2025, in New Delhi, Italian cuisine was inscribed on the UNESCO list of intangible cultural heritage of humanity.
Source: Ministero della Cultura / UNESCO
Read the local ordinance before you read the guidebook. In Italy the ordinance changes faster and matters more.
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