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Always change money at a bank for the best rates. Bring your passport as ID. “Cambio” exchange booths are good out of banking hours. Avoid exchanging a traveller’s cheque at a shop or hotel; the rate is miserable.

The fastest, easiest and cheapest way to get local currency is via an ATM (bancomat ), drawing money directly from your home acount.

MasterCard and VISA are the most widely accepted cards. American Express is also accepted in many places, with Diner’s Club running a distant third. You can get credit card cash advances from ATMs, but this is an expensive option.

While still the safest way to carry money, traveller’s cheques are being overtaken by the evolution of easier and cheaper ATMs. A few cheques are good for emergencies, though. Buy them denominated in dollars or euros.

In January 2002, Italy joined 11 other EU countries in adopting the euro to replace the lira. Euro coins come in 1, 2, 5, 10, 20 and 50 euro cents and €1 and €2. Bills come in €5, €10, €20, €50, €100, €200 and €500.

Most pay phones in Italy now accept only pre-paid phone cards (scheda telefonica ). You can buy these in €5 or €10 denominations at tobacconists (tabacchi ) and newsstands. Some phones still also accept coins. There is also a range of pre-paid carta telefonica internazionale which give you a number to call and a code for making international calls.

Having loved ones at home call you – say, at your hotel – is invariably cheaper than using the Italian phone system. Otherwise, use the cards described above or international phone booths in major post offices. The cheapest way to call home is with a calling card (with an international plan) tied to your home phone account. To reverse the charges from any phone, dial the international operator on 170. Calls from hotels are usually expensive. If you want to call Italy from abroad, dial your international prefix (011 in the US, 00 in most other countries), then Italy’s country code of 39, then the number, including that initial zero (which, in the past, was dropped).

Internet rooms and cafés, and pubs with a PC in one corner are popping up constantly (ask at the tourist office; they tend to appear and disappear frequently). Increasingly, hotels are installing a common-use computer with Web access, sometimes free, sometimes for a small fee.

Italy’s post, while improving, can still be glacially slow. Letters might arrive home in three days or three months. You needn’t visit a post office (ufficio postale ); just ask any tobacconist or news-agent for stamps (francobolli ) for the country to which you are mailing; they know the amount to give you. Then drop it in the slot of the post box (usually red) labelled “per tutte le altre destinazioni ” (not “per la città ”).

Mail addressed to “[Your Name]/Fermo Posta/[Town Name], Italia/ITALY” should make it to the main local post office (though it helps to add the postal code, if you can find it). There’s a small fee to pick it up, though Amex card-holders can receive for free letters sent to “[Your Name]/Client Mail/American Express/Via Dante Alghieri 22r/50123 Firenze, Italia/ITALY”.