Oriana LamarcaTraveling to Italy during COVID in 2021 takes the normal stresses of traveling to a whole new level. The anxiety of making sure your bags are under 50 lbs, not knowing whether you’ve done the right antigen test and whether or not you have the proper paper work filled out may just get you sick quicker than the virus. Although now that I’ve made the voyage once, I have to say, it really wasn’t all that bad!
Regardless of whether or not you are vaccinated, you must show proof of a negative antigen test which can be rapid or PCR within 48 hours of departure. I went to a local urgent care center for testing the day before our flight and within an hour I had my results. Secondly, you must fill out a Digital European Passenger Locator Form (dPLF) (which you can find here )
Passenger Locator Forms (PLFs) are used by public health authorities to facilitate contact tracing in case travellers are exposed to an infectious disease during their travel. You must have your negative test results printed to present at check in and the completed PLF QR code available on your phone. You will be asked to show both again before boarding the plane. Lastly, the airline will provide you with a self-declaration form ( which you can access here here
Returning to the US, you must get a negative antigen test in order to enter the country. We simply went to a local pharmacy the day before departure and in europe mostly all pharmacies are administering the test. Same rules apply coming home, so just have your negative test and PLF QR code available and you’ll be good to go! This was my experience traveling beginning of July 2021 but as we are in a volatile state, things can change from day to day so just be sure to check the Italian embassy website ( https://it.usembassy.gov/covid-19-information/)
It may sound stressful but I promise you the second your feet hit the ground you will forget all about it!