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06/04/2005: "Advice for Travellers to Italy"
Advice for Travellers to Italy
Summary
-Death of Pope John Paul II: The Pope’s funeral will take place at 10:00 hours on Friday 8 April. An estimated two to four million travellers will visit Rome over coming days. There will be significant disruption to public transport and other services and considerable congestion in may areas of Rome, especially around the Vatican. Streets around the Vatican are now heavily crowded and visitors should be prepared to walk significant distances through very busy areas. These problems will be magnified at the time of the funeral, which will be attended by numerous Heads of State and other leading figures.
-Hotel accommodation is now almost impossible to find in Rome and the surrounding region.
-Rome’s Ciampino airport will be closed to commercial air traffic from 10:00 hours on Thursday 7 April, until midnight on Friday 8 April. Flights scheduled to arrive at Ciampino over this period will be diverted to Pescara, Naples and Pisa airports. Air traffic at Rome’s Leonardo da Vinci airport is likely to suffer disruption over the same period.
-The Italian authorities are laying on extra train and bus services, and emergency accommodation in Rome sports centres and stadia, demand for which will be high.
-Italy shares with the rest of Europe a threat from international terrorism. Attacks could be indiscriminate and against civilian targets, as demonstrated by serious bomb attacks on trains in Spain in March 2004. There continue to be isolated cases of domestic terrorism in Italy by extreme left wing and secessionist groups, which are aimed primarily at official Italian targets.
-There is currently a risk of unannounced wildcat strikes by municipal transport workers in cities across Italy. See Local Travel below for dates of pre-planned strikes.
-You should be alert to the dangers of car and street crime in cities.
-There continues to be non-violent volcanic activity on the island of Stromboli. Italy is in an earthquake zone.
-Visitors to ski resorts should take advice on weather and avalanche conditions before they travel and should make themselves aware of local skiing laws and regulations throughout their visit (see: http://www.goski.com/italy.htm and http://www.avalanches.org).
We strongly recommend that you obtain comprehensive travel and medical insurance before travelling.
