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The shore of Lake Garda–Italy has declared it will open from mid May
getty
Prime Minister Mario Draghi has indicated during the G20 summit–currently taking place remotely from Rome–that Italy plans to allow visitors from mid-May onwards, without having to quarantine upon arrival.
The Telegraph reported that a government source said that the Italian health ministry would “soon formally announce that Italy’s five-day quarantine rule would be scrapped for visitors who can show that they are negative, vaccinated or immune.”
An official confirmed that this would apply not just to EU nationals but also to non-EU nationals, such as U.K. and U.S. visitors. Prime Minister Mario Draghi told the summit that “as long as you can show that you have been vaccinated or you test negative or you have immunity, then you’ll be welcome to come to Italy.”
The basis of verifying that travelers arriving into the country are immune, vaccinated or tested negative would be in the form of a travel pass, a so-called vaccination passport.
The EU is choosing to call this a Digital Green Certificate, so that people understand that it is not compulsory to get vaccinated in order to travel–the EU has agreed that the process of allowing people to travel this summer shouldn’t discriminate against people who haven’t been vaccinated and people can travel if they have a negative test result.
Every EU country is launching their own version before an EU-wide version will come into play, likely by mid June; France, for instance, began piloting its version on flights to and from Corsica.
The Guardian reported that these new entry rules would apply to all countries except those on Italy’s blacklist, which currently includes arrivals from Brazil and India.
The news will be welcomed by families and couples who have been separated during the pandemic, as well as tourists. Prime Minister Draghi told the summit that “few countries are as intertwined with tourism as Italy. The world longs to travel here,” adding that “our mountains, our beaches, our cities and our countryside are reopening. And this process will speed up in the coming weeks and months.”