Italy Ready to Reopen for Foreign Tourists

Earlier this month Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi stated that Italy could be open to foreigners by mid-May, but he did not specify which foreign travelers and whether those from the United States would be included.

Now, Italy's Foreign Affairs Minister Luigi Di Maio has shed a little more light on who is likely to be able to enter Italy and when.

"The aim is to reopen to visitors from foreign countries that have reached a high level of vaccination, loosening some measures as early as mid-May," Di Maio said in a recent Facebook post.

It's not clear exactly what Di Maio is referring to regarding the COVID-free flights, but Delta Air Lines currently offers two sets of quarantine-free flights from the U.S. to Europe—one from Atlanta to Rome, and one from Atlanta to Amsterdam—that allow passengers who are legally able to enter Italy and the Netherlands to do so without a quarantine.

On the quarantine-free Rome flights, all Delta passengers and crew are required to undertake a series of COVID-19 tests (and procure negative results) to bypass Italy's quarantine requirements.

Currently, travelers coming to Italy from most of Europe must provide proof of a negative COVID-19 molecular or antigen test taken within 48 hours prior to arrival in Italy, according to Italy's Foreign Ministry. They must quarantine for five days and then take a second COVID-19 antigen test.

Travelers from outside of Europe who are currently allowed to enter Italy—including those arriving from Australia, Japan, New Zealand, Singapore, South Korea, Rwanda, and Thailand—as well as those traveling from any other country, including the U.S., who meet the current exceptions (i.e., they are traveling for work or health reasons, for study, "absolute...