It’s a common enough scenario: you come to Italy on holiday stroke vacation, see the sights and want to send your friends and family a few postcards to tell them what a wonderful time you are having in beautiful Italy. But that’s when a minor though frustrating problem may arise – hence this how to post.
Have you tried to buy postage stamps in Italy recently? Well, in this digital age, even if Italy’s not quite yet entered it (fax machines are still relatively commonplace, would you believe), postage stamps for destinations abroad can be exceedingly hard to find. I know, I’ve tried to find them.
If you keep reading, or scroll to the end of this post, you’ll find an innovative alternative to traditional postcards.
Forget Italy’s Post Offices!
“Why not go to a post office?”, I hear you, quite reasonably, cry. Well, you could and after finding one which is open – many post offices in Italy close at one in the afternoon – and once you’ve pressed a little button after working out which little ticket to take (your Italian is very good, isn’t it?!) – you, after what could be a one hour wait, will end up at a post office counter, and, if you got the right ticket, that is, you may well be told, if you understand Italian, that they either don’t have or don’t sell postage stamps. Problem.
Small consolation, I know, but other Italy visitors and residents have encountered the very same curious situation. Post offices in Italy, you see, despite their seemingly self-explanatory names, don’t always have postage stamps or, from what I’ve gathered, don’t, for reasons unknown, like to admit they have them. What next?
Friendly Italians will tell you that postage stamps for postcards can be had in, wait for it: post offices…and in tobacconists. Only, if you didn’t know, Italy has two categories of tobacconists.
Italy’s Category One Tobacconists
First, there are the Category One Tobacconist tobacconists which sell items for smokers and quite a range of other goods including, sometimes, greetings cards and they might even sell stamps. Not all do though. I found one which did and one which did not. You might have more luck than I did.
Category One Tobacconists are generally independent shops though some can be located right next to and accessed via Italy’s ubiquitous coffee selling cafes.
Italy’s Category Two Tobacconists
If you don’t find stamps in a Category One Tobacconist in Italy, you can try Italy’s common enough bar-tobacconists which sell cigarettes, coffee (and tea), alcoholic beverages, candy, and food. These Category Two Tobacconists might even sell postage stamps. Though out of the four I tried, only one did.
Category Two Tobacconists are an integral part of Italy’s bar-cafes and, if they are on offer, you can buy stamps at the same time as you pay for your coffee, lunch, or whatever it was you had. You don’t need to drink a coffee or eat anything to ask for stamps though.
Don’t Buy Postcards in Italy
What might be even more frustrating is discovering that you cannot track down stamps after you have spent your Euros on a few colorful postcards of picturesque Italy. While you could spend the rest of your visit to Italy tracking down tobacconists and bar-tobacconists (and potentially overdosing on caffeine), you probably, and understandably, won’t want to. Don’t worry though, there is something you can do to avoid postcard pain in Italy – simply buy stamps before you buy your pretty postcards. Simple, if a little topsy turvey – such is Italy.
Some shops in Italy which sell postcards may also sell stamps, then again, they may not. If they do not, then don’t purchase those postcards!
By the way, the Italian for postage stamp is “francobollo“. A postcard is “cartolina” but you probably won’t need to know that seeing as you can usually see them and take them to a cash desk. The question “Si vendono i francobolli qui?” – “Do you sell postage stamps” – may elicit a “yes” – “si” or a “no” – “no” response.
Some shops selling postcards in Italy may also sell stamps but you might not know until you utter the magic words: “Si vendono i francobolli qui?“. If your pronunciation is not up to it, you could try pointing at the stamp area on the postcards you are about to buy and looking hopeful.
The Stamp Hunt
As part of my valuable, in-depth, research into Italy’s postage stamp, er, famine, I’ve visited, so far, six tobacconists here in Milan where I live. Of the six, two sold postage stamps which you can use to send “wish you were here” postcards to family and friends. As you may have worked out, one was a bar-tobacconist and the other a tobacconist tobacconist.
I intend to ask in other tobacconists and bar-tobacconists whether or not they sell post cards. If I find any that do in the touristy areas of Milan, I’ll let you know.
I’m sorry, well, not really, but I refuse to visit post offices in Milan: I simply cannot be bothered to queue for an hour just to be told to go to a tobacconists to buy postage stamps.
When in Italy, remember to buy your stamps before you buy a bunch of postcards.
There you go, you now almost know how to find postage stamps in Italy.
Where You Can Buy Postage Stamps in Milan:
For your information, if you are in Milan, Italy, you can buy postage stamps from these two tobacconists:
- Number 27, Via Paolo Sarpi.
- Number 3, Piazza Ercole Luigi Morselli (actually on Via L Canonica).
- The New Smoke tobacconist, number 3, Via Piero della Francesca.
An Alternative – Touchnote
Via @newsfromitaly Twitter follower Kate Dal Forno, I have learnt about the innovative Touchnote app which can be found on Apple’s AppStore and on Google play. Touchnote will transform one of your own vacation photos into a real life postcard which will then be sent to whoever you want. Neat and it neatly bypasses Italy’s odd stamp issues and the rather dodgy postal service too. Pricing is competitive as well.
You can find out more, here: Touchnote
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Here’s another, and very popular, Italy Chronicles’ how to post all about Italy’s odd postal service.
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Sharon says
I was in Florence for a week in 2015 and failed to think of buying postage stamps.
I am not a collector except in context with limited overseas travels i have been able to do. I would now like to find a few decorative or historical site postage stamps representing Rome, Florence or Italy.
What is the best way to locate and order such stamps (liking to add to my stamps from three other countries i have visited over the last decade).
Alex Roe says
Hi Sharon,
You can find a good selection of recent Italian stamps here.
Otherwise, just search for ‘Contemporary Italian stamps’ and click on a few results.
Hope this helps.
Best,
Alex
Sharon says
thanks so much. I’m ON IT!
Sharon says
Alex, i found the suggested site. it looks like building a collection. all i want to do is purchase a set of the tourism stamps but i do not see a ‘cart’ with which to start a transaction. Please advise.
Alex Roe says
Hi Sharon,
It’s an auction site – sorry, didn’t notice. This site has a basket and Italian stamps up to 2016: Postbeeld
Alternatively, if you like, I can get you the stamps and then send them to you. Don’t put your email or postage address in a comment, just let me know how many and which stamps you’d like and if it’s OK for me to email you using the email address you used for this comment.
Over to you.
Cheers,
Alex
John O'Riordan says
Strange tale this;
I got cards and stamped them with some private company premium rate stamps that cost €1.20 (€0.20 more than the Post-Italia rate) at a Tobacchi in Rome. I posted them home to friends and family in Ireland. I posted all the cards in one of the specially designated Premium’ post boxes (beside Castel St. Angelo Rome) . About a week later ALL the cards arrived in an enclosing ENVELOPE at the the Dublin home of ONE of the addressees. A note in the envelope sent by some really civic minded person in Rome, said that the cards had been found in a bin in Rome and posted by the kind person. I will never use one of those ‘premium’ rate services again.
Minus says
Hello, I was glad to find this article as I was stamp hunting in Napoli just today.. It was really funny, all newstands sent me to tabacci and all tabaccis sent me to post offices.. I got lucky in tabacci number 15 and I would give up long before that if not for this article.. So don’t give up, just try again and again.. Plus check the stamp rate you need before stamp hunting, when I finally found the stamps, they tried to sell me more expensive ones.. So be ready.. (the official web of italy post states rates and lists countries in zones 1,2,3 http://www.poste.it/postali/estero/postamail-internazionale.shtml as of sep 2016 you pay max 2.9 eur to zone 3 for example NZ.
Alex Roe says
Good to hear this was of help! Hope it might have been useful.
Well done for being patient and tracking down those stamps and thanks for the postal rates info, Minus.
Best,
Alex
BM says
I don’t know where you exactly went but Italk is not at all as you describe. First of all tabacchi are shop specialised in selling postal items and you can find a tabacchi shop literally every 100mt and it is on purpose… This way you will not waste time in waiting in the postal office that is made for more important things than a stamp for post cards.. and anyway in the help desk at the postal entrance are obviously sold stamps… and to be clear.. is rare to think to find stamps in a farmacy than in a shop specialised as tabacchi.. in fact ask in a farmacy how many stamps for a letter to Italy.. good luck … because you will wait forever… They sell but don’t know nothing about this stuff.
Paula says
I’m a Finn living in Italy. My solution always has been to buy the stamps when and where I buy the postcards. However, in the post office, if you have whatever you want to mail with you, addresses ready etc., I have found mailing it (and paying for the postage, of course) can always be done there. I have only ever seen really dull-looking stamps anywhere, though.
(Regarding delivery times, they really vary – sometimes stuff travels across Europe within a couple of days, sometimes it spends a month on it way.)
barbara says
Hi folks – from Down Under!
I’ve got my postcards and some stamps but no one can agree on the cost tag for Australia!!!!!
I’ve had 0.85, 0.95 and 2.20E!!!
I’ve googled and am none the wiser.
If anyone knows the answer (current price for 2015), I’d be much obliged.
*****Pls send answer to my email address ASAP: iam.omshanti@gmail.com
Gracie, Barbara
1 October
Alex Roe says
Hi Barbara,
If you are posting from Italy to Australia, then the cost for letters and small packages up to 2kg is €5.50. As far as I can make out from the Italian post website, there’s now no specific postcard rate. New rates came into effect on 1 October 2015.
If I find myself near a stamp selling shop today, I’ll ask.
Best,
Alex
Karen says
Thanks. I’m from down under too.
€5.50???? I asked the tobacco shop and he said €3 and I thought that’s a rip off already. I was hoping to find an official website to tell me it’s cheaper….
Julie says
P.S. – This post inspired me to do a little research. Turns out we used the dreaded GPS stamps, and deposited the postcards in – egads!- a regular post box. I suppose we were lucky to find any sort of stamps at all, given that we never saw an open post office. I never saw the special GPS mail boxes. And I just thought “GPS” on the stamps indicated some way of tracking the card using the QR code or something!
So, the good news is, even if put in the wrong mailbox your letters WILL eventually get delivered.
Julie says
I was in Italy this July. Some of the post cards I sent are just now arriving. Two months later!!!! I expected two weeks, perhaps.
As for stamps, I thankfully found those right away – but not a mail box! I looked all over our Naples neighborhood before finally stumbling across one.
Giovanna says
I live in the UK and work for a local post office. Once I sent a cart to my mum in Italy and one to my brother in Australia on the same day, obviously my brother got it first!! This is quite amusing but Italians don’t care about stamps as they prefer to meet people in person. I am 29 now and I remember we had beautiful pictorial stamps when I was young, then the usage of stamps seemed to disappear. Government, companies, Italian NHS don’t use postal services at all compared to the UK. If you live in Italy your council or doctor or bank don’t get in touch via mail but on the phone, if you’re lucky, otherwise no contact at all. Especially where I live, in the province of Naples. I’ve got a question now. I have many UK stamps at the moment, here in Italy, can I use them to post items throughout Italy or from Italy to the UK?
Thanks
Giovanna
Razali says
I’m stamp collecting. Do you know any stamp dealer shop in Italy?
Alex Roe says
Not off hand, Razali, but there are a few of them. Where would you like to find one?
Best,
Alex
Razali says
I will visit Rome, Florence, Venice and Milan.
Alex Roe says
Well you’ll find stamp dealers in each of those cities. I can give you a few names of specialist shops but have no idea how good they are. Don’t know whether you’ll find English speakers in the shops either though you might.
Try searching Google.it for “filatelia negozi” (stamp collector shops) plus the names of the cities.
Best,
Alex
Albina says
I was lucky – the first post office I visited in Florence did have and sell stamps. (Poste Italiane Spa, Via Senese, 49R 50124 Firenze Open 8:30 am – 1:30 pm)
Yes, I had to wait about 20 min in a line and 10-15 for when they were figuring out what and how many stamps I need for sending a card to the US. Well, I don’t want to go back for more though. I’ll check if any tobaccino around has a 0,95 euro stamp – that’s enough for sending a card within Europe.
Good luck to you all!
Owen Scott, III says
Alex,
Well, this is quite amusing. Sort of. I’ll be here another two weeks and I’ve got some cards and even managed stamps. However, I’ve searched diligently without luck for the answer to what should be a simple question: How much does it cost to send a postcard from Italy to the USA? I don’t suppose you’d happen to know? Thanks for your assistance.
Regards,
Owen
Alex Roe says
Hi Owen,
The US is in the Italian post office’s zone 2 so mailing costs €2.30 – $2.52 USD for a 20 gram (0.71 oz) postcard.
Info from Italian Post Office website: https://www.poste.it/postali/estero/prioritaria_prezzieformati.shtml
Best,
Alex
Yetta says
Whatever you do, don’t be suckered into buing GPS stamps.
Having experienced just how long it takes for post from Rome since the Central Post Office on Via della Mecede took down its internal post boxes. I thought I was on to a good thing when the local newsagent on Via Cavour recommended the private postal sytem he had signed up to.
Pleas look up what people have to say about it on TripAdvisor:
http://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/ShowTopic-g187768-i20-k6816388-Beware_of_the_special_postal_service_i_e_GPS-Italy.html
Alex Roe says
Hi Yetta,
The Trip Advisor discussion does not paint the GPS service in a particularly good light, I admit. However, while very slow, it does seem that the GPS postcards do, eventually, get through, so, while it’s very slow, the service does seem to be legitimate.
I’ll update this post with some info on GPS and link to the Trip Advisor discussion so people make up their own minds about GPS.
Best,
Alex
KareninCalabria says
Of course, when and if you actually find the proper stamp, affix it to the card and send it off, you don’t know if and when it will arrive at your destination. For relatively short trips (under a month), you might want to consider mailing them from home.
Alex Roe says
That’s another bug in Italy’s postal system that I have covered in my eternally popular How to Post Things to (and from) Italy post 🙂
Stephen says
The withdrawals as she kicked the postcard habit were awful to watch !!
Stephen says
For some (my wife included) this information is more important than how to buy a coffee.
Alex Roe says
Really!? Wow. So it is a real problem. Wish your wife the best of luck on the stamp hunting front – hopefully she won’t start smoking, if she doesn’t already, that is 😉