ITALY

Italy has a low rate of violent crime, little of which is directed toward tourists. Petty crimes such as pickpocketing, theft from parked cars, and purse snatching, however, are serious problems, especially in large cities. Most reported thefts occur at crowded tourist sites, on public buses and trains, or at the major railway stations, including Rome's Termini, Milan's Centrale, Florence's Santa Maria Novella, and Naples' Centrale. Elderly tourists who have tried to resist petty thieves on motor scooters have suffered broken arms and collarbones. Carrying wallets or purses should be avoided when possible. When carried, shoulder bags should be held tightly under the arm with the clasp facing the body. Waist packs should be worn in the front, although they can unobtrusively be opened by thieves. Extra cash, credit cards and personal documents are better left in a hotel safe. Photocopies of passports and financial documents should be carried separately from those items.

Thieves in Italy often work in groups or pairs. In most cases, one thief distracts a victim while an accomplice performs the robbery. Groups of street urchins are known to poke tourists with newspapers or pieces of cardboard to divert their attention so that another street urchin can pickpocket them. In one popular routine, one thief throws trash or waste at a victim; a second thief assists the victim in cleaning up the mess; and the third discreetly takes the victim's belongings. Criminals on crowded public transportation slit the bottoms of purses or bags with a razor blade or sharp knife, then remove the contents through the bottom.

Theft of small items such as radios, luggage, cameras, briefcases, and even cigarettes from parked cars is a major problem. Robbers in southern Italy take items from cars at gas stations (often by smashing car windows). In the Naples area, thefts have also been reported from occupied vehicles while stopped in traffic or at traffic lights. To discourage this kind of theft, drivers should keep their car doors locked, windows rolled up, and valuables out of sight when driving in cities and major towns. Tourists should immediately report thefts or other crimes to the local police station.

In a scam practiced on the highway running between Rome and Naples, one thief punctures the tire of a rental or out-of-town car. An accomplice signals the flat tire to the driver and encourages the driver to pull over. When the driver stops, one thief helps change the tire, while the other takes the driver's belongings. Avoid driving at night on highways in Southern Italy. When stopping at service areas on the highway (Autostrada), make sure your parked car remains in sight. One person should remain with the car, partly because thieves sometimes mark unattended vehicles to make them identifiable. The marked vehicle is later followed by accomplices who use one of the aforementioned schemes to perpetrate a robbery. There have been occasional reports of break-ins of rental cars driven by Americans in Northern Italy when the precautions mentioned above were not followed during stops at highway service areas.

In a scam practiced on trains, primarily in northern Italy, one or more persons will befriend a traveler and offer a drink. The drink will be drugged, and the traveler awakens to find he has been robbed. Thieves have been known to impersonate police officers to gain the confidence of tourists. The thief shows the prospective victim a circular plastic sign with the words "police" or "international police." If this happens, the tourist should insist on seeing the officer's identification card (documento), as impersonators tend not to carry forged documents.