I make no secret of my hate-hate relationship with the Italian post office.
With Christmas coming up, I’ve been getting requests from my friends and family for my new Italian address. I always give it to them with a little note- “Don’t worry about mailing me anything! It is incredibly difficult to send and receive packages in Italy.”
I don’t think I’m being over-dramatic. The list of things that you cannot mail is quite impressive. For a good laugh, you can check out the entire list of items you are prohibited from sending to Italy here.
My favorites include:
- No live bees
- No hats
- No photo albums
- No toys (unless they are made entirely of wood)
- No shoes
- No playing cards
- No typewriter ribbons
That means my friend Andy broke several rules to mail me a package with chocolate AND a toy car:
How this made it through customs will always remain a mystery.
And let’s not forget, you (the Italian recipient) have to pay taxes on any package that has a value of over 40 Euro. Even though the sender paid to mail it, you have to pay again to pick it up.
So thank you for the thought, but please hold the mail.
Oops, I have a package on its way to you. Luckily, none of these “black list” items are contained inside. Phew!
XXo,
Neekoh
Neek neek! Love love <3
Seriously! I know its really crazy isn’t it! But……here’s a little trick I’ve learned after many years and several lost or incredibly expensive packages; Tell the sender to declare on the customs form that the package is for ‘Personal use’ and is of ‘NON commercial value’ I was amazed at how quickly my package arrived and that I didn’t have to pay un centessimo! True story, my mother sends me packages this way all the time now. Oh they really are so funny aren’t they these Italians?
What an amazing tip! Thank you!!
That happens in the Philippienes, too.
Ugh. I hate the postal system here. My US priority international mail from my office takes 6 weeks to get here from CA. And, the USPS guarantees receipt to 180 countries within 6 days…..BUT NOT ITALY. Sometimes I feel like I am living in Siberia when these basic services are so unreliable.
But, don’t fear the list of banned items. We have received a ton of toys, photo albums and hats and they have never stopped it. Why? Because they would have to actually do their job and open the package. Not likely to happen….
I have been waiting for three weeks for a registered letter with my insurance documents! luckily the original turned up after about a month.
My favorite true story about Christmas mailings goes from Italy to the US. When he was a student in Boston, my Bologna friend Lucio’s mother sent her son a new pair of pants. On the customs form she entered, ‘Calzoni’. The customs officers did what they are paid to do. He got the package after a couple of extra days with an official note say it had been opened for inspection (not mentioning the possible lunch).
bahahaaha! That is AWESOME.
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Hi,
I am Italian from Bologna. I have been in California for now over 20 years but I still have family in Bologna.
See that you live in Italy now and are probably more up to date than I am with custom procedures, I have a question :
Can I send a pound of Starbucks Coffee to Italy…Bologna to be specific. Any information/reccomandation is appreciated.
Oh by the way I LOVE ROMA!