Italian public phones are virtually gone

Italians are great talkers, so it’s no wonder that when the first cell phones came on the market they were welcomed in such a warm way. Cell phone market penetration in Italy is one of the highest in the world, with the result that public phones (telefoni pubblici) are getting less popular by the day. Today, public phones that exclusively work with either prepaid cards or coins (in the denominations of €0.10, €0.20, €0.50 and €1) have virtually disappeared.

A public phone that works with either coins or prepaid cards

The most recent public phones are enabled for credit card use and have a display that tells you the cost of the call (chiamata). The location of public phones can be found online by inserting the name of the city and an address. You will notice though that many are not active anymore.

Public phone accepting credit cards and coins

{This is an excerpt from chapter 10 “Telephones, computers and Wi-Fi” of the eBook “Italy from the Inside. A native Italian reveals the secrets of traveling in Italy”. To buy our eBook click here}