Legal Drinking Age in Italy - [Drinking & Alcohol Laws] (2024)

FAQs

Legal Drinking Age in Italy - [Drinking & Alcohol Laws]? ›

What is the minimum drinking age in Italy? The drinking age in Italy is 18 years old. However, it is not strictly enforced. We recommend to always carry a photo ID to prove your age.

You can discover a wide variety of beers, co*cktails, wines, and other beverages here. Liquor stores: In Italy, liquor stores are essentially similar to bars, although they provide a far wider variety of drinks. You will typically require identification in order to make a purchase.

Legal Drinking Age in Italy

As of 2012, the legal drinking age was raised to 18 years of age from its previous limit of 16 years. These changes were enacted by Health Minister Renato Balduzzi to address concerns about underage drinking and to implement stricter alcohol policies [3].

Italy has no national laws against public drinking specifically, although local municipalities can issue regulations (ordinanza municipale) that prohibit public drinking at certain locations of the municipality, or during specific times. Local regulations must also set the fines issued to offenders.

The youngest legal age associated with alcohol in Europe is in Germany. Here, a minor can drink undistilled alcohol like wine or beer at 14 years old, if they are accompanied by what is called a Custodial Person, (ie their parents or another adult who is in charge of their welfare).

Italy rolls out new Green Pass rules

In essence this means that bars and restaurants are entitled to ask for ID but are not obliged to do so unless there are clear irregularities with the Green Pass being presented, for example when the gender or date of birth on the cert obviously do not match the customer.

Exploring ancient sites is one of the classic things to do in Italy with teens; a good guide makes history come alive as no textbook can. At Rome's Colosseum, a 70,000-person arena inaugurated in 80 AD, you can time-travel back to an era of bloody combat between gladiators and wild beasts.

In Italy, the legal age for purchasing and consuming alcohol is 18 years old. This applies to all forms of alcoholic beverages. Though the law is on the books, its enforcement is not strict, with cultural norms often allowing minors to consume alcohol moderately within a family setting.

There's no legal minimum age for drinking in Italy - or in most civilised countries. In most regions, you need to be 16 to be allowed to buy drinks of 10% alcohol content or below.

1. Burkina Faso. Burkina Faso is the country with the youngest drinking age at 13 years. Burkina Faso, a country in West Africa, a population 20.9 million (2020), has an area that expands to roughly 170,255 miles.

Is public kissing legal in Italy? ›

Yes, but only if both kissers are willing to kiss each other. Otherwise it is a crime (sexual harassment), even in private!

But you can be guaranteed that seafood will be on the menu. As well as wine. It is perfectly legal to drink on beaches in Italy, so order a bottle of bubbly Prosecco to sip on while sunning and then another of the local white with lunch.

On the whole, the report revealed that in Italy there are 8.7 million consumers at risk, 65.000 alcohol-dependent people being treated at alcohol abuse centers, and over 5.000 road accidents due to alcohol abuse detected by the Police and Carabinieri alone.

Children under the age of 14 are not allowed to buy or drink alcohol. Teens who are 14 or 15 are allowed to drink beer, wine or sparkling wine only in the presence and with the permission of their parents or another person in a custodial role. Other heavy alcoholic drinks are not allowed.

Teens get drunk twice as fast as adults,⁹ but have more trouble knowing when to stop. Teens naturally overdo it and binge more often than adults. Enforcing the legal drinking age of 21 reduces traffic crashes,^4-6 protects young people's maturing brains,^12,14 and keeps young people safer overall.

The majority of countries have set MLDA at 18 or 19 years. The United States (except Puerto Rico and Virginia's Island) and 19 other countries, especially Asian countries, have the highest set MLDA. However, some areas in India have drinking ages as high as 25-30 years.

By law, you must always be able to show some form of identification. In most cases a photocopy of the data page of your passport should be enough, but you may also be asked for a second form of photo ID. The police will normally ask for your full passport if you are stopped while driving.

It is illegal for travelers under the age of 21 to import alcohol – even as a gift.

Although any government-issued document (such as a passport or driving licence) can be shown for identification, identity cards are very widespread in Italy; so much so that it is the first document asked and the most widely accepted in both the public and private sectors.