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Untold Italy · Friday, July 10, 2026

Communication Strategies: WhatsApp and E-SIMs in Italy

The podcast highlights Italy's strong WhatsApp culture for communication, including restaurant bookings. For managing phone usage and data, using an e-SIM is recommended over getting a local SIM card upon arrival due to convenience. Alternatively, international roaming plans from home providers are also a viable and often cost-effective option.

The tape

3 quotes
So in Italy everyone loves using WhatsApp, don't they. That's a WhatsApp culture. I reckon. There's a number one. Restaurants that is like book on WhatsApp. I was like, okay, yeah, I know it's crazy. Yeah, and you can do easily do just send them a text on WhatsApp. It's very easy to book the restaurants online that way.
Katie Clark
But if you are concerned about using a lot of data or you want to get a local SIM, you should do that. I recommend using an e SIM. There's a company called Eralo. There's a lot of different versions.
Katie Clark
I personally just use my plan from home because they get cheaper and cheaper all the time. Now it's like it can be five dollars a day or something like that. Some of the operators here in Australia offer international roaming plans for a very little and I personally find that the most convenient because of you know, now with all the security stuff, you need access to your actual phone to get the codes and all of that.
Katie Clark
Heard on Untold Italy — “332. Countdown to Italy: What to Do and Check Before Your Trip, published Friday, July 10, 2026. Heardvine summarizes and quotes with attribution and timestamps, and links to the original everywhere.
Transcribed via publisher transcript · $0.00