eSIM Italy
Italy eSIM from 1,95€ on the TIM, Vodafone and Wind networks: 1 to 50 GB or unlimited, prepaid with no contract and no registration, online the moment you land at Rome Fiumicino.
Fair Use Policy
2GB highspeed/day, then unlimited at 1Mbps
Your Selection
Your plan only starts counting when the eSIM first connects at your destination — so you can buy today and travel in three weeks.
How does Simbye eSIM work for Italy?
Get connected in under 2 minutes
Order before you fly
Pick a plan, pay, done. The email with the setup link and the QR code arrives straight away. Install the eSIM at home on WLAN — it then sits quietly on your phone until you need it.
Switch it on in Italy
After landing at Rome Fiumicino, Rome Ciampino, Milan Malpensa, Milan Linate, Bergamo Orio al Serio, Venice Marco Polo, Naples Capodichino, Bologna, Pisa, Catania or Palermo, turn on data roaming for the Simbye line. Your phone finds Vodafone or Iliad by itself, no manual access point needed — and the validity starts with exactly that first connection.
Keep your own number
Your normal SIM can stay switched on for calls and texts, you just turn its data off. WhatsApp keeps working under your usual number, only now over the Italian data. Hotspot for a laptop or tablet is allowed, and if you run low you top up online.
Check Device Compatibility
Make sure your device supports eSIM before purchasing
Which networks will you be on in Italy?
Your phone switches between TIM, Vodafone and Wind on its own — there is nothing for you to set up.
The Simbye eSIM uses 4 networks in Italy: TIM · Vodafone · Wind · Iliad.
TIM
Vodafone
Iliad
Source: nPerf averages, 01.01.2025 – 31.12.2025.
The eSIM is a guest on Italy's mobile networks. After you land, your phone picks whichever operator it gets the best signal from — for this plan that means TIM, Vodafone and Wind. You don't choose an operator and you don't type in any settings. If it ever stalls somewhere, ten seconds of airplane mode or a manual network search in your settings almost always gets the phone back on.
In Rome, Milan, Florence, Venice, Naples, Turin and Bologna you normally get fast 4G, and 5G in many districts. Coverage is solid in the places most travellers actually go, too: Lake Garda, Lake Como, the Cinque Terre, Tuscany, the Amalfi Coast, Puglia and the coastal towns of Sicily and Sardinia. It thins out once you leave them — in the Dolomites, the Apennines and the interior of Sardinia, Calabria and Basilicata there are valleys and hiking trails with no signal at all. Rome's and Milan's metro tunnels are not covered everywhere, and on the ferry to Sardinia or Sicily the connection drops once the coast is out of sight.
eSIM or a local SIM card in Italy?
eSIM, if you want to land already connected: it rides the TIM, Vodafone and Wind networks without the ID registration Italy has demanded of prepaid cards since 2005, and your usual number stays live beside it.
| Feature |  Simbye eSIM |
Local SIM card |
|---|---|---|
| ID and registration | Not needed — the eSIM travels as a guest on the TIM, Vodafone and Wind networks | Required: since 2005 Italy registers every prepaid SIM against an ID document, so no valid document means no SIM |
| Effort on arrival | Set up at home with a QR code, online by the time you reach the baggage belt | Find a shop, queue, sign a form, swap the card |
| When validity starts | Only on your first connection in Italy, not at purchase | From activation in the shop, even if you travel on the next day |
| Italian phone number | No, you keep your usual number on your home SIM | Yes, with its own Italian number |
| Calls and texts | Not over the network — WhatsApp, FaceTime and Teams run over data | Calls and texts included |
| Topping up | Top up online anytime, wherever you are | Via shop, machine or a carrier app that is often Italian-only |
| Second line | Runs alongside your home number, so people reach you as usual | You have to take out your home SIM or need a second card slot |
| Paying | Online before you travel, the price is fixed in advance | On the spot by card or cash, and airport offers are usually pricier than city shops |
| For most travelers the eSIM is the simpler choice: set up before departure, no queuing on arrival. | ||
How much data do you need in Italy?
So you can work it out instead of guessing: how much an hour costs in the apps you actually use on holiday.
Just staying reachable
1–3 GB
Messages, the map now and then, checking mail. Everything else runs on the hotel Wi-Fi.
An ordinary holiday
5–10 GB
Navigating, social media, uploading photos, a few videos in the evening.
Out a lot, or a laptop along
20 GB and up
Streaming in the evening, video calls home, keeping a laptop or tablet online through your phone.
Data used per hour
The Netflix and Spotify figures come from the providers themselves (Netflix Help Center, Spotify Support, retrieved 28 Aug 2026). The rest are network-operator estimates (o2, Vodafone, EE) and vary with picture quality and reception.
What does an eSIM for Italy cost?
Simbye offers 9 plans for Italy from €1,95 to €47,95 — data packs from €1,95, unlimited from €19,95. Prepaid, no contract.
Plans for Italy range from 1 GB to 50 GB, plus unlimited options.
Validity runs from 7 to 180 days and starts with your first connection in Italy.
from €1,95
9 plans · 7–180 days · unlimited from €19,95
- 1 GB €1,95 7 days €0,27 per travel day
- 3 GB €3,95 30 days €0,13 per travel day
- 5 GB €5,95 30 days €0,19 per travel day
- 10 GB €11,95 30 days €0,39 per travel day
- 20 GB €18,95 30 days €0,63 per travel day
- 50 GB €38,95 180 days €0,21 per travel day
- Unlimited €19,95 7 days €2,85 per travel day
- Unlimited €33,95 15 days €2,26 per travel day
- Unlimited €47,95 30 days €1,59 per travel day
Good to know
- Networks
- TIM + Vodafone + Wind
- Setting it up
- A link in your email, or the QR code — one tap is enough
- Network technology
- 4G/LTE — and 5G where the network already offers it
- APN and settings
- Nothing to set. The eSIM brings everything with it
- Hotspot
- Allowed — for a laptop, tablet or a travel companion
- Adding more data
- Top up any time, without setting anything up again
- Calls and texts
- Not included — WhatsApp calls run over the data
- Your own number
- Stays in the phone and stays reachable
- Contract
- None. The plan ends by itself
- Worth knowing
- Prepaid instead of a contract — useful as a second line, or when your own data allowance is used up
Frequently Asked Questions about Italy eSIM
Data, calls, real phone numbers, top-ups and setup — everything you need to know before you buy a Simbye eSIM.
