Is a VPN legal in Italy, and what does Piracy Shield actually block?
Using a VPN in Italy is legal. There is no ban, no licensing and no restriction on which provider you use, and both of our picks sell to Italian customers and run servers in the country. What Italy regulates is piracy. Piracy Shield has blocked domains and IP addresses hosting unlicensed live sport since February 2024, and AGCOM's February 2025 decision added VPN and DNS providers to the list of companies expected to apply those orders. The obligation sits on providers, not on you. Nothing in the rules penalises a visitor for running a VPN app on a hotel network.
Beyond pirate streams, nothing a traveller uses is blocked. WhatsApp, FaceTime, Zoom and Teams calls all work on Italian networks, news and social media are open, and Netflix, Disney and Prime simply show the Italian catalogue until you connect to a UK server.
The everyday reason is public Wi-Fi. Trenitalia and Italo trains, airports, hotels and the cafe you work from all run open or shared networks, and that is where card details and work logins are exposed. If the app misbehaves on a train through the Apennines, 24/7 live chat from NordVPN or Surfshark is the quickest fix.
What a VPN does and does not do in Italy
A VPN encrypts everything between your device and the VPN server, so the hotel, the train operator and anyone else on the Wi-Fi see only scrambled traffic. It also lets you pick where you appear to be: a London server makes UK bank apps, iPlayer and ITVX behave as they do at home, while a Milan or Rome server keeps Italian sites such as Trenitalia and RaiPlay treating you as local.
It will not fix a hotel's thin Wi-Fi, it will not make a UK broadcaster unblock a VPN range it has already identified, and it will not get around a Piracy Shield block in any way we would suggest. Both picks carry a 30-day money-back guarantee, so test on your actual connections: NordVPN for a city break or a fortnight by the sea, Surfshark if you are staying for a season or relocating.
Recommended VPNs for Italy
NordVPN, best for short trips and month-by-month plans
It is the one for you if you are covering yourself, or you and a partner, and want something simple to run and easy to forget about. One plan covers 10 devices, and the apps are quick to install and easy to switch off and on as you need. Plans run by the month, the year or over two years, all with a 30-day money-back guarantee.
Surfshark, best for long stays and unlimited devices
It is the one for you if one subscription needs to cover everyone. Connections are unlimited, so every phone, laptop and tablet you travel with, and anyone you share a place with, runs on the same plan at once. That suits a stay that stretches to months rather than weeks. It sells the same three terms and adds bonus months on the longer two, with the same 30-day money-back guarantee.
Server networks and speeds in Italy
Both of our picks run servers inside Italy. NordVPN lists Milan, Rome and Palermo; Surfshark lists Milan and Rome. Milan is also one of Europe's main interconnection points, so from anywhere in the north a local server adds almost no latency, and even from Sicily Palermo or Rome is close. For UK services you connect to London, which from Italy is a single short hop.
Mobile speeds are decent rather than fast. Opensignal's December 2025 report, covering September to November 2025, put average downloads at 63.8 Mbps on Vodafone, 50.5 Mbps on TIM, 49.5 Mbps on WindTre and 37.4 Mbps on Iliad, with Vodafone's 5G averaging 216.3 Mbps. Iliad is the budget choice and the slowest of the four.
How to choose between them
The differences that matter fit in one table, and the last two rows are there to name two promises you should not believe from anyone, us included.
| Feature | NordVPN | Surfshark |
|---|
| 1 month | $14.99 | $16.45 |
| 1 year plan, total upfront | $65.88 (12 months billed) | $50.85 (15 months billed) |
| 2 year plan, total upfront | $94.23 (27 months billed) | $67.23 (27 months billed) |
| Devices per plan | 10 | Unlimited |
| Kill switch and auto-connect | Yes | Yes |
| Independently audited no-log policy | Yes (2025) | Yes (2025) |
| Money-back guarantee | 30 days | 30 days |
| Guarantees access to any blocked site, anywhere | No | No |
| Makes slow Wi-Fi faster | No | No |
On a single month NordVPN is cheaper. Over a year or two Surfshark is. On everything else the choice is about shape rather than money: 10 devices and a simple setup on one side, unlimited devices on the other.
Setting up before you travel
Do the setup at home, on Wi-Fi you trust, before the airport. Install NordVPN or Surfshark on each device, sign in, and connect once to confirm everything works. Then turn on two settings both apps include: the kill switch, which stops your traffic travelling unprotected if the VPN drops, and auto-connect, which brings the VPN back up when your connection returns.
Install and log in before you fly, then turn on the kill switch so a dropped Wi-Fi link on a train does not leak traffic. Save a UK server as your default for banking and iPlayer, and a Milan or Rome server for Italian sites. Every Italian prepaid SIM must by law be registered to an ID document, and shops usually ask for a passport and often a codice fiscale, so a data-only eSIM is easier for a short trip. Our Best eSIMs for Italy guide covers the options.
Final recommendation
Italy is a low-risk country for VPN use: legal, nothing a visitor needs is blocked, and both providers have local servers. For a city break, a wedding or two weeks on the Amalfi coast, NordVPN is the pick. Servers in Milan, Rome and Palermo cover the whole country, its UK servers handle banking and iPlayer, and ten device connections look after a family's phones and tablets.
If you are working remotely from Bologna for a season, studying in Florence or moving for good, Surfshark is the better value. Unlimited devices covers every phone, laptop and TV box in a rented flat, and its Milan and Rome servers keep everyday latency low.
