Best eSIM for Italy: 10 Providers Tested and 700+ Traveler Reports

Best eSIM Providers for Italy

eSIM plans in Italy at a glance

How well each provider's eSIM works in Italy

The Vefru score is our overall rating of the provider. The percentage shows how many reviewers said their eSIM worked well in Italy. Since unhappy customers review more often, it is best used to compare providers with each other.

8.4Our score

Worked well in Italy

157 of 164 reviewers

96%

Visit website Detailed review

6.3Our score

Worked well in Italy

100 of 104 reviewers

96%

Visit website Detailed review

6.9Our score

Worked well in Italy

21 of 22 reviewers

96%

Visit website Detailed review

7.1Our score

Worked well in Italy

19 of 20 reviewers

95%

Visit website Detailed review

7.1Our score

Worked well in Italy

93 of 98 reviewers

95%

Visit website Detailed review

8.8Our score

Worked well in Italy

2 of 2 reviewers Too few reports

100%

Visit website Detailed review

8.0Our score

Worked well in Italy

31 of 33 reviewers

94%

Visit website Detailed review

7.1Our score

Worked well in Italy

55 of 63 reviewers

87%

Visit website Detailed review

7.2Our score

Worked well in Italy

122 of 143 reviewers

85%

Visit website Detailed review

7.5Our score

Worked in Italy

41 of 74 reviewers

55%

Visit website Detailed review

6.1Our score

Worked well in Italy

8 of 8 reviewers

100%

Visit website Detailed review

6.6Our score

Worked well in Italy

14 of 15 reviewers

93%

Visit website Detailed review

7.8Our score

Worked well in Italy

11 of 14 reviewers

79%

Visit website Detailed review

8.1Our score

Worked well in Italy

7 of 9 reviewers

78%

Visit website Detailed review

Compare all eSIM plans in Italy

How we got these numbers: we read 769 public customer reviews that mention Italy or a place in it, published between July 2023 and August 2026, and counted a report as "worked" when the reviewer said the eSIM connected, even with small hiccups. We treat 20 or more reports as strong evidence, 3 to 19 as limited, and fewer than 3 as too few to judge. A count like 157 of 164 means the eSIM worked well for 157 of the 164 travelers who reported from here; each provider section says what went wrong for the rest. The Vefru test score is a separate number: our own hands-on test of the provider, run outside Italy, so it says how the provider behaves, not how the network performs here. Local operator prices in the text were checked on 25 September 2026; provider ratings, the plan tables and the price-per-GB chart are live and update on their own.

We ranked on traveler reports in Italy first, price position second and our hands-on test third: Ubigi has the best raw record, but our support ticket went unanswered for 24 hours, so Maya Mobile, with an equally strong record and a help desk that answered, is the overall pick; eSIM4Travel is in the Best group for its price and our test, not for its two reports.

Maya Mobile eSIM in Italy: most reports, unlimited only

8.4 /10

Vefru score Excellent Score details

• Purchase process9/10
• Mobile app8/10
• eSIM installation9/10
• Customer support6/10
• Speed test9/10
• Prices8/10
• Customer feedback9/10
• Coverage9/10

Average of eight categories from our own paid test and customer reviews.

Maya Mobile sells one product: a global unlimited eSIM plan for 165+ countries that you install once and switch on for every trip. It was fast in our test, and it is the cheapest global unlimited plan we have compared. There are no single-country plans, and nothing shorter than 3 days.

Key facts

• 165+ countries
• iPhone app 4.5
• Android app 4.7
• Auto Top-Up
• Hotspot
• 5.5 GB/day at full speed

Trustpilot

4.5/512,788 reviews

Payments

Credit or debit cardApple PayGoogle PayPayPal

Pros and cons

Pros 4 Cons 4

Cheapest global unlimited plan

Very fast: 785 Mbps on 5G

Worked for 91% of travelers

Quick checkout, many ways to pay

No country or short plans

Pushes auto top-up hard

Clunky WhatsApp support

“Unlimited” has a hidden daily limit

Maya Mobile eSIM in our hands

Go to Maya Mobile website View full review

Maya Mobile is the best option for most trips to Italy of a week or more, because it combines the largest record of any provider here with an unlimited plan that behaved fairly in our test. It worked well for 157 of 164 travelers who reported from Italy (96%), strong evidence. The successes cover the whole country: a month in Italy with three eSIMs, Rome for a full week, Milan, Venice and Como at high speed, Sardinia and the countryside, the Dolomites on a ski trip, trains and cruise ports along the west coast. Several travelers wrote that it worked the moment the plane landed.

The 7 misses split into two groups. A few eSIMs never connected at all, in Rome in April 2025, on a honeymoon in June 2024 and on a trip in June 2025; in each case the traveler bought another provider's eSIM. The rest were slow data rather than dead zones: a plan that stopped working the day before expiry in Rome in November 2025, delays in Google Maps prompts at roundabouts in November 2025, patchy connections on the Amalfi coast and in Sicily in May 2024, and a traveler on the unlimited plan in September 2025 who found it slow all day. Older reports mention the countryside and the edges of Milan and Florence as weak spots. One traveler in Tuscany in October 2024 solved a spotty patch by switching between the two networks his eSIM could see.

Maya sells one product: a global unlimited eSIM for 3, 7, 14 or 30 days that also covers Italy, plus a cruise version, with 5 GB a day at full speed before it slows. In our test it slowed only after about 5 GB a day and reset daily, the fairest unlimited rule we have seen. Hotspot is included, the QR code arrives by email, the app is optional, and the help desk reached a person in about nine minutes. It is the cheapest global unlimited plan by a wide margin and cheaper than most providers' 30-day unlimited plans for Italy alone. The drawbacks: nothing for a one- or two-day trip, no small fixed plans, and it does not name its Italian networks on its page (checked August 2026); we tested the plan ourselves in our Maya Mobile review. "Easy to use, great reception and reliable. Even in the Dolomites..." wrote one traveler on 8 Mar 2026. Buy it on the Maya Mobile website.

Ubigi eSIM in Italy: best record, weak support

6.3 /10

Vefru score Good Score details

• Purchase process4/10
• Mobile app3/10
• eSIM installation8/10
• Customer support2/10
• Speed test9/10
• Prices7/10
• Customer feedback8.2/10
• Coverage9/10

Average of eight categories from our own paid test and customer reviews.

Ubigi is the travel eSIM brand of Paris operator Transatel, with one reusable eSIM for 200+ destinations. Data was fast in our test, and its 3 GB, 10 GB and 30-day unlimited plans are cheap. Its weak point is support: a chatbot that ends in an email ticket, with no live agent.

Key facts

• 200+ destinations
• iPhone app 4.6
• Android app 3.7
• Top-ups
• Hotspot
• 568 Mbps on 5G

Trustpilot

4.1/547,238 reviews

Payments

Credit or debit cardApple PayGoogle PayPayPal

Pros and cons

Pros 4 Cons 4

eSIM by email in a minute

Very fast: 568 Mbps on 5G

Cheap 3 GB, 10 GB and 30-day unlimited

Buy more data even with none left

No live support, only email tickets

Confusing website and app

Few plan sizes, no 20 GB

No refund after you scan the QR code

Ubigi eSIM in our hands

Go to Ubigi website View full review

Ubigi is the pick for long stays and heavy data in Italy, because it has the best record of all 14 providers and the cheapest 30-day unlimited plan in our comparison. It worked well for 100 of 104 travelers who reported from Italy (96%), strong evidence. The reports are unusually specific: Rome, Florence and Venice, then Tuscany, Chianti, San Gimignano, Sorrento and Pompeii on one trip in June 2026; Puglia; Sicily on 5G; a small town in Calabria; a family of four sharing the unlimited plan by hotspot. One traveler in northern Italy in May 2026 found that Ubigi gave him an Italian IP address, which the Trenitalia app insisted on, while friends on a Dutch-routed eSIM could not book.

The 4 misses, and the complaints inside positive reviews, point at indoor and coastal gaps rather than city centres: no signal indoors in Rome and Florence (July 2026), no signal in Positano (July 2026), weak coverage on Ischia and Procida (August 2026), nothing in the Dolomites for one traveler in July 2026 while another praised it there in June, and a centre of Milan that would not connect in June 2026. Ubigi also had a technical outage in early June 2026 that left travelers in Rome without data for several hours and sent them a discount by email. Several travelers had to find the right settings in the FAQ or switch network by hand before data flowed.

Ubigi's own plan pages name Iliad and WindTre as its Italian networks, and neither TIM nor Vodafone, which explains the indoor and coastal gaps. Its Italy plans are 3, 10, 25 and 50 GB for 8, 15 or 30 days, plus unlimited for 8, 15 or 30 days with a fair-use limit of roughly 15 to 25 GB a week in our test; Europe and World plans also cover Italy. Hotspot works on every plan, you can choose a local or home IP, and it is one of the few eSIMs that let you buy more data with a zero balance. The price sits below the market average for Italy and its unlimited is the cheapest here. The drawback is everything around the data: a clunky site, a wrapped-website app and a support ticket that was still unanswered 24 hours later in our Ubigi review. "Ubigi gave me a local Italian IP address which is required by the Trenitalia app," wrote a traveler on 23 May 2026. Plans are on the Ubigi website.

Jetpac eSIM in Italy: south, calls, hotspot

6.9 /10

Vefru score Good Score details

• Purchase process5/10
• Mobile app5/10
• eSIM installation9/10
• Customer support5/10
• Speed test8/10
• Prices5/10
• Customer feedback9.4/10
• Coverage9/10

Average of eight categories from our own paid test and customer reviews.

Jetpac is a Singapore eSIM provider with plans in 129 countries. It adds extras like in-app calls, free WhatsApp and Google Maps after your data runs out, and lounge access on delayed flights. Its website, app and support are rough, so it suits travelers who can fix small issues themselves.

Key facts

• 129 countries
• iPhone app 4.0
• Android app 4.1
• Top-ups
• Hotspot
• 3 GB/day cap

Trustpilot

4.7/53,528 reviews

Payments

Credit or debit cardApple PayGoogle Pay

Pros and cons

Pros 4 Cons 4

WhatsApp and Maps keep working without data

Unlimited hotspot

Cheap calls in the app

Free lounge if your flight is late

Slow website, confusing checkout

No top-up once your data runs out

Slow, technical support

Pricey for 3–20 GB

Jetpac eSIM in our hands

Go to Jetpac website View full review

Jetpac is the pick for southern Italy and for travelers who want voice calls and an unlimited hotspot from one eSIM. It worked well for 21 of 22 travelers who reported from Italy (96%), strong evidence. The successes include three eSIMs across Calabria, Puglia and Campania in July 2025, a family in the Rome area in December 2024, Rome, Florence and Naples in February 2025, a remote village for three weeks in August 2024, and data on arrival at Rome airport. Nearly every review also praises the WhatsApp help desk, which sorted installs in minutes.

The one miss was an eSIM that never came on in Germany or Italy in August 2026, and support could not fix it. A second traveler in northern Italy in October 2025 found it fine in the cities but dead on the roads between them, and a few others needed the help desk to get the eSIM installed, or had a hotspot that only worked after support stepped in. Nobody reported slow data in the cities.

Jetpac's Italy plans run from 2 GB to 50 GB on validities of 1 to 30 days, plus unlimited for 1 to 30 days flagged as 5G, and Europe plans that also cover Italy; its unlimited gives 3 GB a day at full speed before it slows, and some of its global unlimited plans are 4G only. What sets it apart: WhatsApp, Google Maps and Uber keep working after the data runs out on packs of 3 GB or more, voice minutes can be bought in the app, and a delayed flight earns a free lounge visit. The research could not confirm which Italian networks it uses, because third-party sources conflict; our comparison tool lists WindTre, Iliad and Vodafone for its Europe plans. Its price is around the market average in Italy. The drawback is a rough app and slow site, as our Jetpac review found. "Used in the south of Italy (Calabria, Puglia and Campania). Had 3 e-sims that worked perfectly," wrote a traveler on 3 Sep 2025. Plans are on the Jetpac website.

Roamless eSIM in Italy: pay as you go, cruises

7.1 /10

Vefru score Very good Score details

• Purchase process5/10
• Mobile app7/10
• eSIM installation7/10
• Customer support7/10
• Speed test8/10
• Prices5/10
• Customer feedback9/10
• Coverage9/10

Average of eight categories from our own paid test and customer reviews.

Roamless is a US provider built around one global eSIM for 203 destinations, paid with pay-as-you-go credit. It was fast and unthrottled in our test, and travelers report it working in 91% of cases. Its weak point is buying: the website forces you into the app, and large data amounts cost more than most rivals.

Key facts

• 203 destinations
• iPhone app 4.8
• Android app 4.1
• Pay-as-you-go
• Unlimited hotspot
• No throttling

Trustpilot

4.5/51,746 reviews

Payments

Credit or debit cardApple PayGoogle Pay

Pros and cons

Pros 4 Cons 4

One eSIM for 200+ destinations

Fast, no throttling

Worked for 91% of travelers

Free 500 MB trial

Website pushes you into the app

We had to fix the APN to get data

Credit can expire after 12 months

Pricey for 10 GB and up

Roamless eSIM in our hands

Go to Roamless website View full review

Roamless is the pick for cruises, port days and trips that cross several borders, because one eSIM with credit that never expires covers all of them. It worked well for 19 of 20 travelers who reported from Italy (95%), strong evidence. The reports are mostly multi-country: a Mediterranean cruise from Istanbul to Venice, Greece and Italy port days, five months across Europe where it picked up a network at every border, a sea-shore town in January 2026, and Italy with Switzerland at high speed in July 2026. Travelers on their first eSIM found the app guided them through the install.

The one miss was a traveler who could not get Roamless working at all in June 2026 and found help hard to reach. Another struggled with activation the same month until support walked them through it, and one review complained about credit disappearing fast, which Roamless traced to cloud backups running over mobile data. No review from Italy describes slow data.

Roamless sells pay-as-you-go credit at a flat rate per GB, 30-day Italy plans from 1 GB to 200 GB, no-expiration Italy bundles and Europe and Global plans; there is no unlimited plan and no throttling is claimed. The eSIM also carries in-app calls and an optional second number. In our test the preset APN did not work until we picked another one, so follow the app's instructions. Price is around the market average in Italy, cheap for 1 GB and dear above 10 GB. The research could not confirm its Italian network; our comparison tool lists it as Vodafone. The main drawback is that heavy users pay more than elsewhere, as our Roamless review explains. "8 days in Italy was like at home for mobile," wrote a traveler on 20 Oct 2025. Plans are on the Roamless Italy page.

Holafly eSIM in Italy: strong record, capped speeds

7.1 /10

Vefru score Very good Score details

• Purchase process7/10
• Mobile app7/10
• eSIM installation9/10
• Customer support6/10
• Speed test4/10
• Prices5/10
• Customer feedback9.4/10
• Coverage9/10

Average of eight categories from our own paid test and customer reviews.

Holafly is an Irish eSIM provider built around unlimited data, with trip eSIMs for 200+ destinations. Travelers report it working more often than any other provider we track. Its weak points are speed and price: our test ran at about 30 Mbps on 5G, and its unlimited plans cost more than most.

Key facts

• 200+ destinations
• iPhone app 4.8
• Android app 4.7
• No top-ups
• Hotspot 1 GB/day
• 30 to 40 Mbps

Trustpilot

4.7/5113,513 reviews

Payments

Credit or debit cardApple PayGoogle PayPayPal

Pros and cons

Pros 4 Cons 4

Truly unlimited data

Most reliable we track: 92% worked

One-tap install, no QR code

6 months to refund an unused eSIM

Slow: about 30–40 Mbps on 5G

Pricier than other unlimited eSIMs

Saved our card without asking

No top-ups, buy a new eSIM instead

Holafly eSIM in our hands

Go to Holafly website View full review

Holafly is the easy unlimited option for lakes, villages and longer stays, with one condition: in our test its speed was capped from the first megabyte, so it is fine for maps, messaging, browsing and streaming, and slow for large downloads, uploads, cloud backups and laptop work. It worked well for 93 of 98 travelers who reported from Italy (95%), strong evidence. The successes include six weeks in Italy, Lake Como with hiking trails around Mandello del Lario, Sicily for a family, Venice, Florence and Rome on an eSIM installed at the departure gate, five weeks of FaceTime calls, and the Milan to Switzerland to Germany drive with the car's GPS running the whole way.

The 5 misses and the complaints inside positive reviews are about speed and coverage, not activation: pages loading painfully slowly on 5G in Italy in June 2026, a connection that failed most of the time across Spain, southern France and Italy in August 2026, patchy data in Rome, Florence and Puglia in May 2026, a traveler whose eSIM never worked in Venice in June 2026, and a drop in a crowd near Castel Sant'Angelo during fireworks. Two reviewers compared it with a local Vodafone SIM and found Holafly slower. One business traveler in July 2026 discovered the hotspot limit the hard way.

Holafly's Italy page says the eSIM connects to Vodafone and WindTre, the fastest network and the one with the widest 5G reach, and limits the hotspot to 1 GB a day [8]. It sells unlimited only, for 3, 5, 7, 10, 15 or 30 days in Italy, with no top-ups (you buy a new eSIM) and a free 1 GB a month if you keep the eSIM afterwards. Installation is one tap in the app, and the help desk reached a person quickly in our test. It is among the most expensive unlimited plans in our comparison, as our Holafly review shows. "Very easy to set up and was very reliable over a 6 week period in Italy," wrote a traveler on 22 Aug 2026. Plans are on the Holafly Italy page.

eSIM4Travel eSIM in Italy: cheapest here, two reports

8.8 /10

Vefru score Excellent Score details

• Purchase process8/10
• eSIM installation8/10
• Customer support10/10
• Speed test8/10
• Prices10/10
• Customer feedback8.8/10
• Coverage9/10

Average of seven categories from our own paid test and customer reviews. eSIM4Travel has no app, so we do not score one.

eSIM4Travel is a US eSIM seller with plans for 158 destinations and no app. It was the cheapest provider in our price database, and its support was the best we have tested. Without an app, you cannot reach the store to top up once your data runs out.

Key facts

• 158 destinations
• No app
• Web only
• Top-ups
• Hotspot
• No throttling

Trustpilot

4.4/5202 reviews

Payments

Credit or debit cardPayPalApple Pay

Pros and cons

Pros 4 Cons 4

Cheapest provider we track

Quick, helpful human support

Fast, no throttling

Website in 41 languages

No app: out of data, you need Wi‑Fi to top up

US dollars only, no Google Pay

Unlimited slows after 3 GB a day

No refund after 10% of data used

eSIM4Travel eSIM in our hands

Go to eSIM4Travel website View full review

eSIM4Travel is the pick for anyone who wants cheap data and a human help desk, on the strength of our test and its price, not its Italian record: only 2 travelers have reported from Italy so far, both counted as working. One of them, in January 2024, said the 1 GB plan worked but dropped every few minutes on the networks it was using and needed a manual APN setup, so the record is thin and mixed. The other bought a 7-day package for Italy after a good run in Albania.

What we can vouch for is the test: we bought on the website, the QR code came by email, the eSIM worked right away, and when we asked the help desk the bot handed us to a person in one click who solved the problem and suggested switching network. It is the cheapest provider in Italy in our comparison, by a clear margin at every size up to 20 GB, and its unlimited is also the cheapest.

eSIM4Travel is the only provider whose Italy page names all four operators, TIM, Vodafone, WindTre and Iliad, plus DIGI, and lets you pick a network inside the plan [10]. Italy plans run from 1 GB to 50 GB and unlimited from 3 to 30 days at 3 GB a day before it slows; the Best Europe 41 and Global 72 plans also cover Italy. You have 90 days to activate, and the clock starts on first connection [10]. The downsides stay: no app, no Google Pay, and no way to top up without Wi-Fi once the data runs out, as our eSIM4Travel review describes. Plans are on the eSIM4Travel Italy page.

Other eSIM Providers for Italy

We tested all of these too. They sit here because their Italian record is weaker, their report count is still small, or a finding from our test counts against them. Global YO missed the Best group by one place.

Global YO eSIM in Italy: cheap, slow support, sixth

8.0 /10

Vefru score Excellent Score details

• Purchase process8/10
• Mobile app8/10
• eSIM installation9/10
• Customer support5/10
• Speed test8/10
• Prices10/10
• Customer feedback8/10
• Coverage8/10

Average of eight categories from our own paid test and customer reviews.

Global YO is a US eSIM provider aimed at young travelers, with plans in 195 countries. It is the second cheapest provider in our price data, and buying and installing took minutes. Its weak spot is support: quick to answer, slow to help.

Key facts

• 195 countries
• iPhone app 4.5
• Android app 3.8
• Top-ups
• Hotspot
• Over 150 Mbps

Trustpilot

4.0/51,293 reviews

Payments

Credit or debit cardApple PayGoogle Pay

Pros and cons

Pros 4 Cons 4

Second cheapest we track

Buy and install in minutes

Apple Pay, Google Pay, social login

Hotspot and top-ups on every plan

Support is slow to actually help

App only, no buying on the web

App stops when your data runs out

Unclear refund rules

Global YO eSIM in our hands

Go to Global YO website View full review

Global YO is the budget choice for travelers who install at home and will not need the help desk. It worked well for 31 of 33 travelers who reported from Italy (94%), strong evidence, and sits just outside the Best group on the sort order. The successes describe Rome, month-long trips through France, Italy and the Netherlands, streaming on long train rides and video calls, and a connection that came up on landing. The 2 misses were an eSIM that stopped working in Italy in July 2025, after which support kept closing the ticket, and one that connected to no network at all in July 2024; a third traveler could not activate it on a Galaxy S22 Ultra while iPhones worked.

Italy plans run from 1 GB for 3 days to 100 GB for 60 days, with Day Plans at 3 GB a day, plus Europe Explorer and Global Explorer plans. You must buy in the app, and the eSIM cannot be reinstalled once deleted. It is the second cheapest provider in Italy in our comparison and never the most expensive. The finding that keeps it out of the top group is support: a generic first reply after ten minutes and more than half an hour for the follow-up in our Global YO review, and it did not name a network on its page when we checked in August 2026. "Streaming Netflix on long train rides in Italy was a breeze with Global YO," wrote a traveler on 27 Dec 2024. Plans are on the Global YO Italy page.

GigSky eSIM in Italy: free with Visa, intermittent

7.1 /10

Vefru score Very good Score details

• Purchase process7/10
• Mobile app6/10
• eSIM installation8/10
• Customer support9/10
• Speed test6/10
• Prices4/10
• Customer feedback8.6/10
• Coverage8/10

Average of eight categories from our own paid test and customer reviews.

GigSky is a US travel eSIM that works like its own operator, with plans for 190+ destinations plus cruise, ferry and in-flight plans. Its app stays partly online after your data runs out. But its fixed-data plans are the most expensive of the 12 providers we compared.

Key facts

• 190+ destinations
• iPhone app 4.5
• Android app 3.9
• Top-ups
• Hotspot
• 3.5 GB/day cap

Trustpilot

4.3/57,194 reviews

Payments

Credit or debit cardApple PayPayPal

Pros and cons

Pros 4 Cons 4

Buy more data even with none left

Cruise, ferry and in-flight plans

Human support answered right away

Cheap 1-day unlimited passes

Most expensive per GB we track

App required, no Google Pay

Clunky, web-like app

Less reliable than average

GigSky eSIM in our hands

Go to GigSky website View full review

GigSky is worth having if your Visa card gives you its free plan, and for ferries, but it is not a first pick on its own record. It worked well for 55 of 63 travelers who reported from Italy (87%), strong evidence, and a large share of those reports came from Canadians and Americans using the free 10 GB Visa perk. The successes include southern Italy, Sicily, Veneto, Tuscany and Lazio over 12 days, Rome and Venice, and an overnight ferry from Italy to Croatia. The 8 misses are a pattern: "Emergency Calls Only" for hours at a time in the main cities in August 2026, intermittent and weak data in Rome in June 2026, an eSIM that would not start or shut off four times around the Vatican, slow data in Rome in April 2026, connection problems every time one traveler moved to a new city, and cruise plans that gave nothing at sea.

Italy plans are 1 GB for 7 days, 3 GB for 15, 5 and 10 GB for 30, 20 GB for 90 and 50 GB for 180 days, plus a 1-day unlimited pass and cruise bundles. You need the app to buy, but the app stays online at zero data so you can top up without Wi-Fi, and the help desk answered at once in our GigSky review. Price is around the market average in Italy, though GigSky is the most expensive provider in our comparison overall. It did not name a network on its page when we checked in August 2026; one traveler in July 2026 saw it switch between Vodafone and a slower carrier. "Worked very well in southern Italy. No complains at all," wrote a traveler on 30 Jul 2026. Plans are on the GigSky Italy page.

Nomad eSIM in Italy: slow data, no help desk

7.2 /10

Vefru score Very good Score details

• Purchase process8/10
• Mobile app7/10
• eSIM installation8/10
• Customer support2/10
• Speed test8/10
• Prices7/10
• Customer feedback8.6/10
• Coverage9/10

Average of eight categories from our own paid test and customer reviews.

Nomad is a US travel eSIM brand run by LotusFlare, with plans for more than 200 destinations. It has a polished native app, fast data and prices close to the market average almost everywhere. Its weak spot is support: the chat is an AI bot with no route to a human.

Key facts

• 200+ destinations
• iPhone app 4.8
• Android app 4.5
• Top-ups
• Hotspot
• 2 GB/day cap

Trustpilot

4.3/544,625 reviews

Payments

Credit or debit cardApple PayGoogle PayPayPal

Pros and cons

Pros 4 Cons 4

Quick, easy purchase

Great app with a data widget

Fast, full-speed data

Fair prices almost everywhere

Support is a bot, no human

Easy to lose the install button

App stops when your data runs out

No refund after install

Nomad eSIM in our hands

Go to Nomad website View full review

Nomad has the second-largest record in Italy but the most complaints about slow data, so it suits experienced users who can live with gaps. It worked well for 122 of 143 travelers who reported from Italy (85%), strong evidence. The successes are real: Rome, the Amalfi coast, Florence and Cinque Terre in June 2026, rural Tuscany, Naples for four days, Milan, Ravenna and Rimini on 5G, and a drive from the north to the south. The 21 misses cluster in 2026 and in the south: no service in Calabria and the Aspromonte park (April 2026), slow data in Friuli (August 2026), a WindTre signal that worked badly across southern Italy (August 2026), nothing at the seaside in Porto Cesareo, a Europe plan that stopped dead on entering Italy (June 2026), Florence down for two days (May 2026), and edge-speed data in Rome, Florence and Naples (June 2026). Its unlimited plan drew anger for its 2 GB a day limit.

Italy plans run from 1 GB to 50 GB, with unlimited for 3 to 10 days at 2 GB a day before it slows to a crawl, plus Europe and Global plans; our comparison tool lists Iliad for the Italy plans, and third-party pages report Iliad and WindTre. Price is around the market average in Italy. The finding that places it here is support: the bot looped and offered no route to a person in our Nomad review, and travelers from Italy said the same. Its home-screen data widget is still the best of any app. "The coverage worked great while in Rome, the Amalfi Coast, Florence, and Cinque Terre," wrote a traveler on 1 Jul 2026. Plans are on the Nomad website.

Airalo eSIM in Italy: worst record in Italy

7.5 /10

Vefru score Very good Score details

• Purchase process9/10
• Mobile app8/10
• eSIM installation9/10
• Customer support7/10
• Speed test7/10
• Prices5/10
• Customer feedback8.2/10
• Coverage7/10

Average of eight categories from our own paid test and customer reviews.

Airalo is an eSIM marketplace from Singapore with plans for 200+ destinations, some with calls and texts. It is easy to buy and install. But prices sit at the market median, and travelers report more failed connections than with any other provider we track.

Key facts

• 200+ destinations
• iPhone app 4.6
• Android app 4.3
• Top-ups
• Hotspot
• No cap on fixed plans

Trustpilot

4.1/545,721 reviews

Payments

Credit or debit cardApple PayGoogle PayPayPal

Pros and cons

Pros 4 Cons 4

Buy on the web, no app needed

Works right after install

Fast, no speed cap on fixed plans

Most plans with calls and texts

Average prices, not cheap

Lowest success rate we track: 72% worked

App stops when your data runs out

Clunky checkout, no QR download

Airalo eSIM in our hands

Go to Airalo website View full review

Airalo is the one big name we cannot recommend for Italy right now. It worked for only 41 of 74 travelers who reported from Italy (55%), strong evidence and the worst record of the 14 providers. The 33 misses pile up in June, July and August 2026: a network update on 24 June 2026 that left customers in Rome and Florence without data for hours, eSIMs that would not activate on arrival in Rome, a Europe plan that barely worked in Italy, 3G-speed or no data across Apulia, no connection in the Dolomites, weak signal in Sicily while companions on WindTre were fine, a 50 GB plan that stopped at 20 GB, and searches served in Dutch because the eSIM routed through a Dutch network. Several long-time customers wrote that it had worked in Italy in earlier years and did not this summer. The successes are cruise stops, Milan, Florence, the Tour du Mont Blanc and multi-country trips where Italy was one stop.

Airalo's Italy page names WindTre first, then Vodafone, TIM and Iliad [9]. Its Mamma Mia plans run from 1 GB to 50 GB and unlimited for 3 to 30 days at 5 GB a day before it slows; Eurolink, Discover and Discover+ also cover Italy, and Discover+ is the only plan family here with calls and texts. Price is around the market average and never the cheapest. Our Airalo review found the easiest purchase and install of the group and no throttling, so the Italian misses look like network and activation trouble rather than product design. "Internet speeds in the Apulia region of Italy went as low as 3G OR often Internet connection disappeared all together," wrote a traveler on 31 Jul 2026. Plans are on the Airalo Italy page.

ByteSIM eSIM in Italy: eight reports, no top-ups

6.1 /10

Vefru score Good Score details

• Purchase process4/10
• Mobile app4/10
• eSIM installation7/10
• Customer support2/10
• Speed test8/10
• Prices5/10
• Customer feedback9.6/10
• Coverage9/10

Average of eight categories from our own paid test and customer reviews.

ByteSIM is a Hong Kong eSIM shop with a huge catalog: daily, fixed and unlimited plans for about 200 destinations. Data was fast in our test, and travelers report it working in 88% of cases. The checkout, the app and support were the weak points.

Key facts

• About 200 destinations
• iPhone app 4.6
• Android app 3.8
• No top-ups
• Hotspot
• 175 Mbps on 4G

Trustpilot

4.8/54,279 reviews

Payments

Credit or debit cardApple PayGoogle PayPayPal

Pros and cons

Pros 4 Cons 4

Cheap for 3–5 GB short trips

Fast 4G, no throttling

Worked for 88% of travelers

180 days to get a refund

Checkout asks for phone and address

Clunky app, auto-activation failed

Promises 5G, gave us only 4G

Support didn't reply in our test

ByteSIM eSIM in our hands

Go to ByteSIM website View full review

ByteSIM has a clean but small Italian record, and its checkout and app held it back in our test. It worked well for 8 of 8 travelers who reported from Italy (100%), limited evidence. Two of those travelers had no connection on landing until the WhatsApp help desk talked them through a settings fix, in January and July 2026; the others describe easy installs, unlimited plans across Germany, Austria and Italy, and 5G across the country. The one real complaint, from January 2024, was slow data indoors at Roma Termini, the Vatican Museums and Piazza Navona.

Its Italy catalogue is the largest here: daily plans from 500 MB to 10 GB a day, fixed plans from 500 MB to 300 GB, and unlimited from 1 to 30 days, all on validities of 1 to 30 days, with no top-ups and dozens of local payment methods. Price is slightly below the market average in Italy. It did not name a network on its page when we checked in August 2026. The finding against it is the buying experience: a checkout that demands a postal address, an app that failed to install the eSIM and a WhatsApp line that did not answer in 15 minutes in our ByteSIM review, though travelers from Italy report fast replies. "I used the Italy package and got excellent 5G wherever we traveled," wrote a traveler on 4 May 2024. Plans are on the ByteSIM website.

Yesim eSIM in Italy: unlimited by day, dear

6.6 /10

Vefru score Good Score details

• Purchase process6/10
• Mobile app7/10
• eSIM installation8/10
• Customer support2/10
• Speed test8/10
• Prices5/10
• Customer feedback8.6/10
• Coverage8/10

Average of eight categories from our own paid test and customer reviews.

Yesim is a Swiss eSIM provider built around unlimited plans sold by the day, with one eSIM for 200+ destinations. Data was fast in our test. But its support was among the slowest we have tested, and its fixed-data country plans cost more than most rivals.

Key facts

• 200+ destinations
• iPhone app 4.6
• Android app 4.7
• Top-ups
• Hotspot
• Possible slowdown

Trustpilot

4.3/52,963 reviews

Payments

Credit or debit cardApple PayGoogle PayPayPal

Pros and cons

Pros 4 Cons 4

Fast data in our test

Unlimited plans by the day

Pay with PayPal, Klarna or crypto

Website in 44 languages

Among the slowest support we've tested

Pricey fixed-data country plans

No top-up once your data runs out

Signs you up for marketing emails

Yesim eSIM in our hands

Go to Yesim website View full review

Yesim is for experienced users who want unlimited data by the day and can wait for support. It worked well for 14 of 15 travelers who reported from Italy (93%), limited evidence. The review texts behind these counts were not in the set we read for this article, so we cannot say what the one miss was; the reports that reached us only tell us it rarely failed here.

Its Italy plans are unlimited by the day for 1 to 30 days with a partner throttling limit it does not publish, fixed plans from 500 MB to 30 GB, and Europe and Global bundles that also cover Italy. Third-party pages report TIM, Iliad, WindTre and Vodafone as its networks; Yesim's own page names none. Two findings from our Yesim review matter here: our plan started at purchase rather than on arrival, so buy close to the trip, and replies from support took 15 to 60 minutes each. It is also among the two most expensive providers in Italy in our comparison. Plans are on the Yesim Italy page.

GoMoWorld eSIM in Italy: slow to connect, press Start

7.8 /10

Vefru score Very good Score details

• Purchase process8/10
• Mobile app8/10
• eSIM installation8/10
• Customer support6/10
• Speed test10/10
• Prices7/10
• Customer feedback7.6/10
• Coverage8/10

Average of eight categories from our own paid test and customer reviews.

GoMoWorld is the travel eSIM brand of Irish operator eir, with plans in 202 countries. Every destination has the same four euro prices, and we saw no throttling at all. The catch is that everything happens in the app, and human support works only in office hours.

Key facts

• 202 countries
• iPhone app 4.8
• Android app 4.6
• Top-ups
• Hotspot
• No throttling

Trustpilot

3.8/51,987 reviews

Payments

Credit or debit cardApple PayGoogle Pay

Pros and cons

Pros 4 Cons 4

Very fast, no throttling

Among the cheapest from 5 GB

Clean, easy app

Start the plan when you land

App only, no QR code

Human support only in office hours

App stops when your data runs out

Weaker in the US, Japan and China

GoMoWorld eSIM in our hands

Go to GoMoWorld website View full review

GoMoWorld is cheap for heavy data in Italy but too often slow to attach on arrival. It worked well for 11 of 14 travelers who reported from Italy (79%), limited evidence. The 3 misses were a terrible connection in July 2026, poor and unreliable data in Puglia in June 2026 along with a second plan that never started, and a Sardinian beach in Stintino where only Google Maps loaded. Two positive reviews describe the same arrival problem: 30 to 40 minutes of "network could not be reached" until the connection came up on its own, or a manual carrier pick. The successes are Sardinia, repeat stays in Italy and trips through Italy, France and Greece.

Italy plans are 4 GB for 7 days and 15, 50 or 75 GB for 30 days, plus Europe plans from 2.5 GB to 35 GB; there is no unlimited. The eSIM lives in the app only, one account covers one device, and you must press Start in the app or nothing happens, which explains some "it does not work" reports. Price is among the cheaper options in Italy. The research could not confirm its networks; one traveler saw it try to attach to Iliad. In our GoMoWorld review it was the fastest and least throttled eSIM we tested, but human support works office hours only. "It was hard to connect from Italy," wrote a traveler on 21 Jun 2026. Plans are on the GoMoWorld website.

Saily eSIM in Italy: best app, dear here

8.1 /10

Vefru score Excellent Score details

• Purchase process7/10
• Mobile app9/10
• eSIM installation9/10
• Customer support10/10
• Speed test8/10
• Prices4/10
• Customer feedback9.4/10
• Coverage8/10

Average of eight categories from our own paid test and customer reviews.

Saily is the travel eSIM from the company behind NordVPN, with plans for about 200 destinations. It has the smoothest install we have tested, a polished app and a built-in VPN. But prices run above the market in most big European destinations, and traveler reports sit below average.

Key facts

• About 200 destinations
• iPhone app 4.7
• Android app 4.5
• Top-ups
• Hotspot
• 3 or 5 GB/day cap

Trustpilot

4.7/531,741 reviews

Payments

Credit or debit cardApple PayGoogle Pay

Pros and cons

Pros 4 Cons 4

Easiest install we've tested

Fast 24/7 human support

Free VPN and ad blocker

Plan starts only when you land

Pricey in big European countries

App required, no eSIM by email

Less reliable than average

App stops when your data runs out

Saily eSIM in our hands

Go to Saily website View full review

Saily is the first-eSIM choice for the app and help desk, but its Italian record is thin and its price is high here. It worked well for 7 of 9 travelers who reported from Italy (78%), limited evidence. The 2 misses were terrible reception in Umbria in August 2026 and a 30-day trip in June 2026 where it never worked and the traveler got no refund. The successes are short: Italy, Germany and Bali on one eSIM, and a local who used it to bridge a number port.

Italy plans are 1 GB for 7 days and 3 to 20 GB for 30 days, plus unlimited for 15 days at 5 GB a day before it slows, and Europe and Global plans [11]. Saily publishes no Italian network; a chat log from July 2026 reports Iliad, WindTre and TIM. The eSIM is app-only, the install is the smoothest we have seen, and the help desk was one of the two best in our Saily review. It is among the two most expensive providers in Italy in our comparison, which is why a strong test score does not lift it. "Terrible reception in Umbria Italy," wrote a traveler on 9 Aug 2026. Plans are on the Saily Italy page.

Providers travelers report from Italy that we have not tested

Simify also appears in the reviews we read for Italy, mostly from Australian travelers describing unlimited Europe plans that worked from Rome to Sicily, but it is not in our comparison and has no scored report count, so we do not rank it.

Best eSIM Plans for Italy

Price per GB in Italy by eSIM Provider

How much does each provider charge per GB in Italy? The chart below compares plans of 1 to 10 GB that last 6 to 14 days, the usual range for a one- or two-week trip. Provider websites show only their own plans, so this side-by-side view is one you would otherwise have to calculate yourself. A shorter bar means a lower price per GB.

The five tables below show the cheapest current offers at each data size. For a week of maps, messaging and photos, 5 GB is enough for most travelers; two weeks with streaming or video calls pushes you to 10 or 20 GB, and the unlimited table matters if you plan to hotspot a laptop (our guide to how much data you need has the figures by activity). If Italy is one stop on a bigger trip, the regional plans from eSIM4Travel, Global YO, Jetpac, Nomad and Ubigi cover France and Switzerland too; you can compare plans that cover both Italy and France in one search, and our France eSIM guide and Switzerland eSIM guide say which providers held up there.

Best eSIM for Rome, Florence, Venice and Southern Italy

The city and regional reports confirm the country picture: Maya Mobile and Ubigi lead in the big cities, Ubigi has the cleanest record in the south, and the misses cluster in the Dolomites, on the Amalfi coast and in Sardinia. Places with fewer than 3 reports keep the country pick. Counts are reports per provider, in the same order as the matrix.

Another two dozen places (Capri, Ischia, Procida, Lake Garda, Cinque Terre, Chianti, San Gimignano, Turin, Ravenna, Rimini, Bari, Alghero and others) have a single report each, almost all of them positive and most of them Ubigi, Maya Mobile or Nomad. The Tour du Mont Blanc, shared with France and Switzerland, has one positive Airalo report. For the Dolomites and the Sardinian interior there are no reports from a provider with 3 or more, so the network facts below matter more than the counts: Italian operators' own pages publish population coverage, not coverage of high valleys.

Best eSIM for Rome

Jetpac is the pick for Rome on the sort order, with 3 of 3 reports working and a connection on arrival at the airport, but Holafly (8 of 9) and Maya Mobile (15 of 18) carry far more evidence and worked almost as often; Holafly's speed is capped, so Maya Mobile is the better choice of the two for anyone who downloads or uploads. Holafly's one Rome miss was a slow connection in August 2026, and one traveler lost signal in a crowd near Castel Sant'Angelo during fireworks. Maya Mobile's three misses were a plan that stopped a day before expiry in November 2025 and two eSIMs that never connected in Rome.

The runners-up failed for different reasons. Ubigi (12 of 15) had a technical outage in early June 2026 that cost travelers several hours and an Uber, and two reviewers found no signal indoors. Nomad (12 of 15) dropped to "no service" for a couple of hours at a time and needed airplane mode cycling or a manual APN. GigSky (8 of 11) was intermittent and weak on its Europe plan, and one eSIM would not start around the Vatican for four days. Airalo (1 of 6) is the clear miss: a network update on 24 June 2026 left customers in Rome without data, and several eSIMs would not activate on arrival after a long flight. At Fiumicino itself the reports are good: Jetpac, Holafly and Ubigi users all connected while waiting for luggage; the one GigSky traveler who tried to download the eSIM on hotel Wi-Fi after landing could not.

Best eSIM for Florence

Maya Mobile is the pick for Florence with 7 of 7 reports working, and Ubigi (5 of 5) is the alternative. Nomad (6 of 8) is the only provider with more than one miss: a 30-day Europe plan that gave no data for hours on the second and third days in May 2026, and connections that dropped on transport and in the city. Holafly (2 of 3) had one traveler who found data patchy across Rome, Florence and Puglia in May 2026. Airalo's 24 June 2026 outage hit Florence too, with one reviewer offline for four hours in the morning and again in the evening, though Airalo's two Florence-tagged reports both worked. One Ubigi traveler in July 2026 found the connection fine outside but absent indoors, even near a window, which fits Ubigi running on Iliad and WindTre only.

Best eSIM for Venice

Maya Mobile is the pick for Venice with 6 of 6 reports working; GigSky (3 of 3) and Ubigi (6 of 7) follow. Venice produced an odd set of misses: Holafly's one miss "never worked in Venice" in June 2026, Ubigi's one miss found the signal too weak on open streets in June 2026, an Airalo traveler reported poor quality in July 2026, and one GigSky traveler whose connection was stable everywhere else called Venice the one unstable city. Maya Mobile, by contrast, had travelers using it on the train into Venice and across Venice, Florence and Rome without a drop. If you arrive from Milan, both Maya Mobile and Holafly have clean records on that route.

Best eSIM for Naples, Sicily and the South

Ubigi is the pick for Naples (3 of 3) and Sicily (3 of 3), and the safest choice for the south in general: it also has clean reports from Amalfi, Sorrento, Puglia and a small town in Calabria. Nomad is the provider to avoid here on the evidence: 1 of 3 in southern Italy, no service in Calabria and the Aspromonte park, dead at the seaside in Porto Cesareo, and one traveler who found its WindTre signal poor across the south in August 2026. Jetpac has a clean southern record (Calabria, Puglia and Campania on three eSIMs, Naples and Sicily) but fewer than 3 reports in any single place. Positano is the one coastal town with a real miss: a Ubigi traveler had signal in Amalfi, Ravello and Capri but none in Positano in July 2026, which fits the SS163 dead-zone pattern in the research.

Local SIM Cards and Operator eSIMs in Italy

A local tourist SIM beats any travel eSIM on price once you need more than about 10 GB or stay two weeks or more, and it gives you a +39 number for Trenitalia and booking codes; a travel eSIM wins for trips under about ten days, for anyone who does not want to queue with a passport, for anyone caught by the tax-code rules, and for trips that cross several countries, because the EU roaming caps on these tourist SIMs are far smaller than their Italian allowances. Every prepaid SIM in Italy needs photo ID; a passport is enough.

The two offers that matter, as of September 2026. TIM Tourist costs €14.99 for 30 days with 200 GB in Italy, unlimited domestic calls and 100 international minutes, a 23 GB allowance in the rest of the EU, and a €10 SIM on top; an extra €5 buys unlimited data with an 8 GB EU allowance [3]. It is sold in TIM stores as a physical SIM, not advertised as an eSIM, and asks for no Italian tax code [3]. WindTre Tourist Pass L costs €15 for one month with 100 GB on 5G, unlimited domestic calls, 100 international minutes and a 23 GB EU allowance, plus a €10 SIM; the XL and XXL versions give 200 GB for two or six months, and Tourist Pass Europa (€25) adds unlimited calls to the EU with a 38 GB EU allowance [5]. WindTre is the only Italian operator that sells a tourist eSIM online before you arrive, valid for 120 to 210 days before first use, and only to foreign nationals without an Italian tax code [5]. Its pages also warn of a one-off €0.30 charge on iMessage-capable phones, and the passes cannot be reactivated on the same SIM once they expire.

Vodafone's Dolce Vita tourist plans (€14.95 to €24.95 a month for 100 to 300 GB, as listed by the tariff tracker MondoMobileWeb in May 2026) require a foreign tax code at the counter, and we could not confirm the detail on Vodafone's own pages. According to third-party reviews, Iliad and Fastweb sell nothing to visitors without an Italian tax code. Buy in an operator store (TIM and WindTre each have about 3,500), at the counters at Fiumicino and Malpensa, at Milano Centrale or Roma Termini, or in a MediaWorld, Unieuro, Coop or Esselunga for some brands; Iliad has Simbox vending machines, but they are for residents. No operator publishes a separate airport price, so claims that the airport charges a premium are marketing, not fact.

Mobile Networks in Italy

Italy has four networks, and which one your eSIM uses decides whether it works on the coast and in the mountains. Fastweb + Vodafone is the largest by SIMs (30.3% of all SIMs at the end of March 2026), ahead of TIM (25.1%), WindTre (24.0%) and Iliad (11.4%), according to the regulator AGCOM [1]. According to Opensignal's December 2025 report, Vodafone won 9 of 16 awards including the fastest downloads and the fastest 5G, TIM had the most consistent quality, Iliad the best availability and WindTre the widest 5G reach and the most time spent on 5G. Italian trade press reports that Vodafone Italia was merged into Fastweb on 1 January 2026, with the Vodafone brand licensed until around 2029, so the two names now mean one radio network.

The operators' own coverage pages help with route planning. TIM claims more than 99% outdoor 4G population coverage and lists 5G in 6,131 comuni out of 7,839 covered at the end of April 2026, the widest published footprint [2]. WindTre claims 99.7% 4G population coverage; its 5G figures differ between its own pages, so treat them with care [4]. Iliad claims 99% 4G coverage and 5G in 7,000 towns [7]. Vodafone publishes no percentage, only a lookup by comune [6]. None of these figures cover the Dolomite high routes, the SS163 Amalfi road, Cinque Terre trails, inland Sicily or the Sardinian interior, which is where the traveler reports show gaps.

What this means for an eSIM: eSIM4Travel and Airalo are the only two of our 14 providers whose pages name all four operators [10] [9]; Holafly names Vodafone and WindTre [8]; Ubigi's plan pages name Iliad and WindTre only; Nomad is reported on the same two; Saily, Yesim, Jetpac and Roamless are known only from third-party reports; and Maya Mobile, Global YO, GigSky and ByteSIM did not name a network on their pages when we checked in August 2026. 3G is gone on Vodafone and TIM, according to Opensignal, so a phone without 4G gets nothing. Press reports since October 2025 of merger talks between WindTre and Iliad had produced no announced deal as of 25 Sep 2026. Our guide to eSIMs that use several networks and how to switch between them explains how to force your phone onto another operator when one drops.

How to Set Up an eSIM for Italy

Install at home on Wi-Fi, before you fly: nearly every plan here starts on first connection in Italy, not on install, and the travelers who tried to install on arrival on hotel or airport Wi-Fi are the ones who lost a day. The exceptions are Yesim, whose plan started at purchase in our test, GoMoWorld, where nothing happens until you press Start in the app, and some Airalo packages that start at install.

1. Check that your phone is unlocked and takes an eSIM; our list of phones that take an eSIM covers the regional variants that do not.
2. Buy the plan and install it at home. Maya Mobile, Ubigi, Holafly, Airalo, Jetpac, Yesim, ByteSIM, Nomad and eSIM4Travel send a QR code by email; GoMoWorld, Saily, Roamless, GigSky and Global YO install from their apps. The iPhone eSIM guide and Samsung eSIM guide show the menus.
3. Mind the activation window: 90 days for eSIM4Travel [10], 180 days for Saily [11], 30 days on Nomad's Italy plans in our comparison tool, and six months for an unscanned Ubigi QR code.
4. Keep the eSIM switched off until you land, then turn it on, set it as the data line and turn on data roaming. Maya Mobile and Global YO use the APN "globaldata", Ubigi "mobiledata", GigSky "gigsky"; Roamless needed a different APN than the preset one in our test.
5. If nothing happens after a few minutes, toggle airplane mode, restart, or pick the network by hand in the phone's settings; several GoMoWorld and Ubigi travelers in Italy needed exactly that. Our eSIM troubleshooting guide walks through the rest.

Calls and SMS in Italy

Almost every travel eSIM here is data-only, so calls and texts go over WhatsApp, FaceTime or a similar app; Italy's calling code is +39. In our comparison tool, the only Italy-covering plans with calls and texts are Airalo's Discover+ global plans, which come with a US number; Jetpac sells voice minutes inside its app, Roamless offers in-app calls and an optional second number, Global YO has outgoing app calls, Saily sells a US number as an add-on, and Holafly and Yesim offer numbers that can receive SMS through subscriptions. Several travelers from Italy complained that restaurants and taxis wanted a phone number, and one found that Wi-Fi calling on his home number did not work over the Maya Mobile eSIM.

If you need a real Italian number, the local tourist SIMs above are the answer: TIM Tourist and the WindTre Tourist Passes both include unlimited domestic calls and 100 international minutes, and Tourist Pass Europa adds unlimited calls across the EU. Keep your home SIM active for SMS codes from your bank; just switch its data roaming off so it does not bill you, which is the mistake two travelers from Italy made with their US carriers.

Free eSIM Data for Italy

Four free options work in Italy. GigSky's partnership with Visa gives eligible cardholders a free plan (travelers from Canada and the US described 10 GB for 15 days used across Italy in 2026), and GigSky also has a small free trial. Roamless gives new accounts free credit, listed in our comparison tool as a free Italy trial of about 700 MB that starts on activation. Nomad has a free 1 GB trial plan, and GoMoWorld a free one-day trial. Holafly adds a free 1 GB a month if you keep its eSIM after the plan ends. Our guide to free eSIM data and trials lists the conditions for each.

Summary: the best eSIM for Italy

Based on 769 traveler reports from Italy and our own tests, we recommend Maya Mobile for most trips of a week or more: it worked well for 157 of 164 travelers, its unlimited plan slowed only after about 5 GB a day in our test, and its weakness is that it sells nothing small or short. Ubigi had the best record of all, 100 of 104, with the cheapest 30-day unlimited plan and an Italian IP address, but our support ticket went unanswered and it has no TIM or Vodafone fallback indoors. Jetpac (21 of 22) is the choice for the south, voice calls and hotspot use, with a rough app. Roamless (19 of 20) suits cruises and multi-country trips on credit that never expires, at a price that climbs above 10 GB.

Holafly (93 of 98) remains the easy unlimited choice for lakes and villages, as long as you accept the speed cap we measured from the start and the 1 GB-a-day hotspot limit. eSIM4Travel is the cheapest provider in Italy in our comparison and gave us the best help desk, but it has only 2 reports from Italy so far and no app. Of the rest, Global YO is the cheap option for those who install at home, and Airalo, with 41 of 74, is the one big name whose summer 2026 record in Italy we cannot recommend. Whichever provider it is, the best eSIM for Italy is one installed on Wi-Fi at home and switched on after landing.

Compare All eSIM Plans for Italy

Every Italy plan from the 14 providers in this article, in one comparison with live prices.