šŸ‡®šŸ‡¹ Monzo in Italy [Discussion]

Monzo Chat Travelling with Monzo
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Discuss your experience using Monzo in Italy here. If your experience isnā€™t covered by this Wiki then please add it for users in this community & the in-app notifications :raised_hands:

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A link to the merchant map would be useful.

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Iā€™m assuming the maps that the Wiki is referring to are the ones thatā€™re displayed on the transaction detail page, showing the merchantā€™s location.

It sounds like the issue isnā€™t referring to a specific merchant but merchants in Italy in general - which is understandable because relatively few Monzo users will have visited, compared to the UK.

Does that make sense?

Iā€™ve moved your post from the Wiki to here so that we can discuss it, I hope thatā€™s ok.

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Thanks for the clarification. Being new to Monzo, I had wrongly assumed that there would be a map that showed merchants in the area who take Monzo cards - this could be done by collecting data on successful transactions in the area.

No problem with the post being moved from the Wiki

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We will be travelling to and around Italy soon and plan taking and using our Monzo cards.

Having visited Rome, the Vatican and some other surrounding areas last year using a competitors card without issue I do not foresee any problems using Monzo anywhere that accepts MasterCard.

I will however, as advised, carry a spare alternative card or two just in case, especially considering the recent system outages.

Have found though that many retailers do still prefer cash although card payments are becoming more widely accepted.

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Iā€™ve just come back from Rome with Monzo, all works perfectly where I could use the card, like you mention many do still prefer cash which did mean I hit my cash cap on one particular day with Monzo which was a bit awkward, although with better planning I could have avoided this.

All being said, where I used my card, no issues at all!! :smiley:

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Thanks for posting.

Good to know that the Monzo card works there with my pending travel plans.

Their preference to cash can cause a few small issues though with withdrawal limits.
A second card and some forward planning should see to that though.

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Just used Monzo in Lido di Jesolo bank ATM.
Worked ok after i put the magna strip to on in settings.

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Iā€™m in Italy right now and have been using my Monzo Current Account card. So far all good. Used it in a supermarket and a couple of restaurants and have also pulled some cash out of an ATM. Offline transaction with easyJet at 37,000ft went through no problem too!

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Update after a week in Italy. No issues anywhere, card worked in all shops/restaurants and ATMs I used.

Many smaller outlets donā€™t take cards or have a high minimum spend, ā‚¬20 typically, so best to carry a decent amount of cash.

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Would Sardinia fall under the ā€˜Italyā€™ region with Monzo use? Apologies to any Sardinians smarting at the thought.

If so, any Monzo users had any experience of using Monzo in Sardinia? Itā€™s obviously a path less trodden than mainland Italy.

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Used Monzo on my recent holiday to Italy, everything was great, Monzo worked flawlessly wherever they accepted card payment.
Little confused with the variety of ways they use to take a card.
Chip and pin
Contactless and pin
Contactless
Contactless and sign

Withdrew some cash, used the mag stripe enable in app seconds before withdrawing cash, then enabled immediately after, no problems.
Monzo notification would often beat the merchants acceptance of payment on the terminal!

Just one thing, Italy is far from a cashless society, metro self serve machines are cash only!

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I have been in Italy twice and I can confirm monzo works, however they prefer cash for transactions of few pounds.
Also, when paying for the motorway, the payments appeared on the monzo app two/three days later.

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Both my husband and I were in Rome on holiday a couple of weeks ago. We were there a week, used our cards all over the place, and had not one hitch. Comments about the bright colour, and a couple of questions about this new bank they hadnā€™t heard of (especially a fascinated young woman in duty free who I think might sign up!), but that was all. It was fab.

The only difference I noticed was that whereas here in the UK my phone buzzes to notify me of the payment before Iā€™ve even got my card out of the reader, in Italy I was slotting it back into my purse by the time the message came through!

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Went to Venice a few weeks back. No issues at all

Chip and pin
Cash withdrawals
Contactless

All worked fine

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Last night while paying for my dinner in Milan:

Merchant: ā€œWhere are you from?ā€
Me: ā€œGreeceā€
He takes a look at my card: ā€œBut you live in London. I know that cardā€
Me: :raised_hands:

PS. Contactless is almost everywhere in Milan. Most taxis accept cards. Monzo just works.

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Just returned from Bari. Whilst I felt it is slightly behind other parts of Italy in its take up of digital in general, I had no issues using my monzo card while there. Fewer places than expected took card payment, and of those, fewer than expected took contractless, but where they did, monzo just worked. Happy :blush:!

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Anyone have any feedback re using Monzo in Sardinia??

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Continuing the discussion from ATM Fees Abroad: Asking the Monzo Community to decide pricing:

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Thank you - good to know