Best Tips To Avoid Pickpockets In Italy: how to outsmart the thieves

If you are traveling to any busy tourist city, anywhere in the world, you need to be aware of pickpockets. I write about travel in Italy so will focus this post on avoiding pickpockets in Italy, but the same information applies to anywhere in Europe, or anywhere else in the world.

Pickpocketing can happen anywhere, anytime, but for the most part pickpockets prefer crowded areas where their victims are either distracted or not paying attention. Although you can still get pickpocketed away from the high tourist attractions, it is less likely. And if you carry yourself like someone who is on top of it and knows what’s up, they are more likely to bypass you and go for the easier victims.

If you are new around here, I live between Italy and the U.S. I lead private tours for women and write Amazon’s highest rated, best-selling Italy travel guides called the Glam Italia! How To Travel Italy series. (Available worldwide on Amazon)

Let’s look at ways you can protect yourself and still focus on having a fantastic time while you are away.

Three Core Principles To Avoiding Pickpockets In Italy

• Always be aware of your surroundings
• Always keep your possessions close/have your hand on your belongings
• Avoid looking like an easy target.

You Are Not A Local

One thing to always remember is that no matter how much you want to seem like a local, you always stand out as not being a local. If someone needs help, needs directions, has any kind of questions, they can and should ask a local. In the high tourism areas most people speak English, so there are plenty of other people they can ask. There are always police around, waiters at restaurants, people manning market booths and shops – there is zero reason to ask you.

Be very wary of anyone you don’t know entering your physical space to ask you for anything.

Pickpockets used to look like huge gypsy women wearing giant skirts full of pockets. Now they dress like priests, American tourists, students, school teachers – for the most part you won’t be able to pick them in a crowd. No one you don’t know personally has any reason to be inside your physical space. If anyone comes within arms distance of you, be on high alert.

Avoid Looking Like A Tourist

There are some dead giveaways that A) you are a tourist and B) that you are clueless to what’s going on around you.

• The first is the way you dress. Wandering the streets of Rome/Florence/Venice wearing a baseball cap, athleisure, flip flops, graphic t-shirts, T-shirts announcing that you love New York or which university you went to, inappropriately short skirts and cropped tops etc, all make you look both like a tourist and like easy pickings.
• Standing in the middle of the sidewalk consulting a map or phone also makes you stand out. Firstly it’s really inconsiderate of anyone else who is trying to walk past, secondly it advertises that you are either lost or distracted. If you do need to check your map or check something on your phone, I recommend leaning back against the wall. It makes you less accessible and helps you be aware of anyone getting close from your front or either side. Also it is considerate and implies you don’t want to inconvenience people going about their day, which makes you look less like an inconsiderate tourist and more like someone who’s on top of it.

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Smart Security Tips

1. Leave your diamonds and rolexes at home. Flashy displays of wealth draw pickpockets to you. The same applies to wearing faux rolexes and diamonds. If you’re hoping to convince others they’re real, pickpockets will also think they’re real.
2. Avoid wearing a backpack. They’re easy for pickpockets to get into when you’re in a crowd, are super annoying for every person you bump into, and in many museums, art museums and historic sites won’t let you bring them inside. If you do wear a backpack be sure to use carabiners to secure the zippers. It’s inconvenient for you, but even more so for anyone hoping to rob you.
3. Don’t put your phone on the table. This one is a little trickier as most of us photograph our food and other things going on around us. However, it is super easy to swipe a smart phone or a camera from a table. An alternative is to use a phone lanyard like this one. Recent model iPhones are particularly desirable to pickpockets.
4. Wear a crossbody bag. I always wear a crossbody bag when I’m traveling. They are much more difficult for anyone to snatch, and much, much easier for you to protect. Keep your bag zipped closed at all times

I’ve used the Kate Spade Rosie Leather Crossbody bag (pictured above) for several years now. Apart from being a good crossbody bag it is also completely innocuous. It’s not flashy, it’s not a designer bag – it’s intended to not draw attention. And it goes with everything, so I don’t need to change out bags while I’m away. I don’t care that it’s a little beaten up at this point, the job of this bag is to keep all my possessions safe, close to me, and in my control.

Another great choice for crossbody bags are the various bags from Travelon.

Travelon crossbody bags (like the one pictured above) are an excellent choice for travelers. They are slash-proof, which is more something I see in Paris – I’ve never seen or heard of bags being slashed in Italy. Also they have RFID blockers, multiple zipper pockets, and all exterior zippers have little carabiners, which make them a nightmare for pickpockets to try to get into. I don’t recommend hanging any bag over your chair in a restaurant, as it is a flashing neon light to pickpockets and opportunists, but the Travelon bags have steel cables running through the insides. You can clip the strap securely through the back of your chair, and no one can cut it and run.

** the only time I’ve seen a bag snatch was in Paris a few years ago. A young man grabbed the handbag of a Parisian woman sitting at a table with friends. He took off down the street and no one could catch him. I never have my bag hanging on the back of a chair. Instead I loop the strap over my legs and have the bag either sitting on my feet or secured between them.

They even have a variety of Travelon crossbody anti-theft bags for men. (See here on Amazon) My friend’s husband just used one on a trip to Portugal and loved it. His was smaller than the one in the photo above though. Men should never put their wallet in their back pocket. If seated they should also be aware of how easy it is to slip the wallet from their front pocket too.

Separate Your Cards And Cash

I recommend traveling with two cards and some cash. Keep one card and half your cash locked in the hotel safe, or tucked away in your airbnb. Separate the remaining cash and card in your handbag, so if you do get pickpocketed they don’t get everything. This is where the Travelon bags come in so handy, with their multiple zippered interior pockets it’s easy to keep everything separated. You can also separate your passport into it’s own zippered compartment.

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Photograph Your Documents

I recommend photographing/photocopying all your travel documents, travel insurance, credit cards and drivers’ license and emailing them to yourself. This way if your phone is stolen you won’t have a problem accessing the information from a computer. In Italy you are supposed to carry your passport with you at all times, and may find police stop you to check your documents. I’ve had mine checked multiple times by police on trains/in train stations.

Withdrawing Cash

I always recommend arriving to any country with a couple of hundred dollars in local cash. I order it from my bank at home and take it with me, even though the exchange rate isn’t going to be so good. Then once in Italy I pull cash as needed. Only use Bancomat machines attached to a bank. Most banks have an option to use their cash withdrawal machines inside the bank. Always use this option. Pickpockets can keep an eye on you if you use an outdoor cash machine, and can see where you put the cash. Also, machines inside the bank are less likely to be cloned.

Don’t use ATM machines. You’ll see plenty of signs for ATM machines. These are owned by money exchange companies and give you the worst possible exchange rate as well as the least security. In Italy the regulated, bank owned machines are the bancomats.

Also, don’t bring cash from home to change at the money changing places you see all over the tourist cities. These are a rip off, have the worst exchange rates and the highest fees. Plus any enterprising pickpocket can watch you make your transaction and with he open storefront model they can easily see where you put that wad of cash.

Common PickPocket Tricks

The easiest places to pick pockets are the most crowded ones. The Trevi Fountain, Spanish Steps, outside the colosseum or the Vatican in Rome are prime pickpocket territory. Tons of tourists, none of them paying attention. In Florence the Ponte Vecchio all day long, Piazza della Signoria, around the Duomo, outside and inside the Uffizi and the Accademia are all prime spots. In Venice the Rialto Bridge, Piazza San Marco during the day, and the Ponte della Paglia (where you stand to look at the Bridge of Sighs are hotspots. Every McDonalds, Starbucks, Burger King and Subway anywhere in the country or anywhere in Europe are perfect spots to rob Americans.

1. In crowds or anytime someone gets physically close to you, keep your hand firmly on your bag.
2. On the metro (in any city in Europe) don’t stand by the door. Pickpockets will rob you then jump off the train right before the doors close.
3. If anyone asks you to take their photo, politely decline. Remember most pickpockets just look like regular folks/tourists. While you’re distracted taking their photo their buddy is picking your pocket.
4. If asking a stranger to take your photo using your iPhone, don’t open the phone. From the closed position swipe left and the camera will open while everything else stays locked. Remember though that iPhones are more desirable to thieves than Androids, so think twice before giving a stranger your phone.
5. Don’t give money to beggars in the street. Many/most are eastern European gypsies with partners across the street watching to see where you pull your cash from. There is one I’ve seen for at least 15 years in Florence, always bent over in the gutter, begging. When no one’s around she pulls out an iPhone more recent than my own and checks her messages.
6. They normally work in groups, passing off the goods they’ve stolen. If you were to catch the one who robbed you, your belongings would already be gone in the opposite direction with their accomplice.
7. They will often create a distraction – a crazy guy in the street, someone shoving you so you turn around, or a group of girls approaching you with something in their hands like a newspaper, a big bag, a jacket over their arm, anything to distract you so you don’t see the hand that robs you. Just always remember, there is zero reason for anyone to enter your physical space. If girls or guys are getting close while flirting with you, assume they’re pickpockets.

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Recap:

Pickpockets generally look for the easiest marks. If you aren’t dressed like a tourist, don’t wear flashy jewelry, but instead wear a crossbody bag, keep your hand securely on the bag when others are close, avoid overcrowded situations, and just be aware, chances are they’ll pass you by and go after someone easier.

Their best advantage is you getting distracted. Your best advantage is being prepared and not letting them.

I hope this helps you keep yourself and your belongings safe while traveling to the coolest country in the world! You can get more tips on traveling in Italy from my book Glam Italia! How To Travel Italy and from joining my free monthly newsletter here.

Happy travels!