The Rough Guide to Venice and the Veneto

and to dispense prescriptions; there’s generally
one open all night in the bigger towns
and cities. They work on a rota system, and
the address of the one currently open is
posted on any farmacia door. If you require
a doctor (médico), ask for help in the first
instance at your hotel or the local tourist
office. Alternatively, look in the Yellow Pages
(Pagine Gialle): larger towns will have English-speaking
doctors. Follow a similar procedure
if you have dental problems. Again,
keep all receipts for later insurance claims.
If you are taken seriously ill or involved
in an accident, go to the Pronto Soccorso
(Casualty/A&E) section of the nearest hospital;
in a real emergency, phone t113 and
ask for ospedale or ambulanza. Major train
stations and airports often have first-aid
facilities with qualified doctors on hand.
Insurance
A typical travel insurance policy usually provides
cover for the loss of baggage, tickets
and – up to a certain limit – cash or cheques,
as well as cancellation or curtailment of your
journey. If you do take medical coverage,
ascertain whether benefits will be paid as
treatment proceeds or only after you return
home, and whether there is a 24-hour medical
emergency number. When securing baggage
cover, make sure that the per-article
limit – typically under £500 – will cover your
most valuable possession. If you need to
make a claim, you should keep receipts for
medicines and medical treatment, and in the
event you have anything stolen, you must
obtain an official statement from the police
(either polizia or carabinieri).
Before paying for a new policy, it’s worth
checking whether you’re already covered:
some all-risks home insurance policies may
cover your possessions when overseas,
and many private medical schemes include
cover when abroad. In Canada, provincial
health plans usually provide partial cover
for medical mishaps overseas, while holders
of official student/teacher/youth cards in
Canada and the US are entitled to meagre
accident coverage and hospital in-patient
benefits. Students will often find that their
student health coverage extends during the
vacations and for one term beyond the date
of last enrolment.
If you do need to take out insurance, consider
Rough Guides’ own travel insurance.
Rough Guides has teamed up with Columbus
Direct to offer you travel insurance that
can be tailored to suit your needs. Readers
can choose from many different travel
insurance products, including a short-break
option for city getaways, a typical holiday
package option, and annual multi-trip policies
for those who travel regularly. Rough
Guides travel insurance is available to the
residents of 36 different countries with different
language options to choose from via
our website – wwww.roughguidesinsurance.
com – where you can also purchase the
insurance. Alternatively, UK residents should
call t0800 083 9507, US citizens t1-800
749-4922 and Australians t1 300 669 999.
All other nationalities should call t+44 870
890 2843.
Internet access
Internet points are now widespread in the
larger towns of the Veneto (see p.284 for
Venice listings), though many of them are
short-lived. Reckon on paying around e4 for
half an hour online. wwww.kropla.com is a
useful website giving details of how to plug
your laptop in when abroad, international
phone codes, and information about electrical
systems in different countries.
Mail
Post offices are generally open Monday
to Saturday from around 8.30am until 5pm
(until around 7.30pm at main offices), but
smaller towns won’t have a service on a
Saturday, or it will be restricted to the morning
only. Stamps can be bought in tabacchi,
too, as well as in some gift shops in
the larger towns. Postal rates for a letter or
postcard are e0.62 within Europe, e0.65 to
North America, and e0.70 to Australia and
New Zealand. The Italian postal service is
one of the tardiest in Europe – if your letter
is urgent, consider spending the extra few
cents for the “posta prioritaria” service. Letters
can be sent poste restante to any Italian
town, by addressing them “Fermo Posta”
followed by the name of the town. Mail will
be sent to the central post office; when picking
something up take your passport, and
make sure they check under middle names
BASICS
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Travel essentials
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