metal detecting in italy

[Forzac1981]

i'm gonna be traveling to italy to be specific to the alto adige region trento city. can anyone tell me what's the law over there regarding metal detecting. i'll be taking my AT Pro with me and see what i can find any advice will be great. thanks tnet

 

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[Tom_in_CA]

reply

i'm gonna be traveling to italy to be specific to the alto adige region trento city. can anyone tell me what's the law over there regarding metal detecting. i'll be taking my AT Pro with me and see what i can find any advice will be great. thanks tnet

have you tried this site yet?:


Law

Notice how nearly every single one of these countries, as dire sounding as it/they may be, continues to float words like "archaeological", "historical" and "antiquities". And with origination dates that pre-date detectors (at least for their origin). Thus to keep in compliance, seems to me that you/we are only looking for "modern change" and "modern loss tourist jewelry", etc... right? Because is anyone really standing over your shoulder with a calculator doing the math and seeing if a coin you find is old or not?

I mean, heck, the same can be said of the USA, if you asked enough bureaucrats and archies and lawyers. So too might you find a "no" (or some dire sounding wording), because whomever you ask couches your answer in terms of ARPA, or state parks, or mel -fisher legal hassles, or lost & found laws, or IRS tax laws, blah blah blah blah. So therefore, when you read a list like this, you sometimes have to read between the lines.

There was an interesting thread on an md'ing forum, where a person who'd gone vacationing in Italy, had brought along his detector for the week at the beach resort. When he got back to his home country (England I think), he gleefully posted pix of his finds. In included multiple gold rings he'd gotten off the beach "in Italy".

He got the usual "atteboys" and "congradulations" that accompany anyone's boasting in the "today's finds" type columns. HOWEVER, others came on that thread chiding or questioning him, claiming that detecting wasn't legal there. Hmmm. What was odd is, he'd gone in broad daylight, in front of anyone and everyone, and no one had cared less. In fact, I think he'd even stopped to ask a cop or walked into a local precint, and asked "can I metal detect?". To which whomever he'd asked, shrugged their shoulders, and said "I don't see why not?" (or some other such "why are you even asking me?" type answer). Anyhow, he didn't argue, and off he went.

So the thread devolved into a debate. As you can see from the link I give, you appear to be ok, as long as you're not snooping around obvious historic monuments, or parading your "old" stuff in front of archies or busy-bodies. But sheesk, so too could the same be said of the USA or Britain: I'm certain that if I asked the right questions, using the right buzz-words, to the right archies, I bet I could get a "no" for the most innocuous modern sandbox in the USA.

If it were me, I'd do it. Afterall, you're just looking for that car key or ring your wife just lost , right? (just kidding )

 

[Forzac1981]

thanks man that was really helpful. hopefully i will be ok and customs at the airport in italy won't give me a hard time. my wife works over there and she's finding out too regarding this matter i will be off historical places for sure there is a river that divides the town were people fish and party and that's what i'm planning on detect. thanks tnet and HH

 

[Tom_in_CA]

reply

........... my wife works over there and she's finding out too regarding this matter ...........

forzac, what method is your wife using to "find out" on this matter? Because be careful that she/you don't fall into the vicious loop of asking someone (border bureaucrat/consulate, archies, lawyer, etc...), who takes your "pressing question" and finds something pressing to apply to say "no". Believe it or not, that has happened, at places that in actual practice, no one cares, and you can detect till you're blue in the face.

Such was the case for example (don't get "lost in the example"), of someone getting ready to vacation to a mexican beach resort. They did the instinctive understandable thing: asked desk-bound persons. They got a "no". Perhaps because whomever they're asking is morphing shipwreck salvor laws, exporting gold bars laws, raiding the pyramaids, or whatever. Ok, so the person leaves the detector at home in-lieu of the "no". (an understandable reaction). Imagine their surprise, when they show up at their tourist beach destination, and see other plying their luck on the beach w/o a care in the world.

Thus as I say, depending on whom your wife is asking, how she's asking it, and the mood and image-of-your question, will often dictate answers. Hence I would go by what's already written, which you can clearly see in the link. And of course, like ANYWHERE in the world: you use common sense and don't go snooping around obvious historic sensitive monuments.

Heck, even if someone there could cite an ACTUAL LAW that truly said "no metal detecting" (which as you can see from my link, isn't the case), yet even if they *could*, it still doesn't necessarily mean it applies to private property. Ie.: a farmer can do whatever he wants on his own land. That is true of England for instance, where the primary search places are almost exclusively private row-crop-farmer's land with permission. While almost no one in England hunts federal and/or public lands (d/t laws). So too can the same be true of countries that appear to have "dire sounding laws": Those would, by definition, apply to public lands, and not necessarily private lands with permission.

 

[Msbeepbeep]

If you have friends or family over there I'd be asking them to find out for you. I read on a post some where you should take your detector apart take the electronic parts, coil, pin pointer in your carry on, and send your metal rods in your luggage, so it doesn't get "lost" with or with out help. Good luck and HH!

 

[Forzac1981]

thanks guys really apreciatte all the advices. She never got to talk to the city council (Comune) over there so i'm just going to avoid city parks and big monuments. i will be hunting the river banks aand some empty fields close to her house that i spotted the last time i was there. my father in law has told me that he's never seen anybody doing MD so hopefuly the MD god will be on my side finding all kinda stuff. i will be posting whatever i find like for example a jar full of gold roman soins. once againg thanks guys and HH

 

[fella]

i will be posting whatever i find like for example a jar full of gold roman soins. once againg thanks guys and HH

If you do find anything of value, Id suggest keeping your your mouth shut! The less people know the better!

 

[Tom_in_CA]

If you do find anything of value, Id suggest keeping your your mouth shut! The less people know the better!

Such is true of any country, anywhere, eh?

 

[pippinwhitepaws]

Looting Matters: Italy: Un patrimonio di tutta l?Umanità


have fun

 

[Tom_in_CA]

reply

Looting Matters: Italy: Un patrimonio di tutta l?Umanità


have fun

pippinwhitepaws, very interesting. Thanx for the link. Hmm, it's not often you get a law that RELAXES something in our hobby (ie.: the possession of an artifact). So that's kind of a turn-about from the normal "sky-is-falling" type links we often see on this subject.

As far as the links commentary on "current" laws (ie.: laws prior to ennaction of this relaxment), I notice that the only sites said to be "off-limits" are said to be "archaeological sites". Thus not the "whole country" or "all public land", but only "archaeological sites". Well, of course. So too can that be said of ANY country. Even countries like Britain and the USA where detecting is common-place. Yet none of us would argue that we can go to sacred sensitive historical monuments, of course.

So the article says nothing of any supposed country-wide ban, even before such a relaxment comes into place. Good link though, thanx!

 

[pippinwhitepaws]

Italy is rather fussie about digging of any type...Portofino won't even allow people to dig up existing sewage lines to replace them.
anywhere one digs in Italy something is bound to be found

 

[damiani1]

I just brought my detector with me to Italy in the summer and didn't really use it IN Italy but when we made a trip up to Austria. All I have to say is wow the metal detecting is way better there haha. In roughly 4 hours I found my best finds ever (roman ring, tombac button, nazi coin, unfired ak-47 bullet, and more!).

Do not try bringing batteries inside your detector one the plane. Put your batteries in your luggage. And when leaving to come home, the security people in Frankfurt airport swabbed my coil and asked me to explain this object. Last but not least, I only had trouble on my second last day in Austria when a guy who lived there started screaming at me and the only word I understood was "Policia" so I grabbed my detector and sped walked away.