As you may remember I found out my vaccines had expired when I was in Florence. This meant I had no ‘Green Pass’ which is required to get into cafes (even sat outside), bars, restaurants, museums, galleries, shopping centres etc.
I thought that my recent positive test would act as a Green Pass, because recovery from covid is listed on the Italian government website as equivalent to a booster. When I presented this past positive result at a cafe, it was rejected. I did some research and found out I needed to go to an ASL office (Ministry of Health) and get an official recovery certificate and for them to convert this into a Green Pass.
I drove for 2 hrs to the nearest ASL office. It was closed because it was a Sunday so I explored the random city (Viterbo) that I’d found myself in. It turned out to be a fortified medieval town.
At 8am the next morning I went straight to the ASL office. They didn’t want to help. They said to go to a doctors. The doctors said no, only the ASL office could provide what I needed.
I decided maybe a better option was to get my booster vaccine. So I went to a pharmacy, and they said yes I could have it there the next day but because I didn’t have an Italian heath card I needed to get a special code from the ASL office. The ASL office was now closed. It is only open for a few hours each morning Monday to Friday.
I went back to the ASL office the next morning. I spoke to the same unhelpful lady again, and she was about to turn me away, when a different lady came out from the back. She took pity on me and looked over my documents and sent some emails. It turned out that a recovery certificate was my best option, but to get this I needed to show evidence of a negative test. All the negative tests I’d done since my positive one were ‘at home lateral flow tests’ which aren’t counted as evidence.
I left the ASL office and began the search for a testing centre or pharmacy that would give me the evidence I needed. That afternoon, and all of the next day, I walked miles around the city going into 10 pharmacies and 5 testing centres. All of them were either fully booked or required an Italian health card number. I became very demoralised.
In the end I managed to book a test through a website especially for tourists in Italy. It was in a town 45 minutes drive away. So the next day off I went to Tarquinia.
I had my test, then wandered around whilst I waited for the results. It was another sweet little historic town.
The results came back negative. I emailed them across to the ASL office in Viterbo and also took them to a new ASL office in Civitavecchia. So now two different ASL offices in two different regions of Italy had my request, hopefully one of them would be successful in getting me a Green Pass!
There was nothing else I could do so I headed down to the Amalfi coast to drive one of the most scenic roads in Italy
I stopped to buy some locally grown produce (more than 10x the price it would’ve been in Morocco!)
The road was very twisty turny and full of tight squeezes
I visited some of the towns and villages along the way
And spent some time on the beach and swimming in the sea
I recieved an email from the Ministry of Health saying that my Green Pass was ready and could be downloaded online using a code which they provided. This didn’t work. I rang the helpline, they said I needed to wait 48hrs for it to be available to download.
I continued driving south. There is now only a few days until Aimee arrives in Sicily. Without a Green Pass I will not be able to board the ferry.
After 48hrs my Green Pass was still not available to download. I rang the helpline again. They said I needed to get back in touch with the ASL office which approved it. The ASL office was closed (Friday afternoon). It won’t be open until Monday morning.
Feeling a bit stressed about my ferry the next day, I went with my plan B. Go for another covid test, get a negative result and use this as a temporary Green Pass in order to board the ferry (it lasts 24hrs). I got the test, and a negative result.
Shortly after this I recieved a ‘reminder of your upcoming ferry’ email from the ferry company which had a big box at the bottom stating that a Super Green Pass was required to board the ferry. My negative test was only equivalent to a basic Green Pass. I emailed the ferry company to explain my situation but didn’t hold out much hope that they would reply. I had a cry and messaged Aimee to explain I might not make it to Sicily.
My last option was to go to the ferry port early, show them all my documents and plead with them. Luckily I actually got an email reply from the ferry company. They said that my basic Green Pass would be accepted because I am travelling to Sicily from Italty and not abroad. What a relief!! Let’s hope it’s true.
I will only truly relax once I’m on the ferry tomorrow
