Originally Posted by
abhilife2001
Is this practive anywhere still

Lucky for me.. I have been to italy multiple times in the last 2 yrs and hv never been asked for this.. Anyway would not have given it also..

Well, it was the practice in a hotel near Genoa – quite a reasonably hotel – in April. I checked in, they asked for my passport, I said, "Can't you take the details and give it back to me now?", the person behind the desk agreed and did that. While he was doing it, almost to order, two other guests came by and asked if they could have their passports back, and the person behind the desk went and got them – from a big pile of passports sitting on a table!