Originally Posted by
Perche
You are right. You don't need to carry a passport or ID card, but you do need to carry something as proof of identity, as you do in the USA. It's a pain to carry a passport, so if you have citizenship a national ID card is the way to go. It doesn't fit into an American size wallet, but it's a lot smaller than a passport. I didn't know I could get it renewed at the consulate. I will definitely call them and see if I can get one that indicates that I live in California when I'm not in Italy!
As I said, I could be way off, I've never actually been asked for ID in Italy. What I was always told was carta d'identità or passaporto.
I think my info is current, but I've also never lived in Italy. My parents are Italian so I acquired citizenship that way, but I didn't do the paperwork until after I was an adult so there was a little bit of bureaucratic red tape. I learned a lot of the rules that way.
One thing I'm sitting here nodding my head agreeing with you on - it's really amazing how little pull the consulates have outside of their own jurisdiction. In some ways, Italian federalism is a lot stronger than we see in the US - it's rare to see local governments push back on the national government here, but in Italy it happens all the time and the comuni get their way.