We fly out of MXP on a Monday morning. I'd like to get a covid test before we get to the airport, so that would be on Saturday or Sunday. My wife and I are vax'd, but my daughter is not.

We're staying right by Centrale.

Any tips on how to get a rapid antigen, and where to do so in MIlan?

Check here: Test Covid: elenco delle strutture in Italia che rilasciano referto in inglese, valido per rientro in UK - QUI LONDRA

the website is in Italian but if you scroll to "Lombardia" you'll see quite a few in the city.

Prenota la prestazione - Book & Pay (humanitas.it) results in Italian & English. the website is only in Italian and I think it's only a PCR.

| Auxologico Website in both Italian and other languages Covid-19 PCR test, Rapid antigen-test and serological test at Auxologico | Auxologico

Calendario esami - GSD (grupposandonato.it) I selected the rapid antigen test (this is also the company that does the tests at the airport). The website is in Italian only but they'll provide you with results in English, I understand, if you ask before doing the test itself.

Finally there are kits on sale in pharmacies (and in some supermarkets too), plus there's the SSN - local healthcare - but I'm not sure about how results are provided.

I don't think self-tests would qualify for Americans returning to the US.

I am going to be facing the same issue in a few weeks, around the middle of August, when I will be departing from Verona.

In France, many pharmacies offer antigen tests for a fee but in Spain they only sell self-test kits.

So it would be nice if you could walk into any Italian pharmacy and get an antigen test, not a self-test kit.

So here�s what we did. Before our outbound we booked at a local cvs to get the rapid test. Getting into Milan was easy with all of the paperwork done. We didn�t use the app. We transited through Milan centrale. I asked the Red Cross about hours and best time to arrive. I believe the hours are 7:30 to 1:00 and like 3:30 to 6:30. The best time to get there is at 6 I�m the morning. When we went through it was around 10:30 and there was a line about 50 deep. I may have the times wrong. I likely do.

here in Venice there is a Red Cross station at st. Lucia. Hours are very limited. Like 2 hours per day. Farmacias we�re all booked up. We decided to go to the airport and get the rapid antigen 3 days before our flight. So went out to Marco Polo for our flight from mxp. Line was like two deep. Cost was 35 euros.

I get it was a long route but it worked for us. It gave us a cushion and we don�t need to stress about it in Milan.

Thank you to 13901 for his assistance so far.

Has anyone got experience of trying to book a Rapid Antigen test online at the facility in T1 at MXP run by Gruppo San Donato? It seems virtually impossible for a non-resident given the website is only in Italian, you have to register first before booking and as part of this registration it asks for an Italian Tax Code (Codici Fiscale). A temporary ((fake?) Codici Fiscale can be generated on-line but then the payment portal just seems to hang up each time.

3 weeks ago they accepted an e-mail booking but this time after 3 sent e-mails they just do not reply.

So does anyone have any experience of just turning up at MXP and having a test done....I really can't imagine many non-Italian folk having managed to book this online?

I'd give it a go if you have some extra time. As I was writing you by PM, I haven't personally heard about people just rocking up and getting a test done, but I've read of people doing it (here in this forum).

Have you thought about the Auxologico? From what I heard it's a bit more reliable than the San Donato. BTW, if I have a moment today I'll try and give them a call.

While I'm on the subject, a quick word about the 'codice fiscale'. People, especially in the US, think it's like their SSN - it isn't. It's just a code that is made with parts of your surname, DOB, place and province of birth (can be abroad of course) which you need to use to pay taxes and access public health. You can generate one from websites and it's totally OK to self create one. When my now wife moved to Italy to study we went together to get it done at the local branch of the agency for revenue collection and she got one before I could complain about how inefficient they were, which was a surprise.

Update - I called the Centro San Donato's switchboard and as it always happens to me I got somebody who was on his first day as a human. Verbatim from the lady "Who knew foreigners didn't have a 'Codice Fiscale'!". So that was a bust.

I then got passed on to somebody else who confirmed you can email. When I said that nobody was replying they said "well they should". SEA Malpensa's chat operator wrote the following and then closed the case.

'Email the mail address above', basically. Typical Lombard customer care I'd say.

My 2p's worth: if you can get a test in English somewhere else, do it. If you can't, try with Auxiologico. If you reeeeeally can't go anywhere else, email them and then go to MXP anyway and - in true Milanese fashion - be argumentative.

Happened to walk past a pharmacy at the Piazza delle Erbe in Verona.

They have tests for about €12 but they have a disclaimer that it's not for travel certification.

My guess is it's a home self-test kit so there is no certification printout since it wasn't supervised?

That would be my guess as well. We saw some of those in Venice and Milan.

I paid €22 Euro at a pharmacy in center of Verona.

Had to make appointment. You show up, pay, get a number and then you go out to a tent they set up down the street where there isn't much traffic.

The nurse didn't really push the thing up my nose that much.

Oh well, got a negative result. No QR code, just a stamp showing the pharmacy, where it's part of the Veneto region.

No QR code should be fine as long as there's a stamp. I did the red-cross tent in Genova and used their no-qr-code/only-stamp test result to fly without any issues.

Milan also has the same red-cross tent I saw it a few days ago, about 20 people lined up by 7am. even though it opens at 7:30am.

Yeah someone on TripAdvisor said that they were doing tests at Porta Nuova train station in Verona.

But when I searched, the only reference I found was to a Porta Nuova station in another Italian city, not sure which one it was but it wasn't Verona. And that one was set up by the Italian Red Cross.

Maybe I would have saved €22 Euros but then it would have taken me time to either drive out there and park or wait for a bus or take a taxi. The pharmacy was in walking distance so that worked out better for me.