The “Green Pass” is just the term adopted by the Italian government for a way for people to confirm their Covid infection/vaccination/recovery status: the Certificazione verde Covid-19.

The Green Pass di Base (Basic Green Pass) does not require any vaccination, but does require a negative Covid test taken a few days before.

For people who are vaccinated, the Certificato verde Covid-19 (Green Pass) is the same thing as the EU Digital Covid Certificate, which is a system set up to provide robust confirmation of vaccination or recovery status for all citizens of the EU. Each country’s certification system is compatible each other EU country’s system, via the use of a unique QR code.

The Green Pass Rafforzato (Super Green Pass) is the same certificate, but one that shows that someone has completed a full vaccination course within the last six months, or that they’ve had a booster on top of a completed course (indefinite validity).

Read more about the different types of Green Pass and what they allow you to do…

If you’re a vaccinated American citizen just visiting Italy, unless you have residency or you’re in Italy for an extended time, no you can’t get a Green Pass. 

Also, the US and EU systems are not compatible, so the system that scans the EU QR codes will not recognise American ones.

The good news is that it doesn’t matter. the Italian government has stated explicitly that it will accept CDC Vaccination Certificates in place of the Italian Green Pass. 

You should bring the certificate with you, and photo ID (passport or drivers license) to back it up.

The name on the photo ID must be the same as that on the certificate. In Italy it’s very important to bureaucrats that the name/date of birth, etc. is exactly the same between documents.

The practice of changing name when someone gets married is not followed in Italy so if you have one document in a married name and another in a maiden name, you may run into problems. A note on your passport that mentions that your surname has changed would be useful. If you find yourself having to explain, the term for “maiden name” is cognome di nubile (koh-NYOHM-eh dee NOO-bee-leh). People who work in tourism will likely understand, but the further off the beaten track you go, the more issues you may encounter.