Italy has excellent healthcare and Milan is a safe, modern city — but a hospital visit, a cancelled flight or a stolen bag can still turn an affordable trip into an expensive one. Here is what cover you actually need, what your European health card does and does not do, and what to keep with you.
Do you need travel insurance?
No entry rule obliges most visitors to Milan to hold a policy, so this is a judgement call rather than a formality. The case for buying one is simple: a health card covers treatment, but nothing else. Insurance is what pays when a flight is cancelled, a connection is missed, a bag never arrives, or you need to be flown home.
The risk profile also depends on what you are doing. A two-day city break built around the Duomo and a couple of museums carries little exposure. Add a day trip to the lakes, a hire car, cycling along the Navigli or a winter trip into the mountains, and both the chance of a claim and the cost of one rise sharply.
If you booked flights or tours on a credit card, check what the card already gives you. Some premium cards include medical and cancellation cover — occasionally enough that a separate policy is unnecessary.
EHIC, GHIC and public healthcare
Visitors from the EU and EEA, and Swiss nationals, can use a valid EHIC; UK visitors use the GHIC. Either card entitles you to treatment in the Italian public system on the same terms as an Italian resident — which is not the same as free. Some services carry a standard co-payment, known locally as the ticket.
Present the card at a public hospital or at a guardia medica (out-of-hours doctor). It is not accepted at private clinics, and it does nothing at all for the non-medical parts of a trip.
Treatment in public hospitals and clinics, emergency care, prescriptions and ongoing care for a pre-existing condition, on the same basis as a resident.
Repatriation home, private hospitals, cancelled or curtailed trips, missed departures, lost or stolen belongings, and personal liability.
The card is not a substitute for insurance, and it is worth checking the expiry date before you travel — an out-of-date card is treated as no card at all.
What a good policy should cover
Policies vary far more in their exclusions than in their headline price. These are the clauses worth reading before you buy:
The single most important item. Treatment abroad is manageable; a medical flight home is not. Check the limit, not just that the section exists.
Reimburses non-refundable flights, hotels and tours if illness, injury or another listed reason stops you travelling.
Note the single-item limit — it is often lower than a phone, camera or laptop is worth, and those may need declaring separately.
Pays for meals and a hotel when a flight is heavily delayed, and for getting you back on your way if you miss a departure.
Covers damage or injury you cause to someone else — easy to overlook, occasionally the largest claim of all.
Cycling, boat trips, skiing near the lakes and any declared medical condition must be listed, or a related claim can be refused.
Compare the excess as carefully as the premium: a cheap policy with a high excess per claim can cost more in practice than a slightly dearer one. If you travel more than twice a year, an annual multi-trip policy is usually better value than separate single-trip cover.
Every tour and activity on Civitatis can be cancelled free of charge up to 24 hours before it starts — one less thing to insure.
If something goes wrong
Insurers refuse claims on process far more often than on substance, so the paperwork matters. Keep a digital copy of your policy and its 24-hour emergency number where you can reach it without a signal — screenshotting both is enough.
Dial 112, the free European emergency number; operators speak English. Call your insurer as soon as you can — many require authorisation before private treatment.
Report it to the police and get the written denuncia, normally within 24 hours. Almost no insurer pays a theft claim without it.
Keep boarding passes, booking references and receipts. Your airline may owe you compensation separately under EU rules, on top of anything you claim.
Contact your consulate for an emergency travel document, and keep a photo of your passport in your email so you are not starting from nothing.
Save your insurer's emergency line to your phone before you leave, and share the policy number with whoever you are travelling with. It is the detail people most often cannot find at the worst moment.