Travellers hoping for a quick visit to Sicily should expect to be tested for COVID-19 on arrival, even if they are fully vaccinated, Sicilian and Italian authorities have confirmed after a day of confusion over the rules.
Initially authorities gave conflicting information about the requirements to enter the Italian region from Malta.
Sicilian authorities told Times of Malta on Friday that all those arriving in Sicily from Malta will be subject to COVID-19 testing upon arrival, after region president Nello Musumeci signed a decree on Wednesday.
A spokesperson for Regione Sicilia, the Sicilian regional government, said that anyone arriving to Sicily from Malta or who has visited Malta in the preceding 14 days will be subject to COVID-19 testing.
When Times of Malta asked if those with a vaccine or green pass would still have to undergo the test, she said: "Yes, you need to take the test."
She said that arrivals from Malta will be given a rapid antigen test and that these rules also apply to Italian citizens as well as people residing in Sicily.
A spokesperson for the Italian Embassy initially contradicted this, saying that the new rules would only subject unvaccinated travellers to the possibility of getting tested upon arrival.
However a spokesperson later clarified that the ordnance specifies that "all subjects entering the region are obliged to undergo a swab test".
She added that the process was already underway in Palermo and was being set up in Catania as well as Pozzallo, where the ferry from Malta docks.
Travellers who arrive with a PCR test carried out in Malta should still expect to undergo a rapid test on site, she said.
The news of Sicily’s new rules caused confusion among travellers due to visit Sicily, as the decree differed from travel rules set out by the Italian central government. The rules did not specify the terms in which tests should be presented or carried out.
Previously, it was possible to travel to Sicily with a negative swab test result, either PCR or rapid antigen, taken 48 hours prior to arrival in Sicily and either an EU digital vaccine certificate or recovery certificate.
Sicily Ferry operator Virtu Ferries informed customers that a vaccine certificate would be sufficient to be allowed to travel to Sicily on Thursday.
TVM also reported on Friday that Maltese residents who arrived in Sicily by catamaran early in the morning were neither tested nor asked to present a test on arrival.