Cash or card in Rome — what do locals actually use?

Romans use cards for almost everything now, and you will too. Contactless payment is accepted at supermarkets, pharmacies, most restaurants, and the larger bars without a second thought. That said, carry €50 to €100 in cash at all times: street food vendors at Campo de' Fiori, the few remaining cash-only trattorias in Testaccio, taxi drivers who conveniently claim their terminal is broken, and church donation boxes all run on notes and coins. The metro accepts contactless directly on the turnstile gates, which is genuinely convenient. ATMs are plentiful — use the ones attached to actual bank branches (Intesa Sanpaolo, UniCredit) rather than the independent Euronet machines, which charge predatory conversion fees and push dynamic currency conversion aggressively. Always decline that option and choose to be charged in euros. The €10,000 cash transaction limit is a legal ceiling, but in practice Romans rarely carry more than €40 on them for a normal day out.

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