Traveling to Italy and France

dsvirsky

dsvirsky

Joined
Aug 2, 1999
Messages
1,910
I'm going to Italy (Florence, Rome, Venice) and France (Nice) at the end of May. Naturally, I'm wondering what sort of knife I can carry with me without getting my @$$ into trouble with the local authorities. I've searched the forums, but all I can find are discussions about what can be carried throught airports and on airplanes.

Normally, when I'm trying for maximum political correctness, I carry my zytel Cricket. But I'm wondering whether I should invest in something even smaller, like a Toad (I'm a Spydie kind of guy)? Or to put it another way, do I have a legitimate excuse to buy myself another knife?



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Dave

Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of More Knives
 
I am not totally positive, there might be something about the blade not being longer than 3". Especially beware in France. Pretty country, cool people, but they have a "thing" against using english language. So trying to explain in English why you don't know certain rule might get you into more trouble.
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Kris.
 
Frank,
I plan on buying something locally produced when I get to Italy. Unfortunately, that doesn't guaranty that it will be legal to carry.

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Dave

Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of More Knives
 
Take a cheap slip-joint folder. If it gets confiscated, no biggie. Plus, locking blades seem to be a few notches higher on the "get-you-into-trouble" scale.

Jon
 
Hi Dave,

you will surely find lots of knifes in Italy and France to carry home. Both "Spagetties" and "Frog eaters" are knife-nuts in the bottoms of their hearts.

In France you will find at every corner the Laguiole (pronounce "Lajol") in every size and price.
www.laguiole.com

Then there are the cheap Opinel in sizes from thumb to hatchet. (Because the "Tommies" have no own folder tradition, they placed an opinel in their British Museum as example for best design.)

Moreover, some french regions have their own knife pattern, so the Nontron, the Mediterain, the Piemontaise and more.

In this forum was a topic about recommendable knife shops in Paris.

And then there are crazy knife smithes, which make knifes you haven´t even seen in Conan movies.

There is a good french knive magazine "Fascination de Couteaux", just look in.

The french Solingen is called Thiers.

About the legal question I can only say, that the "Flics" are more tough than NYPD and have less scruples than New Orleans cops.

When I was in Paris, I did well behave and so I could carry my "Kabelmesser" (a german sort of Barlow) without being molested.

Enjoy Paris!

Claus

Keep your blade clean!
 
Well, in my search of the net, I've learned that carrying a knife with a blade over 2" is illegal in Italy, unless you have a receipt showing that you purchased it that day. Still searching for information about carry in France.

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Dave

Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of More Knives
 
well there ya go, at least while in Italy, you have an excuse to buy a knife everyh day, what could be better?
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Sanity is overrated, simply a moonbeam spilling pearls on a dark and treacherous sea.
j . p hissom
 
I'd be surprised if even the French and Italian embassies could give you the info you're seeking. There, as here, much depends upon local custom and the attitude of the individual LEOs you might come in contact with.
I mean, consider if you were a foreigner planning a trip to the U.S.. Try finding a coherent pattern in all the varied stories knife-bearing people share on BF of being hassled on the one hand or breezing through a police encounter on the other.
For what it's worth, here's what I decided to do when in Spain last fall. I took a SAK, I think the Tinker, because people all over the world are used to seeing Western vagabonds carrying them. That's what I used to cut up fruit and bread in markets and other public places, fix luggage, etc. And for my own peace of mind and sense of safety, I spent $14 on an Outdoor Edge Wedge, which I wore around my neck the whole time. Not even the most observant onlooker can tell a knife like that is there. My thinking was that knife doesn't come out unless I'm in a dire circumstance, in which case the benefit dwarfs any possible legal repercussions from carrying it.
I wouldn't take a knife I cared a lot about on a trip to a foreign country. From the favorable comments I hear about the Toad, you might want to find another justification for buying that one, other than the trip. Shouldn't be hard. The Toad sounds like fun.
Trip sounds great. If time permits, consider getting out of the big cities--and what better way than by taking the train from Florence to Siena. It's just a couple hours or less, and well worthwhile.
But I like Ohoisin's advice best of all.
 
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