For anyone traveling to or living in Italy, an Italy VPN should be part of your daily online toolbox. And, while the Mediterranean country is known more for pasta, wine, and high fashion than strict Internet censorship, the best VPN will still come in handy more than you may think.
Like almost any developed country, ISPs in Italy monitor user activity, and as the country is part of the '14 Eyes' intelligence program, any data collected on you may be shared with other countries. By using an Italy VPN, you can anonymize your activity and make it untraceable.
However, an VPN for Italy isn't just for locals staying private online. If you're a holidaymaker living la dolce vita in Florence, you can relocate yourself back home to check regional news or your online banking, and you'll also be able to connect to a server in your home country to access blocked streaming content.
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What makes a great Italy VPN?
First up, you'll need to make sure your Italy VPN is super secure and will keep you private. There are plenty of good options here, so there's no need to sacrifice this.
Then, think about what you'll be using your VPN for – will you be streaming lots, or are you a torrenting fan? Perhaps you want maximum speeds to make sure your gaming doesn't lag. Make sure the service you pick can do what you need it to do, and choosing a provider that offers a 30-day money-back guarantee is also a good idea in case it doesn't live up to expectations.
With the power to unblock almost every streaming service from Netflix to RaiPlay, full torrenting support, super speeds and unbeatable encryption and security, ExpressVPN is our top choice as an Italy VPN. However, there are plenty more good services to choose from, so keep scrolling to see what we rate as the best five today.
The best Italy VPNs today
For those looking for the absolute full Italy VPN package, ExpressVPN is the best choice – and that should come as no surprise if you've seen many of our other guides. The fact of the matter is that it's the best all-round service, and it's the perfect choice whether you live in Italy or you're just on a Mediterranean holiday.
For those living in Italy, online privacy and anonymity is likely to be a priority. Thankfully, ExpressVPN delivers powerful AES-256 encryption alongside additional features like split tunneling, a kill switch, and Perfect Forward Secrecy to ensure you're as safe as possible when on the web.
If you're just visiting the country, you might want to take a moment out of your sightseeing to kick back and watch a bit of TV, but you might find that your favorite shows on Netflix or Amazon Prime are unavailable – and services like BBC iPlayer and Hulu will be totally blocked. ExpressVPN can unblock these at the touch of a button, meaning you can make it feel like you're right back at home, even if it's just for half an hour.
You'll also get stellar connection speeds, which are essential for gaming and streaming, and ExpressVPN is optimized to deliver the best performance with minimal adjustment from you. While you can go into settings and tinker to your heart's content, as soon as you launch the app on any device you'll be able to get protected in a single tap.
Overall, ExpressVPN is simply the best VPN for Italy, and if you want full access to content as well rock-solid security, it's our top recommendation.
As quite possibly the best-known VPN on the planet, NordVPN is a hugely popular option for those seeking an Italy VPN. You'll get all the basics and plenty of interesting extra features, and the stable apps are simple to use.
If you're a streaming fan you'll be pleased, as NordVPN can unblock just about every service on the web. Plus, excellent speeds thanks to the NordLynx protocol mean you won't be left buffering, even if you're watching in 4K.
Security is tight, with features like Onion over VPN and Double VPN complementing powerful encryption. However, be aware that Double VPN isn't available on Italian servers, so if you want to use that function, you'll have to connect elsewhere in Europe.
For a world-class VPN, Nord's actually fairly reasonably priced, too. At under $4 a month you get a lot for your money, and with six simultaneous connections, you'll be able to cover all your devices.
Overall, except for a couple of interface issues, NordVPN is a seriously good Italy VPN, and we highly recommend it.
Head over to the NordVPN website to sign up
For those looking for a bargain, Surfshark is a great option. But, while it's incredibly cheap, it's also fully featured and truly competes with the more expensive options above in terms of functionality.
You'll get over 3,000 servers worldwide, and the recently added WireGuard support means that speeds are extremely fast. That's good news, as Surfshark's well known as one of the best streaming VPN services on the market.
Privacy doesn't take a back seat, though, and alongside industry-standard encryption you'll get a kill switch and some really useful additional features. However, we'd like to see an independent audit prove Surfshark's claims of zero logging.
In terms of value, though, you won't get a much better VPN for Italy than this. With simple, effective apps, great streaming performance and excellent speeds, Surfshark's a real catch.
Head over to the Surfshark website to sign up
Speed is often a top priority for users, so if you're after a super fast VPN for Italy, Hotspot Shield will be well worth a look. It's proprietary Catapult Hydra protocol delivers huge speeds, and combined with Hotspot's excellent streaming unblocking performance, it's a great choice for watching more content at home and abroad.
However, while Hotspot Shield has excellent apps on Windows and Mac, alongside good Android VPN and iPhone VPN offerings, if you use devices like Chromebooks or games consoles, unfortunately you won't be able to get covered. This is the drawback of Catapult Hydra, but if you stick to the mainstream devices you'll have no issues at all.
Hotspot Shield also logs a little more than its competitors, including your IP address and the length of time you use the apps for, but we're assured that none of this data can be used to link your activity back to you.
Otherwise, though, Hotspot Shield is very stable, and if you want the fastest speeds available from any VPN on the market today, you'll have to put up with those very minor drawbacks. All in all, though, we think it's worth it for those sweet speeds of over 400Mbps – and if you're not sure, you can always test out its free VPN or take advantage of its huge 45-day money-back guarantee.
Head over to the Hotspot Shield website to sign up
Our final Italy VPN pick is CyberGhost, and for those looking to stream or torrent within Italy it's a great pick.
One of our favorite features is the server filtering function in-app. If, for example, you wanted to watch US Netflix and you're in Milan, all you'd need to do is filter the 6,000+ servers to show you which will provide the best connection. Then connect, and you can watch whatever you like.
CyberGhost's apps aren't quite as polished as those higher up on the list, but it more than makes up for that through sheer value – at under $2.50 a month on a three-year plan, it's seriously cheap, and if you want to make your money go further it's a great choice. However, in most situations we'd probably choose Surfshark over CyberGhost.
All in all, though, CyberGhost is a quality VPN we're happy to recommend.
Head over to the CyberGhost website to sign up
Italy VPN FAQs
What is the best VPN for Italy?
We rate ExpressVPN as the best Italy VPN thanks to its excellent content unblocking, class-leading security and super simple apps that offer one-0touch protection as well as in-depth customization.
It covers all the bases, and there's very little we can fault with the service.
Can I get a free Italy VPN?
Free services can be double-edged swords – while they can offer some of the benefits of a paid-for VPN, they're never the whole package.
One of the best is Hotspot Shield's free version which, as mentioned above. is nothing compared to the full edition.
While useful for very infrequent use, they're no good for streaming and torrenting, and you'll soon find yourself on the hunt for the best Italy VPN – even if it'll cost you a couple of euros a month.
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