ByROSSELLA TERCATIN
Israelis are likely going to be able to visit Italy starting from mid-May, as Jerusalem also prepares to welcome the first foreign tourists in over a year from a list of countries that includes the US, the UK, France, Australia and Italy, starting from May 23.

“Italy is ready to welcome back the world,” Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi said speaking after a G20 meeting on Tuesday. “Our mountains, our beaches, our cities and our countryside are reopening.”

At the end of April, Italy introduced a green pass system to allow Italians who are fully vaccinated, have recovered or tested negative for COVID-19 in the previous 24 hours, to move across different regions.

The prime minister said that the system to allow in foreign nationals will work in a similar way, therefore opening Italian borders also to visitors who are not vaccinated. The European Union, where Italy is a member, is set to launch its own COVID-passport system around mid-June.

The Italian green pass will allow foreign nationals to be admitted into the country and to skip the quarantine period.

The plan will be detailed in a directive of the Italian Health Ministry in the next few days.

While Draghi explicitly mentioned only European nationals as those who will be able to visit Italy, Italian media reported that also tourists from extra-EU countries with a high vaccination rate – namely, the US, the UK and Israel – are going to be included.

Italy is reportedly also among the countries with which Israel is in negotiations to mutually recognize vaccination certificates.

Israel is set to reopen its borders to vaccinated visitors starting from May 23.
The tentative list of countries from where visitors will be admitted currently includes Italy, France, Britain, the US, Australia, Germany, Malta, Iceland, Denmark, Ireland, Portugal, New Zealand and Singapore, a government official told The Jerusalem Post. He added that the authorities are working on expanding the list. Also included in the list is Hong Kong, a special administrative region of China.

At the beginning, only tourists traveling in groups will be able to enter the country. Individual visitors are set to be admitted by July, according to the plan unveiled by the Health Ministry.