Privacy Policy

Last updated: June 2026

1. Data Controller

InfoItaly.org is the data controller for personal data collected through this website. InfoItaly.org is an independent travel publisher and part of the InfoPlaces network of independent country guides. We are not affiliated with any government body. Contact: contact@infoitaly.org.

2. What We Collect

Information you give us directly:

• Email address and (optional) first name when you subscribe to our newsletter or download the free guide.
• Name, email and message when you submit the contact form.

Information collected automatically (only with your consent):

• Anonymised analytics via Google Analytics 4 — IP-anonymised, page views, time on site, referrer, device class.
• Affiliate-click identifiers (when you click a Wise / SafetyWing / Booking.com / Airalo / NordVPN / GetYourGuide link).
• Standard server access logs (IP address, browser, requested URL, timestamp) retained for 30 days for security and abuse prevention. This collection has a legitimate-interest basis.

3. How We Use Information

• To send you the content you requested (newsletter, downloadable guide).
• To respond to contact-form enquiries.
• To improve the website via anonymised analytics (which guides are read most, where readers come from).
• To detect and prevent abuse (spam, scraping, attacks).

We never sell, rent or share your personal data with third parties for marketing purposes.

4. Cookies & Tracking

We use three categories of cookies. Google Consent Mode v2 is configured with all advertising and analytics storage defaulted to "denied" — your browser will not load tracking scripts until you give explicit consent.

• Necessary (always on): session cookies, your consent state, language preference. Cannot be disabled — required for the site to function.
• Analytics (opt-in): Google Analytics 4 — anonymised page-view tracking. Cookies expire after 12 months.
• Marketing (opt-in): affiliate-click tracking via partner cookies (Wise, SafetyWing, Airalo, Booking.com, GetYourGuide, NordVPN). Used solely to credit referrals — never combined into cross-site advertising profiles by us.

You can change your choices any time via the Cookie Settings link (also available in the footer of every page). Withdrawing consent is as easy as giving it.

5. Affiliate Links & Third Parties

This site contains affiliate links to SafetyWing, Airalo, Wise, NordVPN, Booking.com and GetYourGuide. When you click an affiliate link, that partner may set its own cookies on your device under its own privacy policy. Embedded content (e.g., maps, videos) may also set cookies — these are governed by the third party's privacy policy, not ours.

6. Your Rights (GDPR & CCPA)

If you are in the EU, UK, EEA, Switzerland, or California, you have the following rights regarding personal data we hold about you:

• Access — request a copy of the data we hold about you.
• Rectification — request correction of inaccurate data.
• Erasure ("right to be forgotten") — request deletion of your data.
• Withdraw email consent — every newsletter has a one-click unsubscribe link.
• Withdraw cookie consent — re-open the Cookie Settings banner and toggle off Analytics / Marketing.
• Data portability — receive your data in a machine-readable format.
• Object to processing — object to legitimate-interest processing.

To exercise any of these rights, email contact@infoitaly.org with the subject "Data request". We respond within 30 days, free of charge.

7. Right to Lodge a Complaint

Under GDPR Article 77, you have the right to lodge a complaint with a supervisory authority — in particular in the EU member state of your habitual residence, place of work or place of the alleged infringement. The list of EU/EEA Data Protection Authorities is published by the European Data Protection Board: edpb.europa.eu/about-edpb/about-edpb/members_en. Italian residents may contact the Garante per la Protezione dei Dati Personali (garanteprivacy.it). UK residents may contact the ICO (ico.org.uk). California residents have separate rights under CCPA — contact us with the subject "CCPA request".

8. Data Retention

• Newsletter subscribers — retained until you unsubscribe.
• Contact-form messages — retained up to 12 months for follow-up, then deleted.
• Server access logs — 30 days, then automatically rotated and deleted.
• Cookie consent state — stored in your browser's localStorage for up to 180 days; we do not store it on our servers.
• Analytics data — Google Analytics retains anonymised event data for 14 months; aggregate reports indefinitely.

9. Children

Under GDPR Article 8, this service is not directed to children under the age of 16. We do not knowingly collect personal data from children under 16. If you believe a child has provided us with personal data, please contact us and we will delete it within 7 days.

10. Contact

Privacy queries: contact@infoitaly.org. We respond within 5 business days; data-rights requests within 30 days as required by GDPR.

Who we are

Suggested text: Our website address is: https://infoitaly.org.

Comments

Suggested text: When visitors leave comments on the site we collect the data shown in the comments form, and also the visitor’s IP address and browser user agent string to help spam detection.

An anonymized string created from your email address (also called a hash) may be provided to the Gravatar service to see if you are using it. The Gravatar service privacy policy is available here: https://automattic.com/privacy/. After approval of your comment, your profile picture is visible to the public in the context of your comment.

Media

Suggested text: If you upload images to the website, you should avoid uploading images with embedded location data (EXIF GPS) included. Visitors to the website can download and extract any location data from images on the website.

Cookies

Suggested text: If you leave a comment on our site you may opt-in to saving your name, email address and website in cookies. These are for your convenience so that you do not have to fill in your details again when you leave another comment. These cookies will last for one year.

If you visit our login page, we will set a temporary cookie to determine if your browser accepts cookies. This cookie contains no personal data and is discarded when you close your browser.

When you log in, we will also set up several cookies to save your login information and your screen display choices. Login cookies last for two days, and screen options cookies last for a year. If you select "Remember Me", your login will persist for two weeks. If you log out of your account, the login cookies will be removed.

If you edit or publish an article, an additional cookie will be saved in your browser. This cookie includes no personal data and simply indicates the post ID of the article you just edited. It expires after 1 day.

Embedded content from other websites

Suggested text: Articles on this site may include embedded content (e.g. videos, images, articles, etc.). Embedded content from other websites behaves in the exact same way as if the visitor has visited the other website.

These websites may collect data about you, use cookies, embed additional third-party tracking, and monitor your interaction with that embedded content, including tracking your interaction with the embedded content if you have an account and are logged in to that website.

Who we share your data with

Suggested text: If you request a password reset, your IP address will be included in the reset email.

How long we retain your data

Suggested text: If you leave a comment, the comment and its metadata are retained indefinitely. This is so we can recognize and approve any follow-up comments automatically instead of holding them in a moderation queue.

For users that register on our website (if any), we also store the personal information they provide in their user profile. All users can see, edit, or delete their personal information at any time (except they cannot change their username). Website administrators can also see and edit that information.

What rights you have over your data

Suggested text: If you have an account on this site, or have left comments, you can request to receive an exported file of the personal data we hold about you, including any data you have provided to us. You can also request that we erase any personal data we hold about you. This does not include any data we are obliged to keep for administrative, legal, or security purposes.

Where your data is sent

Suggested text: Visitor comments may be checked through an automated spam detection service.