An Entire Region of Italy with Free Wifi

Liguria Free WiFi Zones Are Here. 

Every Comune Will Be Connected. 

The first Liguria Wifi Zone in Vezzi Portio.

Free public wireless internet access in Liguria is expanding big time. It's now dramatically easier to find public wifi hotspots in many areas of Liguria. That's because Liguria WiFi Zones have arrived!

Hopefully you read our article Free Public Wifi in Italy (link) so you know that Italian law was clarified to make wifi internet registration easier, causing an explosion in wifi hotspots, both public and private, all over Italy. The article also covered Free Wifi Italia which allows access to many Italian networks with one registration.

Now the Region of Liguria is offering free wifi internet through Liguria WiFi Zones to help tourists get email and info on hotels and restaurants, including in smaller towns; and to help residents as well. They are so canny they put a Zone outside our Ameglia apartment - knowing our lax journalistic ethics would result in this article. The connection speeds will vary, of course, the three we tested had download speeds of 1Mbs, 2.2Mbs and an impressive 7Mbs.* The official website is Liguria WiFi Zone where you will find a Liguria WiFi Map.

Travel Tip_________________________________________________________________

Renting A Car in Italy. If you drive in urban areas at home, you can drive in Italy. Car rental prices are important, but don't rent based solely on low price and stick to well known companies. We have two articles to help you:                              Link: Independent Car Rental Reviews for Italy 
                             Link:Car Rental Tips for Italy - Pick It Up Right 
We advise getting your car from one of the companies with the fewest problems reported (Avis, Europcar, Hertz, Autovia, Budget) either direct or via a reputable car rental broker such as AutoEurope (NOT autoeuropa, ending in 'a').  If you find our efforts helpful, you can thank us by making your reservation through these links -using the links do not raise your price.
AutoEurope(US)    Auto Europe(UK) 
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The Plan. The first Liguria Wifi Zone was in rural Vezzi Portio (Savona Province) in 2014, and there are over 100 comuni connected now. Ventimiglia, Levanto, Lavagna, Rapallo, La Spezia, Camogli, and Ameglia are connected for example. (See the Liguria WiFi Map). Many other towns including Riomaggiore, Manarola, Corniglia, and Vernazza in Cinque Terre have connections. Each comune can put its own introductory info on the network, making everyone happy. The goal is to connect all 235 comuni in Liguria, and then add private entities such as hotels.


Registering. You can register for Liguria Wifi at their public wireless access points, or at their home website: Liguria WiFi.  The registration is valid for one device, and you can use the network for up to two hours a day.** The press information says you can use this registration on the Free Wifi Italia network, but we haven't yet tried ours yet. Also you don't need to register if you have credentials with Liguria WiFi's 'Roaming Partners' which include AT&T, Boingo, iPass, or Trustive.

The registration form is easy and available in English. The process is very typical: name, email address, physical address, birth date, and identity verification. The verification is by a credit card authorization or by an SMS to a cell phone. The cell phone does NOT have to be Italian as several dozen country codes are listed, including Britain's, but the USA code is not listed yet. We used a US-based credit card; and while Capital One declined the transaction in a security hissy fit, a Chase card went through quickly. No money is charged to the card, and the number is not stored. The network is serviced by guglielmo.biz (as in Guglielmo Marconi) and they provided good tech support via email with our credit card questions (tech support also available by phone 0522 1606612).

More Ligurian Wifi Options. A good number of Ligurian cities have established free wifi hotspots that may have somewhat different registration policies. Covering the entire city center, La Spezia WiFi has no authentication needed (starts Aug.2, 2015).  Free WiFi Genova at the website Free WiFi Genova has registration is similar to the Liguria WiFi Zone registration described above except you select the user name and password and the identity verification SMS must go to an Italian cell phone. We used a US-based credit card for identity verification and the transaction was processed quickly. No money is charged to the card, and the number is not stored. As a bonus, using the Free WiFi Genova login we can now access other networks that also belong to the Free WiFi Italia network – from Florence and Rome to Sardinia and Frosinone. Information on using your login on other networks is at the website Free Italia Wifi Login Details.

More Info

Guglielmo Hot Spot Finder (link) This large WiFi provider's finder is flawed but somewhat usable.  The box labelled 'City' actually lists 'Province', and the list is not necessarily up-to-date. The Liguria Wifi spots are not listed separately, and seem to be referenced by the comune name. It does have the advantage of also including private wifi hotspots operated by the company.

Official website: Liguria WiFi Zone (English) has a Liguria WiFi Map and gives some useful explanations and links.

-Thanks to Signore Angelo Berlangieri, Assessore al turismo e alla cultura, Regione Liguria, for pushing this smart idea. @BerlangieriA is so smart he follows us on Twitter, like you should (@apathtolunch).

Disclaimer
-Liguria Wifi doesn't yet provide coordinated network updates, so we had to search piecemeal. Consequently we might have grabbed old information or made erroneous assumptions.

* Respectively, Ameglia, Piazza Liberta; Ameglia, Parco del Bivio; Vezzi Portio Municipio.

**The usage limit is non-contiguous meaning the two hours can be in separate sessions. The network also can optionally limit daily access to 300MB.

Written by Martha