ok so this just happened two days ago and im still kind of rattled. was flying my air 3 near some old ruins outside rome, not inside any restricted zone as far as i could tell on the map, and two cops just walked up and started asking questions. my italian is basically zero and their english wasnt great either. they held me there for like 45 minutes going through my phone and looking at the map. eventually let me go but said something about needing a permit that i genuinely had no idea about. anyone dealt with italian drone rules? feels like theres a whole layer of stuff that isnt obvious from just checking the dji fly zones

yeah italy is one of those places where the official rules and what actually happens on the ground are two different things. technically under easa open category you should be fine in a lot of areas but anything near historical sites or cultural heritage zones (which is basically everywhere in italy lol) can have additional local restrictions that arent in any app. ive started using the enac website before flying anywhere there, its the italian civil aviation authority. still confusing but at least its more complete than dji's map

honestly this is why i just dont fly near anything that looks old or important in europe anymore. not worth it. beautiful continent but the rules are layered on top of rules on top of more rules and nobody agrees on what applies. glad they let you go though, heard of people having gear confiscated