First off, take what I say with a grain of salt, as I have not lived in Italy, but do get to northern Italy 4-5 times a year.

In my experience, open, wireless access is... far less than ubiquitous. If your primary access will be your own home router/AP, then yeah, I'd consider something like that.

If you're out and about, I would think one of the newer cellphone models with Wifi built in would be a better option. That way you still have your usual cell connectivity, yet can save some money using Wifi should you happen upon an open AP - again, very rare in my experience.

R.
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