Communications, Mail & Money

Incoming & Outgoing Mail

RECEIVING LETTERS
Letters and postcards sent from the U.S. to Italy via regular airmail usually arrive in 10 to 14 business days. Letters should be addressed as follows:

YOUR FULL NAME
c/o SYRACUSE UNIVERSITY IN FLORENCE
PIAZZA SAVONAROLA, 15
50132 FIRENZE
ITALIA

Your letters will be sorted by the first letter of your last name and put in the corresponding mailbox on the ground floor of the Villa Rossa across from the snack bar.

RECEIVING PACKAGES
If you receive a package or an express mailing (Fed Ex, UPS, etc.), the Student Life Office will sign for the package, assuming the package has not been taxed by Italian customs officials, and put a yellow slip in your box notifying you of the delivery. You will then pick up the delivery in the Student Life Office.

SUF POLICY ON STUDENT PACKAGES STOPPED BY ITALIAN CUSTOMS
When a package arrives here at the school with customs fees to pay, Syracuse University in Florence cannot pay these fees on your behalf, nor are we authorized to provide customs brokerage services. In such cases, our policy is to collect the relevant documentation (such as the shipment waybill) from the courier. We then put this information, together with an instruction sheet, in your mailbox here at school.

As the instruction sheet explains, the next step to receive your package is to immediately go to a shop that provides customs brokerage services to pay the customs taxes and to have your package re-directed. In Florence your options include the Internet Train chain and Cyberlink. Whichever shop you choose to assist you with your package, you must provide them with a copy of your passport and your Italian cell phone number.

Cyberlink and Internet Train charge a per package fee of 5 euro for this service. An additional daily storage charge may apply if you do not retrieve your package within a certain amount of time after having been notified of its arrival. It is up to you to request and clarify the details of the arrangement you enter with these providers.

If you follow the instructions provided in a timely manner (i.e. within one or two days), receiving your package care of another shop should not be a problem. For these reasons, it is imperative that you check your mail every day.

To avoid having to pay customs, tell the sender not to declare value on the package and to indicate that it is a used item or gift. Do not insure the package if possible.

IMPORTANT REMINDERS
Please share the following information with any friends or family members who might send you a package:

Never send anything of high monetary or sentimental value.
Packages containing food items and/or vitamins are often inspected by Italian customs officials, causing long delays and incurring taxes/processing fees!
Packages containing computers (or hard drives, memory devices, etc), digital cameras, cell phones, I-pods, and so on, are nearly always inspected and heavily taxed. Avoid having such items sent to you.
It is illegal to send controlled substances (alcohol, most prescription medications) across international boarders without an import/export license.
Sending prescription medications and contact lenses requires a complicated clearance process, involving legal and medical declarations. If you are in need of a prescription medication, see Dr. DeLeonardis here at school for assistance.
Packages marked as "gift", those with a low declared value, and those containing "used personal effects" usually arrive with nothing to pay; however, this does not guarantee that the packages will not be inspected by customs authorities.
We recommend that you do not have letters sent to your Florence apartment or homestay.
A list of items that cannot be sent into Italy can be found at www.usps.com.

SENDING LETTERS FROM ITALY TO THE U.S.
Letters sent to the U.S. usually arrive within 10 business days. The cost of sending a letter or postcard via airmail to the U.S. is 85 euro cents. Stamps (“francobolli”) can be bought at the Post Office or at any tabaccheria (small tobacco shops that, in addition to cigarettes, sell stamps, bus tickets, etc. Look for the blue and white “T” outside the shop).

SHIPPING PACKAGES HOME
We recommend that you wait until the end of the semester to take gifts home with you on the plane. However, if you prefer ship your gifts home, or you’d like to ship some of your winter clothing home, there are several options available to you:

Italian Postal Service:
The Italian Postal Service can ship via the following options:
airmail (faster: transit time 10 days-2 ½ weeks)
surface freight (slow: transit time 6-8 weeks); contact your local post office or the central branch in Piazza della Repubblica for prices, weight limits and transit times.

Note that there is no way to track these two shipment options once they leave your hands.

Paccocelere Internazionale (fastest: transit time 3-5 business days); this is their express service which can be tracked on the website www.poste.it website (all in Italian). Insurance is available for an additional charge.

Private Shipping Company
Fed Ex and UPS shipping services are available at all MailBoxes Etc. branches, most Internet Train branches, and some cell phone rental agencies have shipping arrangements with some or all of these private shippers and offer these options:

expedited service (less expensive; transit time 5-7 business days)
express service (more expensive; transit time 3-5 business days).

Save all your receipts and tracking numbers until the shipment arrives!

Boxes are available for purchase at MailBoxes Etc. locations.