Hello. I’m planning a trip to Florence next year. Can anyone who is registered with this D-Flght thing confirm for me whether it is possible to fly a C0 badged drone in the touristy parts? I’m presuming not? Not much point trying to get through the registration process if it is going to be futile!
Thanks
I’m in Florence next August and the whole area looks like its restricted / locked down. Although I haven’t done my proper research yet.
It seems reasonable that it would be but it would be nice if it wasn’t 
Realistically whats going to happen if you remove your id sticker and launch it from an inconspicuous place? My experience of flying abroad is people couldn’t care less. Its this country where the cretins are.
Until they travel.
On D-Flight, it appears there are certain areas you can fly in Florence up to a height of 25m or 45m. I would strongly recommend setting up an account with D-Flight so you can check for yourself. It is free if you just want to see the flight restrictions map. The only complicated point, if I remember correctly, is that it insists on you filling in an Italian tax number.
I think just wrote something like “I am not resident in Italy” in that box but I have seen others recommend using Italian tax number (or “codice fiscale”) calculators that you can find online or I think others further up this thread used their UK tax reference or their NI number.
If you already have an EASA operator ID and flyer ID from another EASA country (e.g. France or Luxembourg where you can do the training in English and get the IDs for free), I don’t think you need to register your drone with D-Flight or pay any money to D-Flight.
I flew in Tuscany earlier this year but that was on private land in the countryside near Montepulciano so I didn’t really look into whether there were the equivalent of council byelaws governing where you can take off and land in Italian urban centres. I imagine there might be.
That’s really helpful. Thanks!
I bastardized the forms in many ways, because the form made no sense.
But I kept documentary evidence that I had submitted the form and all I got with it. (Lots of emails with associated flyer ID info).
Nobody is likely to ever inspect any of it.
It worked for me, I was never challenged but if I had been, I had all the evidence. There is a big difference between a wheeler dealer and someone who has gone out their way to comply. “Reasonable person test”.
Maybe with uk authorities, but a visitor from a non member state 
In better news, I bet the foos in Italian prisons is nicer than here
Try doing it in Rome, your feet wont touch the ground and your drone would be toast!
I’m not saying I would want to be a test subject, however, do you really think that would be the case? There are some really simple work arounds - flying from a rooftop, a hotel or a multi occupancy block means the time it would take any authorities to actually pinpoint you is significantly hampered by the fact they have to negotiate the complexities of such buildings. For example, fly from a balcony in London tower block, any attempt to locate you presents the locater with hundreds of options, making it almost impossible to pinpoint your location. I would rather not put myself in that position but am 99.9% certain it could be done.
The main issue is the footage would not be shareable by virtue of the fact it would serve as proof of breaking the rules in itself!
I’m 100% certain it can be done, and have seen the evidence on YouTube, I guess. But have also seen a few aborted flights where D-Flight authorisations and proof of permission were completly ignored by aggressive Polizia with hands poised over their weapons!
I tried to get permission but the red tape was crippling and it had to be done weeks in advance. Unlike Switzerland and Malta, that bent over backwards to say yes within 24hrs or less of my requests.
Love to know if anyone actually managed to get permission from the Italians, for Venice, Florence and/or Rome?
I tried for Portugal last month, what a joke (to digress)
All flights (ALL FLIGHTS) have to be applied for 10 days in advance, and they bumped mine because I had the Captaincy wrong !! (WTF is a captaincy) no bending, no help
I am returning to Italy this year and heading to Florence for a week. The drone will be with me and I am already on D Flight from Sardinia (not that I did anything other than registration to get my EU ID’s when over there etc). Looking at the map Florence and pretty much everywhere around there has a whole host of varying restrictions (no further details other than colours on a map). Having watched Rylan and Rob in Florence on TV last night it is clear you can fly a drone there as they were buzzing the duomo and had copious drone shots in the city, over people, you name it. Has anyone flown here before?
Don’t forget the TV drone shots are more than likely done by local commercial drone companies who know all the necessary contacts and have the money to grease palms .. so probably not really relevant to hobbyist foreigners.
Could even be library footage.
Good point. Shame, i’d do a better job.
You have to have an account with D Flight to identify limitations. There is some yellow sites around the City, which gives following info:
In the Open catagory, the geographic limit is a minimum height of 45m from AGL, so good to go theoretically under this capped height. Those you saw might have been these though:
Within the geographical area, operations are permitted for UAS of the specific or certified category, as reported in the ATM-09 circular, paragraphs 7, 8 and 9.
Open cat is generally:
Orange is under 25m.
Yellow is under 45m
Blue is under 60m
Green = max 120m
I always had it running on my phone when flying near FRZ in Italy in case the Polizia challenged me, which TBH they never did. But flying over crowds and at night, DO NOT DO IT, without written authority… they have guns!!
Thanks DCOL, guns fine for me, I am too dynamic for them to shoot me down 
Dynamics: A branch of mechanics concerned with the motion of bodies (you, Jay) under the action of forces (Polizia, Heckler & Koch 9mm). 
My son is going to Scicily next month and wants to take his Neo 2 with him. He’s very much at the beginner stage mainly doing follow me etc. He’s looking at quiet beaches away from the main haunts. All I could find was compulsory insurance and registration but it seems a minefield to navigate the various sources. Any pointers would be appreciated.
