[Motel75]

Yes, I found this a little odd, as most Vodafone companies offer English as an option. Fortunately, I can get by in Italian, so it's not a problem for me. The advantage of Vodafone is that you can top it up online every 11 months with any credit card to keep it working.

TIM (=Telecom Italia Mobile) is just as big as Vodafone in Italy, and has good coverage. Don't buy it in the US, those prices are excessive; you should be able to find a kiosk selling SIMs for ?10 or less without any hassle once you are in Italy.

Some stores, particularly official ones, might require you to provide a Code Fiscale (tax number). This being Italy, you can usually get around this, sometimes by making one up. Look at the Italy page for information about this.

BTW, all European mobile phones have "free incoming calls." The US is the odd one out here; most other countries have separate nationwide mobile numbers that cost somewhat more to call, rather than having the same locality-specific numbers as normal phones.