How to explain symptoms at an Italian pharmacy

What do you say to a pharmacist in Italian when you feel ill?

Lead with the symptom and the number of days: it is the first thing the pharmacist asks. Use «ho» plus the complaint: «ho mal di gola», «ho mal di testa», «ho la tosse». Then «da due giorni», for two days. Use the formal «Lei» throughout: this is a health professional, not a friend.

Will an Italian pharmacist actually give you advice?

Yes, and that is the point of going. For a sore throat, a cold, a headache or an upset stomach, Italians go to the pharmacist before the doctor. The pharmacist asks about fever and duration, asks what else you take, and hands you something from behind the counter. The health authority in Parma gives the public the same advice: read the leaflet, follow the doses, and ask the pharmacist whether the medicine interacts with anything you already take³.

They will also tell you when to stop self-treating. The same page's rule of thumb: if the complaint has not cleared up in two or three days, or keeps coming back, see a doctor³. Expect to hear «vada dal medico», go to the doctor, if your symptoms sound like more than a minor ailment.

What can you buy without a prescription in Italy?

Italy sorts every medicine into a supply regime, set by the medicines agency AIFA. Two need no prescription. Medicinali da banco, OTC, are «non soggetti a prescrizione medica» and may be advertised. Medicinali senza obbligo di prescrizione, SOP, are also sold without a prescription but are not over-the-counter: they come from behind the counter, on the pharmacist's say-so¹. Self-medication packs carry a seal, the bollino, on the box³.

Everything else needs a ricetta. The most common kind, the ricetta ripetibile, is valid for six months and can be used up to ten times; the ricetta non ripetibile, for medicines with higher toxicity or abuse risk, is issued fresh each time¹. So «c'è qualcosa senza ricetta?» is the right question for a sore throat.

Two brand names you will hear constantly. Tachipirina is paracetamol: Angelini's page for the 500 mg tablets says it «contiene il principio attivo paracetamolo», is for fever and pain, and is SOP, so no prescription but dispensed by the pharmacist⁷. Moment is ibuprofen, an OTC painkiller for headache and everyday pain, from age twelve⁸. If you know a medicine by its generic name, say that: «paracetamolo», «ibuprofene».

What is the difference between a farmacia and a parafarmacia?

A farmacia is a licensed pharmacy: it fills prescriptions and sells everything else. A parafarmacia is a shop, often inside a supermarket, allowed by article 5 of decreto-legge 223/2006 to sell over-the-counter and self-medication medicines and other products that need no prescription, in a dedicated section with a registered pharmacist present and assisting².

So for a headache tablet, either will do. For anything on a ricetta, it has to be the farmacia. If you are not sure what you need, go to the farmacia: the Parma health authority lists SOP medicines as sold in pharmacies, while OTC ones are also found in supermarkets and parafarmacie³.

Do you need a tessera sanitaria to buy medicine in Italy?

Not for a medicine that needs no prescription. The tessera sanitaria is the health card issued to people registered with the national health service, the SSN. At the pharmacy it does two jobs: it puts your codice fiscale on the receipt, which Italians need to deduct medical spending from their taxes, and it is used with SSN prescriptions⁹. Neither applies to a visitor buying Tachipirina.

Residents forget the card too, and the Ministero della Salute settled that in a 2008 note to the pharmacists' federations: when the customer cannot show the tessera sanitaria, the pharmacist still issues the receipt with the codice fiscale, given another way, including out loud¹⁰. If you have a codice fiscale and want the tax receipt, say the code. If not, you pay and walk out with the medicine.

How do you find a pharmacy open at night or on a Sunday?

Pharmacies take turns. Outside normal hours one pharmacy in each area is the farmacia di turno, on duty for nights, Sundays and holidays. The rota is set locally: in Emilia-Romagna the regional law has the Azienda USL fix the turni after consulting the municipalities and the pharmacists' order, and requires every pharmacy to display its schedule where it can be read from outside⁶.

• Read the door. The Bologna health authority lists the rota first on the cartellini in each pharmacy's notice board, then on its portal and on the sites of the provincial Ordine dei Farmacisti and Federfarma⁴. The Reggio Emilia order says the same⁵.
• Expect a closed door. Night service is often «a battenti chiusi», shutters down with the pharmacist inside: you ring and are served through the hatch. In rural areas it may be «per chiamata», the pharmacist on call by phone, delivering within thirty minutes⁴⁵.
• Expect a small surcharge. After 21:30, or on call, the pharmacist may add a «diritto addizionale» set by the national tariff; the AUSL covers it for urgent SSN prescriptions⁴. Reggio Emilia publishes its amounts: nothing by day in town, 7.50 euro at night, 10 euro at night at a subsidised rural pharmacy⁵.
• Say «Buonasera, scusi il disturbo» at the hatch, then the symptom. Being woken is their job; being polite about it is yours.

What does a real exchange at the pharmacy sound like?

1. FarmacistaBuongiorno, mi dica pure. Che sintomi ha?Good morning, go ahead. What symptoms do you have?
2. YouBuongiorno. Ho mal di gola e faccio fatica a parlare.Good morning. I have a sore throat and it hurts to talk.
3. FarmacistaHa febbre o solo mal di gola? E da quanti giorni?Do you have a fever or just the sore throat? And for how many days?
4. YouHo mal di gola da due giorni, ma non ho febbre. C'è qualcosa senza ricetta che posso prendere?I have had a sore throat for two days, but no fever. Is there something without a prescription I can take?
5. FarmacistaCerto. Le do delle pastiglie per la gola. Prende altri farmaci?Of course. I'll give you some throat lozenges. Do you take other medicines?
6. YouNo, nessuno. Quante al giorno?No, none. How many a day?
7. FarmacistaLegga il foglietto. Se tra due o tre giorni non passa, vada dal medico.Read the leaflet. If it hasn't cleared in two or three days, see a doctor.
8. YouVa bene, grazie. Quant'è?All right, thanks. How much is it?