Italy named Europe's pickpocketing capital: report

By Hoang Phong April 15, 2023 | 02:29 am PT

People walk near the Colosseum in Rome, Italy, February 11, 2022. Photo by Reuters

Italy has been named the destination with most pickpocketing mentions in Europe, followed by France, according to a new report by British insurance comparison website Quotezone.

The list was based on the proportion of pickpocketing mentions in visitor reviews of a country's top five tourist attractions on the world's largest travel review site, Tripadvisor. Thousands of travelers reported that they experienced petty theft while visiting Europe, Quotezone said.

There are 463 pickpocketing mentions for every million visitors to Italy’s top tourist attractions - the highest proportion of any European country.

France has the second highest number of pickpocketing mentions at 283 per million visitors. The Netherlands came in third, followed by Germany and Greece.

Despite Barcelona’s reputation for pickpocketing, Spain, the most popular holiday destination for British and Irish tourists, only came sixth on the list with five times fewer mentions of theft than Italy.

The rest of the list included Portugal, Turkey, Ireland and Poland.

"Iconic attractions like the Eiffel Tower in Paris and the Trevi Fountain in Rome are particularly popular with pickpockets as they can move more inconspicuously amongst larger crowds," said Greg Wilson, founder and CEO of Quotezone.