Nicholas, I have been to Italy a lot of times with a lot of equipment including an F4, an F5 and a Hasselblad 2000 FC, last time this spring for the "carnevale di Venezia". I have never lost as much as a lens cap in streets where you could literally walk on peoples heads and the police had to enforce "one-way- pedestrians". (A girls who wanted to buy something in a shop was handed from one to the other above our heads :-) ) One really amazing guy even carried his hassi outfit (lots of long lenses) worth about $30k on a trolley. I always carry only as much equipent as I need, close to me, sometimes under my parka, and I´m very careful when taking pictures never to leave my bag open. So I wouldn´t worry to much about your equipment in Italy. Happy shooting! Alex