Italy is a fascinating country.
It has distinct characteristics in each part of the country.
Tuscany (Florence) is known for its vineyards, Naples is the home of Pizza & Northern Italy (South Tyrol/Bolzano) has mountains for skiing.
Italy is a very diverse country, as you can see.
Whether you visit the country for its food or scenery, staying connected is important.
That is why I tried out eight travel eSIMs from various eSIM providers, such as Airalo's Mamma Mia (Italy) eSIM, to find out which one is the best.
While I also tried the Big Four (Wind Tre, TIM Italy, Vodafone Italy & Iliad Italy) in 2022, getting one of their incredibly cheap SIM cards and plans have become even more challenging in 2024.
Most Italian mobile operators, except Iliad Italy, only want to sell you their expensive or uncompetitive tourist SIM cards.
But installing an eSIM is quick, easy & convenient, as you do not have to queue up upon landing (after a long flight) or deal with SIM card registration requirements (such as getting your passport details captured in Italy – mandated by law).
So, let's see how Airalo's Mamma Mia eSIM performed in Italy, right?
Original publication: 29th of January 2024. Last updated: 29th of February 2024.
Table of Contents
Airalo's List of Compatible eSIM-Supported Phones
Before I even focus on Airalo's Mamma Mia (Italy) eSIM, does your phone support Airalo eSIMs?
If you have an eSIM-compatible smartphone, it is almost guaranteed that you can use an Airalo eSIM.
While Airalo had to certify phones in the past, almost all are supported nowadays.
As of December 2023, the phones shown in the infographic below are compatible with Airalo eSIMs:
Now we can actually focus on the Mamma Mia eSIM.
Airalo Mamma Mia (Italy) eSIM Prices
You can get the Airalo Mamma Mia (Italy) eSIM for between 4.50 USD (1 GB for 7 days) and 33 16.50 USD (20 GB for 30 days).
Below is an overview of how much each Airalo Mamma Mia eSIM costs:
- Italy/Mamma Mia 1 GB eSIM for 7 days, costing 4.50 USD
- Italy/Mamma Mia 2 GB eSIM for 15 days, costing 8 USD
- Italy/Mamma Mia 3 GB eSIM for 30 days, costing 10 USD
- Italy/Mamma Mia 5 GB eSIM for 30 days, costing 14.50 USD – most popular with Phone Travel Wiz readers
- Italy/Mamma Mia 10 GB eSIM for 30 days, costing
2412 USD (on sale) – very popular with Phone Travel Wiz readers - Italy/Mamma Mia 20 GB eSIM for 30 days, costing
3316.50 USD (on sale) – very popular with Phone Travel Wiz readers
Note: Phone Travel Wiz reader popularity ranking was updated in December based on data up to the 30th of December (2023 data only). The (promotional) prices were updated on the 31st of January.
>>> Get your Airalo Mamma Mia eSIM now! <<<
The links above will bring you to the Mamma Mia eSIM product page.
And if you already have the Airalo app installed on your phone, the links will open the respective app (Android or iOS).
Regardless of the currency used in your country, Airalo will always charge you in USD (US Dollar).
If your credit/debit card charges you foreign exchange fees, get yourself a Wise Borderless Account and Debit Card.
Their fees are MUCH lower than banks and credit card companies charge you (and Wise is transparent about their fees, unlike banks).
I have saved THOUSANDS of Australian Dollars and Euros, my main currencies, when using Wise abroad when traveling compared to my debit and credit cards.
What if you buy the 5 GB Mamma Mia eSIM, as I did, and realize you need another 3 GB of data close to exhausting your data allowance?
Would you need to purchase a new eSIM? Not at all.
You can top up your Airalo Mamma Mia eSIM for the same amount of data and prices as listed earlier.
The 3 GB top-up would still cost 10 USD as if you bought the 3 GB eSIM from the start.
That way, you will never run out of data.
A handful of Airalo eSIMs do not allow for top-ups. But that does not apply to the Mamma Mia eSIM – so worry not.
You can top-up on the Airalo website or its apps.
And if you buy a top-up before you have fully exhausted your data allowance, Airalo will not use your top-up yet.
As a result, the validity of the top-up will not start until you start using the top-up data (which is not the case with all travel eSIMs).
>>> Get your Airalo Mamma Mia eSIM now! <<<
My Airalo Mamma Mia eSIM in Italy Experience
I used my Airalo Mamma Mia (Italy) eSIM only in Milan during this trip.
Travel eSIMs, including the Italy eSIM, roam on the networks of local mobile operators.
Airalo is not a mobile (network) operator (MNO), so it partners with various MNOs, which roam on local MNOs' networks.
Okay, that may sound a bit confusing – all you need to know is that you will be treated as a guest on one of the Italian mobile networks while using another network to make this system work.
Airalo's Italy eSIM uses the Wind Tre (review), TIM Italy (review) & Vodafone Italy (review) networks while being powered by Webbing/Orange France (so your phone, some apps, or sites you visit may claim you are on Webbing instead of Airalo – that is correct).
In my case, the eSIM used Wind Tre by default, but you can change it to TIM Italy or Vodafone Italy in your phone's settings.
So, which Italian mobile operator is the best? Would Wind Tre be one of them?
All Italian mobile operators, including Iliad and Fastweb Italy, cover almost all of Italy, with a 4G/LTE availability score of more than 94.5% (TIM Italy), according to Opensignal.
If we focus on 5G NR availability, there is still room for improvement for TIM Italy, as it has a score of 5.5%.
Behind Vodafone Italy (12.4%) and way behind Fastweb Italy (21.1%), Iliad Italy (21.5%) & Wind Tre (24.8%).
Wind Tre and Fastweb Italy also have the best 5G NR Coverage experience (5.11 on a ten-point scale). Ahead of Vodafone Italy (2.99), Iliad Italy (2.87) & TIM Italy (1.13).
So what about speeds?
Opensignal determined the average download speeds between the five Italian mobile operators (26.9 Mbps with Iliad Italy and 37.9 Mbps with Vodafone Italy).
The same applies to upload speeds but are significantly lower (between 7.3 Mbps with Iliad Italy and 10.4 Mbps with Vodafone Italy).
The figures are much more exciting when we look at 5G NR download speeds.
While Iliad (71.2 Mbps) and Wind Tre (101.9 Mbps) are on the lower end, significantly faster speeds are available with Fastweb Italy (139.7 Mbps) but especially Vodafone Italy (202.2 Mbps) and TIM Italy (239.3 Mbps).
On average, 5G NR upload speeds are about twice as fast as the 4G/LTE ones (11.9 Mbps with Iliad Italy and 22.8 Mbps with TIM Italy).
But remember, TIM Italy's 5G NR network is minimal compared to its competitors.
So, for the fastest speeds, selecting TIM Italy would be the best option if you can pick it.
But only when it has 5G NR coverage in the place(s) you intend to visit.
I did speed tests with the Speedtest app throughout Milan.
For reference, I consider an average download speed of 25 Mbps and an average upload speed of 10 Mbps fast enough.
Why is that? A more than 25 Mbps download speed is enough to video stream content @ 4k resolution.
Social media sites that do live streaming, like Facebook Live, recommend an upload speed of at least 10 Mbps.
I have way higher standards, but not everyone demands a download speed of 500 Mbps 🤪.
In the section below, you will find various colors and formatting.
Results in dark green mean that the result was the fastest download or upload among all SIM cards and travel eSIMs I tested at that location.
Whereas results in light green were the fastest download or upload within the category (among all SIM cards OR all travel eSIMs) but not the fastest when considering the other category.
The same applies to dark red and light orange results – the slowest download or upload among all (dark red) or the slowest within a category (light orange).
All underlined results are on 5G NR, while results in italics are on 3G – results without additional formatting are on 4G/LTE.
That should clear up the colorful speed test results in the next section.
For now, let's see how the Airalo Mamma Mia eSIM performed in Milan.
>>> Get your Airalo Mamma Mia eSIM now! <<<
Airalo Mamma Mia (Italy) eSIM in Milan Speed Test Results
I used my Airalo Mamma Mia (Italy) eSIM only in Milan.
Most travel eSIMs could use Wind Tre, TIM Italy, and/or Vodafone Italy.
Some can also use Iliad Italy, while others can only use one Italian mobile operator.
In my case, the eSIM defaulted to Wind Tre (like most of the eSIMs I tested).
The Airalo Eurolink (Europe) eSIM (review) was also on Wind Tre and powered by Webbing/Orange France but could not use 5G NR (and it still cannot at the time of writing (January 2024) – but you can use TIM Italy's for 5G NR instead).
So, the next section will mainly compare the Airalo Mamma Mia and Airalo Eurolink eSIMs.
Below are the results:
Fast speeds with the Airalo Mamma Mia eSIM.
On this trip, I did not (re-)test any Italian SIM cards because I tested them the year before.
Hence, the screenshot above did not show the results of Wind Tre, as I usually do in my reviews.
What is surprising is that although Airalo claimed, and still claims, that the Mamma Mia eSIM does not have 5G NR access with any of the supported networks, I was on Wind Tre's 5G NR network practically all the time 🤨.
Anyway, the best download speed I got with the Airalo Italy eSIM was 394.71 Mbps (5G) at Arco della Pace.
No other eSIM had a download speed faster than that (the second-fastest was the old Airalo Discover Global eSIM (Italy review), with 346.03 Mbps (4G) at Milano Centrale Railway Station).
Two other locations where the Mamma Mia eSIM was the fastest were at Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II (104.73 Mbps (5G)) and Autogrill Villoresi Est (45.40 Mbps (5G)).
I am a bit surprised that 45.40 Mbps was the fastest… such a low figure 🗿.
But besides these three results, the eSIM was never the fastest among the eSIMs again.
So what if we look at the Airalo Eurolink eSIM as well?
It was the fastest at four test locations: Carrefour Market – Milano Famagosta, the departure halls of Terminal 1 and 2 at Milan Malpensa Airport (MXP) & Raviolando (dumpling restaurant), with download speeds of 154.44 Mbps, 172.88 Mbps, 167.15 Mbps & 59.23 Mbps, respectively.
In fact, the Europe eSIM was faster than the Italy eSIM at 18 of the 24 test locations.
Why, you ask? Somehow, the performance on Wind Tre's 4G/LTE network was better than on 5G NR.
In fact, the average download speed with the Eurolink eSIM was 78.69 Mbps, while only 66.05 Mbps with the Mamma Mia eSIM.
Yeah… there is a noticeable difference 🤔.
Let's focus on upload speeds. The Italy eSIM had the fastest upload speed at six locations.
These were at Carrefour Market – Milano Famagosta, Departures 4 and luggage claim at Milan Linate Airport (LIN): 35.23 Mbps, 43.73 Mbps & 16.40 Mbps, respectively (all on 5G).
And also at the departures hall at Milan Malpensa Airport (MXP), Risoelatte (restaurant near Cairoli metro station) & UCI Cinemas Certosa – 43.44 Mbps, 14.14 Mbps & 70.76 Mbps (all on 5G).
In fact, the Airalo Mamma Mia eSIM had the second-fastest average upload speed (18.61 Mbps), just behind Airalo Eurolink (20.84 Mbps) and Holafly Europe (18.26 Mbps – had 5G NR access on Vodafone Italy).
Overall, the Mamma Mia eSIM performed well in Milan.
However, you may want to disable 5G NR for better speeds (as shown with the Eurolink eSIM results).
But what if you selected TIM Italy instead?
The former Airalo Discover Global eSIM, now rebranded (and improved) into Discover(+)), only had access to the TIM Italy network, and I got an average download speed of 94.97 Mbps.
With download speeds of 346.03 Mbps at Milano Centrale Railway Station and 208.97 Mbps at Sforzesco Castle – both on 4G/LTE (the eSIM never had 5G NR access).
There are a few other impressive results, but the eSIM is not sold anymore (Discover(+) was introduced in late July 2023 – I was in Italy in early July).
Overall, the speeds I got with Airalo's Italy eSIM were satisfactory, especially for the price I paid.
>>> Get your Airalo Mamma Mia eSIM now! <<<
My Overall Experience with the Airalo Mamma Mia eSIM in Italy – Is It Worth Your Money?
I would recommend the Airalo Mamma Mia (Italy), and it would be one of my top eSIM recommendations for anyone wanting to buy an eSIM for Italy.
Getting the Airalo Mamma Mia eSIM or any other Airalo eSIM is extremely easy.
Airalo is one of the few eSIM providers that allow you to install an eSIM directly to your phone (without the need to scan a QR code), which makes the installation process a piece of cake (hence, I did not spend any time on how to install in this review – it is easy!).
Moreover, you do not have to adjust the APN settings with the Airalo Mamma Mia eSIM, making it more manageable.
In other news, Airalo's Mamma Mia eSIMs were one of the more affordable eSIMs I tested on this trip while having one of the most options to choose from (1 GB, 2 GB, 3 GB, 5 GB, 10 GB & 20 GB).
You get access to the Wind Tre, TIM Italy & Vodafone Italy networks.
Although the product page of the eSIM states you have no 5G NR access on any supported network, I did use 5G NR on the Wind Tre network.
But for some reason, 5G NR speeds were generally slower than 4G/LTE speeds.
The Airalo Eurolink (Europe) eSIM (review) defaulted on the Wind Tre network as well (just like the Mamma Mia eSIM), but it does have 5G NR access on the TIM Italy network instead.
Both eSIMs were powered by the same operator (Webbing/Orange France), so this was a clear apple-to-apple comparison.
Well, the Eurolink eSIM was faster at 18 of the 24 test locations than the Mamma Mia eSIM 🗿.
Even though the Italy eSIM had 5G NR access at almost all test locations (except for two).
As a result, the average download speed with Airalo's Mamma Mia eSIM was 66.05 Mbps, while it was 78.69 Mbps with Airalo's Eurolink eSIM.
Therefore, if you select Wind Tre as well, or your phone defaults to it (even though you can manually change it to TIM Italy or Vodafone Italy if you want), I recommend disabling 5G NR for better speeds.
But in terms of coverage and reception, I had no issues with the two Airalo eSIMs on the Wind Tre network.
If 20 GB of data is not enough for you, consider Holafly's Italy or Europe eSIM because it offers unlimited data plans for between 5 days (19 USD) and 90 days (99 USD).
I used the Holafly Europe eSIM in Italy because (1) there is no price difference between the regional Europe eSIM and country-specific European Holafly eSIM and (2) I visited multiple European countries.
And European eSIMs are not throttled significantly unlike most other Holafly eSIMs with unlimited data options (up to 18 Mbps – sometimes even 10 Mbps).
But as you can see in the screenshots above, these eSIMs are more expensive than Airalo's.
By using a near-perfect 4G/LTE network, offering affordable data plans & offering fast download speeds, you should have a smooth browsing experience with the Airalo Mamma Mia eSIM.
>>> Get your Airalo Mamma Mia eSIM now! <<<
Italy eSIM & SIM Card Reviews
Besides Airalo's Mamma Mia (Italy) eSIM, I also tried other Airalo eSIMs and other travel eSIMs in the country.
I encourage you to read those reviews to decide which eSIM suits your needs.
>>> Airalo Eurolink (Europe) eSIM in Italy | Airalo Discover Global eSIM in Italy (not sold anymore) | Alosim Italy eSIM | Holafly Europe eSIM in Italy | Maya Mobile Europe eSIM in Italy | Mobimatter Europe eSIM in Italy | Nomad Europe eSIM in Italy <<<
No clickable link above? The review is being written. Come back later or sign up for the Phone Travel Wiz newsletter to get notified!
- Check out my eSIM reviews page if you want to read all the other eSIM reviews I have written, including those I tested in other European countries.
Besides travel eSIMs, I also tried Italian SIM cards (the year before).
You can find those below.
>>> Wind Tre | TIM Italy | Vodafone Italy | Iliad Italy <<<
