How to Install an Italy eSIM on Google Pixel
Add an Italy eSIM to your Pixel before departure: the Settings path, the per-SIM roaming switch, and an honest note on coverage outside the cities.
Updated August 28, 2026
Nothing about a Pixel makes this hard. The friction on a trip to Italy is elsewhere — and depends on where you live. EU residents already roam here on their home plan at no extra cost, so this product simply is not for them. Everyone else — arriving from the US, the UK since Brexit, or most of Asia — is looking at their own carrier’s out-of-region rate, usually the priciest row on the sheet, and at a shop counter that by Italian law will ask for a photo ID before selling a prepaid SIM.
An eSIM turns that into something you do at home on a Tuesday evening. Buy the plan in the Italy eSIM app, install the line over your own Wi-Fi, leave it switched off, and arrive with one toggle between you and a working map. There is no penalty for installing early: the plan counts from its first connection to an Italian network, not from the moment of purchase. Prices sit on the pricing page, and the rest of what we get asked is on the FAQ.
The Pixel path is Settings, Network & internet, SIMs, then Download a SIM instead. Two details are worth reading twice. Google’s wording — Download a SIM instead — sounds like a fallback and is in fact the option you want, sitting one screen behind an offer to search for carrier plans. And the Roaming switch on a Pixel is per SIM, so you can leave it on for the travel line and off for your home line, which is precisely the arrangement you want in Italy. Other phones are covered on the iPhone and Samsung pages, or the general Android one if yours is neither.
Now the two things we will not soften. The plan is data-only, so it gives you no Italian phone number; most visitors never notice, though a rental desk or occasionally a clinic will want a local callback number, and there is no workaround beyond a local SIM for that specific case. Your own number keeps working on your own SIM. And coverage in Italy is not uniform. It is excellent in the cities and along the autostrade; it is thinner in parts of the Alps, the Dolomites and a few smaller islands, and a thick stone wall inside a historic centre can weaken a signal indoors too. That is where the towers are and how the buildings are built, and a different SIM would not move either.
Installation steps
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Step 1
Buy the plan in the Italy eSIM app
Choose your plan and pay. The QR code and manual activation details are filed under the order and stay there, so you can come back if the first install does not take.
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Step 2
Install at home, on Wi-Fi
A profile download needs a real connection. Doing it before departure loses you nothing, because the plan begins counting at its first connection to an Italian network rather than at purchase.
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Step 3
Open Settings, then Network & internet
Pixels run close to stock Android, so the path is short and has held steady across recent releases. If your build words it differently, type SIM into the Settings search box.
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Step 4
Tap SIMs, or the plus icon beside it
With a physical SIM in use the entry reads SIMs with a small plus next to it. On a Pixel carrying no SIM you may instead see a direct invitation to add one. Both reach the same screen.
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Step 5
Pick Download a SIM instead, then scan
Android first offers to look for a carrier plan; skip that and choose Download a SIM instead, Google's wording for the option that accepts a provider QR code. Hold the Pixel over the code on another screen, or tap Need help for manual entry and copy the SM-DP+ address and activation code.
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Step 6
Name the line, then switch it off
The Pixel downloads the profile and asks you to confirm. Label it Italy so the dual-SIM screens make sense at three in the morning, keep your home SIM as the default for calls, and disable the new line until you arrive.
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Step 7
After landing, enable it and make it the data SIM
Open Settings, Network & internet, SIMs, select the Italy line and switch it on, then set Mobile data to that line. Your usual number stays active on its own SIM for calls and texts.
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Step 8
Turn Roaming on for the Italy line only
With the Italy line open, switch Roaming on. Android keeps this toggle per SIM, which is exactly what you want here: it grants this line permission to attach to a visited network — TIM, Vodafone or WindTre — and adds nothing to a prepaid Italy plan. Confirm your home SIM still has its roaming switch off, unless it already covers the EU.
Troubleshooting
Which Pixels take an eSIM?
Pixel 3 and everything after it, broadly, with regional exceptions — a handful of variants sold into particular markets shipped without the hardware. Rather than trust a list, dial *#06# on the phone you are holding: an EID beside the IMEI means the hardware is there.
Do I get an Italian phone number with the plan?
No. This is a data-only plan, so no Italian number comes with it and none can be attached. Your own number stays on your own SIM and remains reachable. Most visitors do not miss it; a rental desk or occasionally a clinic may want a local callback number, and a data eSIM has none to give them.
I have an EU passport — is this even for me?
Probably not. Under the EU's roam-like-at-home rules, an EU resident already uses their own data plan in Italy at no extra cost. This eSIM is aimed at visitors from outside the EU, where no such agreement exists.
How good is coverage away from the big cities?
Excellent in cities, along the autostrade and in most towns. Genuinely patchy in parts of the Alps, the Dolomites and a few smaller islands. That is where the towers were built, and no eSIM or local SIM alters it. Thick walls in an old town centre can weaken indoor signal too, independent of the SIM.
I cannot find Download a SIM instead.
Make sure you are in Settings, Network & internet, SIMs and not inside a carrier app. If the option really is absent while *#06# does show an EID, the Pixel is probably carrier-locked — operator handsets sometimes restrict which profiles they accept. That is a much easier phone call to make before you fly.
I have landed and the eSIM has no signal.
Check in order that the line is enabled under SIMs, selected for mobile data, and has Roaming on. Then toggle Airplane mode to force a fresh search. If it stays blank, open the line's network settings, switch off automatic selection, pick a network by hand, and put selection back to automatic once it registers.