1. Holders of a (blue) Canadian Travel Document for refugees issued on the basis of the Geneva Convention of July 28, 1951 (note that this is not a regular blue Canadian passport for Canadian citizens) and
2. Holders of a Canadian-issued Certificate of Identity who are stateless persons or refugees
Do not need a visa to enter Italy for transit and or short term stay (e.g. for tourism or business purposes for up to 90 days).
It is up to the applicant to check with other relevant Schengen Countries if the above documents are accepted, even for transit purposes.
PLEASE NOTE: since the Certificate of Identity does not indicate the reason for its issuance, holders who are stateless persons or refugees must travel with documentation to prove their status as a stateless person or as a refugee in Canada. For example: as proof of statelessness status, Canada refers to the document at the bottom of the following page The humanitarian and compassionate assessment: Statelessness – Canada.ca , while for refugee status, the “refugee protection claimant document” (https://www.irb-cisr.gc.ca/en/applying-refugee-protection/Pages/index.aspx) can be used as proof of the holder’s refugee status in Canada.
If you are not a refugee or a stateless person and you hold no travel document other than a certificate of identity, you should apply for a visa.
