LH2
I've been living and flying in Italy in the past 2 weeks (mostly Milano FIR)
and yes I can confirm
- you need to file a flight plan unless you are carrying ELT. The FIS operator will normally ask you if you are on a FP or not.
-small airfields (in the North,
AFAIK) closed on a monday. That's same as hairdressers
-semi circular rule as reminded by FullyFlapped. The Jeppesen has a reminder anyway.
Most fields I have visited seemed to join downwind or base, haven't seen overhead joins. A lot of sites (at least in the North, again that's my experience) seemed to have gliders or chutes activities.
I am bilingual and have been using Italian R/T but I've heard pretty decent English comms on FIS and even local AFIS. FIS will liaise with ATC units and CTR whenever you need a transit. Seemed to be a good service overall.
Any questions, feel free.
Ciao !