Italy began checking travellers arriving from Spain on Saturday 1 August. The Interior Ministry reintroduced border controls at Italian air and sea entry points for arrivals from Spanish airports and ports, a measure it says will run for one month and can be reviewed. The checks are aimed at non-EU nationals, to verify they entered the Schengen area legally; Italian, Spanish and other EU citizens face no new formalities, though Italian media report that police have been asking arriving passengers for a document. France has taken a different route: it has not suspended anything, but has sharply increased police and gendarmerie checks along its land border with Spain. Both moves follow the mass crossing into the Spanish enclave of Ceuta on 30 and 31 July.
What happened at Ceuta
Ceuta is a Spanish city on the North African coast, bordered by Morocco. Between Thursday 30 and Friday 31 July, Spanish and local authorities reported that between 50,000 and 60,000 people crossed into the enclave from Morocco in roughly a day and a half. At least 67 people died, from drowning and crush injuries at the breakwaters. Most of those who entered were returned quickly: Spain's Interior Ministry put the figure at about 48,300 by Friday evening, and on Saturday Spain installed a 500-metre floating barrier at the Tarajal breakwater. Spanish authorities link the surge to a Supreme Court ruling in late June that barred the immediate return of migrants who arrive by sea and required ordinary immigration procedures instead; Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez said smuggling networks spread a self-serving reading of that judgment. The European Commission has been explicit that Ceuta sits under special provisions of the Schengen Borders Code, and that people who entered there irregularly cannot travel onward to mainland Spain or the rest of the Schengen area.
What Italy actually did
The decision was announced on the evening of Thursday 30 July by Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni with deputy prime ministers Antonio Tajani and Matteo Salvini, and formalised the next morning at the Interior Ministry, in the Committee for the Analysis of Immigration and Border Security chaired by Interior Minister Matteo Piantedosi. The checks took effect on Saturday 1 August and are set to run for one month, with the option of renewal. Because Italy and Spain share no land border, they apply at airports and seaports. The ministry describes them as "targeted and selective" and says nothing changes for Spanish and other EU citizens travelling to Italy; Piantedosi called it "a very important but precautionary measure" and said there was nothing serious about it. Meloni described it as an extraordinary step adopted to protect national security, to be kept only as long as necessary and with attention to limiting the impact on summer tourist flows.
Before and after, for a Spain to Italy flight or ferry
- Before 1 August: no systematic identity check on arrival from Spain, an internal Schengen route with no border control.
- From 1 August: police checks on arrival, focused on third-country nationals, verifying that entry into the Schengen area was regular.
- EU citizens: no new requirement in the ministry's framing, but you need a passport or an identity card valid for travel abroad, and Italian media report that officers have been asking arriving passengers for documents.
- Duration: one month from 1 August, renewable if the situation continues.
And France
France has not suspended free movement with Spain and has not closed the border. What changed is intensity. Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez said he gave instructions on the night of 30 July to reinforce controls at the Spanish border immediately, and announced additional police and gendarmerie deployments, mobile units along the frontier, drone surveillance, three police aircraft, more patrols on cross-border trains and buses, and the activation of the rapid intervention border force. France has had temporary internal border controls formally notified under the Schengen rules since the 2015 Paris attacks, so this sits on top of an existing framework. For anyone crossing by road or rail, the practical effect is more frequent identity checks at the main crossings and possible delays on trains and coaches in peak season.
Who this affects
The people most affected are non-EU nationals living in or travelling through Spain: a British, American, Indian or Moroccan passport holder flying Barcelona to Rome, a third-country national with a Spanish residence permit taking the ferry to Civitavecchia, a student on a Spanish visa flying to Milan for a weekend. Expect to be asked for your passport and, where relevant, your Spanish residence card or visa. EU citizens are not the target, but should carry a passport or a travel-valid national ID card rather than a driving licence. Anyone mid-way through a residence application in Spain, holding a receipt rather than a card, has a reason to postpone a non-essential trip to Italy this month.
What this means in practice
Flying or sailing from Spain to Italy in August: keep your passport in hand luggage rather than the hold, add time at the Italian end, and carry proof of your status in Spain if you are a non-EU resident there. Crossing the Pyrenees by car, bus or train: expect to be stopped. None of this changes how the 90/180 rule works for short stays, which you can check with our Schengen calculator at /tools/schengen, and none of it changes visa or residence requirements in either country. Our country guides for Spain (/country-guides/spain), Italy (/country-guides/italy) and France (/country-guides/france) cover the underlying rules, which are unchanged. What has changed is how likely you are to be asked to prove them.
When it takes effect
Italy's checks on arrivals from Spain started on Saturday 1 August 2026 and are set for one month, renewable. France's reinforced checks at the Spanish border began over the weekend of 31 July to 1 August and have no announced end date.
What is not yet confirmed
Two procedural points are still open. First, it is unclear whether Italy has formally notified the European Commission: one Italian daily reports that Brussels was notified, other coverage says the Interior Ministry had not yet done so, and the Commission's public register of temporary internal border controls still showed no Italy–Spain entry when we checked it on 2 August. Second, no Italian official source we could open names the specific article of the Schengen Borders Code invoked; specialist coverage points to Article 25a, which allows immediate action for one month without prior notification and is consistent with the announced duration. There is also no press release on the Interior Ministry's own newsroom covering the measure; the account above rests on Italian wire services and direct ministerial quotes.
What to watch next
EU interior ministers are due to meet by videoconference on Tuesday, called by Ireland as holder of the Council presidency after 22 governments asked for it in a joint letter led by Italy and Denmark. Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez separately requested an urgent videoconference and rejected calls by Italy, Finland, Denmark and Czechia to suspend Spain from Schengen, writing that "in the current international context, the EU cannot afford this kind of selfish, polarising and unlawful reaction". The Commission has already rejected suspending Spain. Two things are worth watching: whether Italy extends its checks past 31 August, and whether another member state follows with controls of its own on arrivals from Spain.
Key Takeaway
Free movement between Spain and Italy has not been abolished, but for August you should assume you will be asked for a document on arrival. If you are a non-EU resident in Spain, carry the paperwork that proves your status.