[ard]

Updating this thread, since I am on the ground here. Fuel loyalty programs seem sparse and seem structured in such a way that you have to link a EU bank account to a loyalty card and you get refunds deposited back. I didn’t investigate carefully but that is what I gleaned.

What annoys me more is that I cannot seem to pay by credit card at any gas station in Italy. Most seem to be completely unattended and even if there is a convenience store “attached” to the premise it is a separate entity that is not associated with the gas station. At the Agip station I found a payment kiosk but it refused my Chase, Citi and USBank issued Visa cards, even though I had used these cards earlier on the trip for other purchases, as well as filed a “travel notice” with the issuers. I called Citi and they didn’t even see the transaction attempted on their side. The CS rep instructed me to use the tap feature on the card, but to no avail. He concluded that whatever entity ran the payment systems at Agip gas stations didn’t play nice with US-issued credit cards. However, the very nice Italian lady at the convenience store helped me out by selling me “a bunch of nothing” and charging my credit card 50 euro and handing me a crisp 50 euro note so I could pay cash at the payment kiosk. Nice!