The first 90 days

Get birth, marriage and qualification certificates

In Italy you will need originals, translations and — for public acts — an apostille. Getting them from Italy is far harder than requesting them while you are still at home. If your country is not party to the Hague Convention, you need consular legalisation instead of an apostille: allow plenty of time.

Request the tax code at the Italian consulate

It is free and spares you arriving unable to sign a lease, open an account or start a utility contract. Alternatively you do it in Italy, also free.

Bring the European Health Insurance Card

It covers urgent care in the months between arriving and joining the Italian health service. It does not cover planned treatment.

If you are a pensioner, request form S1

If your pension is paid by an EU or EEA country, Switzerland or the UK, the S1 form issued by the body that pays it entitles you to join the Italian health service at that country’s expense, without paying the voluntary contribution. From a non-EU country there is no S1: budget for the contribution or private insurance.

Report the move to the country you are leaving

Almost every country expects you to report a move abroad — in Sweden, for example, to Skatteverket if you leave for more than a year. From that point tax residency, healthcare rights and filing duties change: it is not a formality.

Get the tax code, if you do not have it yet

Agenzia delle Entrate, free, issued the same day. It is the key to everything: without it no contract and no portal works.

Sign the lease and have it registered

Registration with the tax office within 30 days is the landlord’s duty, but you are the one who needs it: without a registered lease you cannot register your residence.

Activate an Italian SIM

Many public portals and SPID activation send codes by SMS and struggle with foreign numbers. You need the tax code and an ID document.

Open an Italian bank account

An IBAN from another SEPA country must be accepted by law, but in practice some utilities and public offices refuse it or handle it badly.

File the declaration of residence at the municipality

For EU citizens this is the anagraphic registration, compulsory after three months of stay. It takes effect from the application date, not the inspection date.

Be findable at home for the municipal police check

Within 45 days an officer comes to verify you actually live there. If they cannot find you and nobody answers for you, the registration can be cancelled.

Transfer or open electricity, gas and water, and declare TARI

A transfer keeps the meter live and is faster than a new connection. TARI is declared to the municipality: nobody will send it to you unprompted.

Activate SPID or the CIE as your digital identity

Without a digital identity you cannot enter the tax office, INPS, regional health, school or municipal portals. It is the real master switch.

Register with the health service and choose a doctor

Done at the ASL with your residence, tax code and whatever gives you the entitlement (work, S1, voluntary registration). You pick the family doctor from a list.

Enrol your children in school

Ordinary enrolment happens online in January, but anyone arriving mid-year enrols at any time directly at the school. The right applies regardless of registration.

If you choose home education, send the notification

It must be filed each year with the head of the reference school and entails an annual proficiency exam. It is legal in Italy for anyone resident here, even if it is not in your country — in Sweden or Germany, for example.

File the ISEE and claim the single child allowance

The amount depends on the ISEE: without it you get the minimum. Both the ISEE and the claim can be filed free through a patronato.

Request an ID card or the registration certificate

Registered EU citizens can obtain the Italian ID card at the municipality, alongside the registration certificate proving lawful stay.

Check your licence, vehicle and local ZTL rules

An EU licence stays valid; a non-EU licence is valid for only a year after you take up residence, then must be converted — where there is a reciprocity agreement — or retaken. Residence also brings rules on foreign-registered vehicles. The ZTL is almost always discovered too late.

Work out when you become tax resident in Italy

Past 183 days in the calendar year — or with your centre of personal interests moved here — you declare worldwide income in Italy. The treaty between Italy and your country, if there is one, decides who taxes what.