Residenza anagrafica
Municipal residencyOnce you have the permit and a registered contractRegistering your habitual address with the comune. With residenza you can get an Italian ID card, apply for ISEE-based student aid, claim the discounted transit pass, and move your medico di base to this city.
Step by step
- 1
Get the landlord to agree
This is the hardest part of the whole procedure. Some landlords refuse, worried that a tenant with residenza is harder to move out. Settle it before you sign, and put it in the contract.
- 2
File it online or at the counter
Most comuni accept the dichiarazione di residenza online through SPID — Milan, Rome and Turin all do. Upload scans of the contract and your documents, and that is it.
- 3
Wait for the vigili to come and check
The vigili urbani come round to the registered address within 45 days to confirm you really live there. They normally do not call ahead; if nobody answers they leave a note or come back.
Make sure your surname is on the door and on the bell — a handwritten strip of paper is enough. Without it the check fails.
- 4
Collect the certificate
Once the check passes you can request a certificato di residenza and apply for the Italian electronic ID card, the CIE. Both come up again when you apply for the ISEE and the discounted transit pass.
Where people get stuck
- !If you live in a hall of residence you can usually register at that address — ask the accommodation office for the letter first.
- !If you are out when they call, your name is not on the bell, or a neighbour says they have never heard of you, the application is rejected and you start again.
- !Once registered you count as a resident of the city, and the waste tax — TARI — may start arriving in your name. Check first what the contract says about who pays it.
- !When you leave Italy after graduating, apply for the cancellazione — otherwise you may keep counting as a tax resident.