eSIM in Italy, September 2026: The Identification Law That Decides Where You Buy

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Bottom line: Italy is the rare country whose statute names the eSIM explicitly. Article 98-undetricies of the Electronic Communications Code requires the customer to be identified before the service is activated — “at the moment of delivery or making available of the SIM card, or of the supply of the profile in the case of a digital SIM (eSIM)”. The security decree of 2025 then rewrote the rule for foreigners, and the final wording is the opposite of what most reporting said: for a citizen of a non-EU state the seller takes a copy of the residence permit or the passport, an equivalent travel document, or any valid identity document. A tourist’s passport is sufficient — the residence-permit-only version was in the committee draft and did not survive into law. What the decree did add is teeth: a retailer who skips the identity check can now have the shop closed for five to thirty days, which is why Italian dealers photocopy documents that they used to wave through. Everything else is favourable. Italy had just over 111 million active SIMs at 31 March 2026 and the average human SIM burns about 1.10 GB a day, so data is abundant and cheap. And if your everyday SIM was issued anywhere in the EU or EEA, you need to buy nothing at all until 30 June 2032.

This page was rebuilt from primary material in September 2026: the consolidated text of the Italian Electronic Communications Code, the text of article 32 of the 2025 security decree, the communications regulator’s first-quarter 2026 observatory, the tax authority’s own guidance on tax codes for foreign citizens, the consolidated EU roaming regulation, the European Commission’s Entry/Exit System documentation, and the GSMA specification behind every eSIM profile. It is deliberately not a ranked price table. In Italy, price per gigabyte is not what goes wrong. Paperwork at the counter is.

The statute that names the eSIM

Most countries regulate SIM cards and leave the eSIM to be argued about by lawyers. Italy did not. Article 98-undetricies of the Electronic Communications Code (Legislative Decree 259/2003), headed Identificazione degli utenti, sets out the duty in terms that cover both physical and digital profiles. Four things in that text change how you should plan a trip.

• Identification comes before activation, and the eSIM is written into the rule. The Ministry of the Interior and the regulator must each ensure, for their part, that customers are identified before services are activated — including individual components of a service — “at the moment of delivery or making available of the electronic card (S.I.M.) or of the supply of the profile in the case of a digital S.I.M. (eS.I.M.)”. An Italian eSIM is therefore not a way around the counter.
• A copy of the document is taken and kept. On new activation, number portability or SIM replacement, the provider must capture the holder’s personal data as shown on an identity document, plus the document type and number, and acquire a copy of it — unless a digital identity system legally equivalent to an identity document is used instead.
• Remote identification is expressly allowed. The article permits identification “da remoto o in via indiretta” — remotely or indirectly — provided the data needed to recognise the user is properly captured and data-protection rules are respected. That is the legal basis on which Italian operators sell eSIMs online with a video or digital-identity check, and it is why the online route exists at all.
• Subscriber lists go to the Interior Ministry. Every undertaking must make the lists of its prepaid and post-paid mobile customers available to the Ministry of the Interior’s data-processing centre, to which the judicial authority may have access for justice purposes. Machine-to-machine SIMs permanently installed inside connected objects, which cannot carry voice, SMS or internet use if removed, are exempt under paragraph 2 — a useful reminder that the duty attaches to human subscriptions, not to devices.

The structural point for a visitor follows from the first bullet. The identification duty attaches to an Italian subscriber contract. A travel profile issued outside Italy is a roaming arrangement with a foreign operator, so no Italian activation occurs and no Italian identification is triggered. That is not a loophole; it is the same distinction that lets your home SIM work when you land without anyone in Italy recording your passport.

What the 2025 security decree actually changed

In 2024 and 2025 a proposal circulated widely in the Italian and international press: non-EU nationals would need a valid permesso di soggiorno — a residence permit — to buy a SIM. It was reported as fact, and it is still repeated in travel forums. It is worth reading what was actually enacted, because the difference decides whether a tourist can buy an Italian card at all.

Article 32 of Decree-Law 48 of 11 April 2025, headed Modifiche al codice … in materia di obblighi di identificazione degli utenti dei servizi di telefonia mobile e relative sanzioni, inserted a new sentence into paragraph 1 of article 98-undetricies. In the original: Se il cliente è cittadino di uno Stato non appartenente all’Unione europea, è acquisita copia del titolo di soggiorno di cui è in possesso ovvero del passaporto o del documento di viaggio equipollente o di un documento di riconoscimento che siano in corso di validità.

The word doing the work is ovvero — “or”. If the customer is a non-EU citizen, the firm takes a copy of the residence permit the customer holds, or of a valid passport, an equivalent travel document, or a valid identity document. A visitor on a ninety-day short stay has no residence permit and does not need one; the passport satisfies the article on its own terms.

The same article added three further provisions that explain the behaviour you will meet at the counter:

Read together, the 2025 amendments did not restrict who may buy. They restricted how casually a shop may sell. For a tourist with a passport the legal position is unchanged and slightly clearer than before; for the retailer, the cost of shortcuts rose sharply. Expect a photocopy, a form, and five to fifteen minutes.

The codice fiscale question, answered properly

The second thing travellers get wrong about Italy is the tax code. You will read that a codice fiscale is mandatory to buy a SIM. The statute above says nothing of the kind — it requires identity documents, not a tax code. But the confusion has a real basis, because Italian operators’ own contracting and billing systems are built around the code, and some retail flows will not complete without one.

The Italian Revenue Agency’s own English-language guidance describes the code as the means of identifying foreign citizens in their relations with public authorities and other administrations: sixteen alphanumeric characters derived from personal data. Non-resident individuals can apply through Italian consular authorities in their country of residence; in Italy, non-EU citizens can obtain it at the Sportelli Unici per l’immigrazione — the single desks for immigration — or at a police headquarters.

Which produces the practical rule this page exists to state plainly: the tax code is a commercial requirement of some sellers, not a legal requirement of the SIM rules. If a dealer insists on one, that dealer’s system needs it — another dealer’s may not. If your trip is short, obtaining a codice fiscale to buy a two-week data plan is a poor use of a morning that could be spent at the Uffizi, and a profile issued outside Italy avoids the question entirely.

The market you would be buying into

Italy’s mobile market is one of the most competitive in Europe, and the regulator publishes the numbers quarterly. From AGCOM’s Communications Observatory no. 2/2026, covering the first quarter of 2026:

• Just over 111 million active SIMs (human and machine-to-machine) at 31 March 2026 — in a country of some 59 million people. Total SIMs grew about 1.1 percent over the quarter.
• Market shares across all SIMs: Fastweb+Vodafone 30.3 percent, TIM 25.1 percent, WindTre 24.0 percent, Iliad 11.4 percent, PostePay 4.0 percent, CoopVoce 2.1 percent, Lyca Mobile 1.0 percent.
• Market shares counting only human SIMs — the ones in people’s phones — look different: Fastweb+Vodafone 25.2 percent, WindTre 23.6 percent, TIM 22.3 percent, Iliad 16.1 percent, PostePay 5.6 percent, CoopVoce 3.0 percent, Lyca Mobile 1.4 percent. The gap between the two lists is machine traffic, and it is the reason headline “market leader” claims are usually citing the wrong table.
• About 1.10 GB per day of data per human SIM, with traffic on human SIMs up 19.3 percent year on year.

Two conclusions a traveller can act on. First, the reason Italian data is cheap is structural — four network operators plus a dense layer of resellers fighting over a saturated base — so you are not going to be gouged whatever you choose. Second, because human-SIM share is spread across four operators rather than concentrated, which host network your roaming profile lands on matters more in Italy than the price does. Coverage in a hill town in Umbria is a per-operator question, not a national one. If a travel profile discloses its host network, that disclosure is worth more than a gigabyte of extra allowance.

If your SIM is European, you already have the answer

Regulation (EU) 2022/612 carries the “roam like at home” regime through to 30 June 2032 and adds a quality-of-service entitlement: while roaming you should get the service quality you get at home, including speed and access to 5G, where the visited network supports it. Fair-use limits exist to stop people living permanently on another country’s tariff; a holiday or a work trip is not what they target.

So if your everyday SIM was issued in an EU or EEA country, the correct action in Italy is: none. Everything below is for visitors from outside that zone.

The border changed in 2026

Italy’s airports are external Schengen border crossings for non-EU arrivals, and the process there is new. The European Union’s Entry/Exit System registers non-EU nationals on short stays: it started operating on 12 October 2025 and, per the European Commission, became fully operational on 10 April 2026. Passport stamps are replaced by a digital record containing the traveller’s facial image and fingerprints, retained for three years; the first registration is the slow one, subsequent crossings are a biometric check.

The consequence for connectivity is one of sequence rather than technology. Fiumicino and Malpensa in high season now have a variable-length step between the aircraft door and the arrivals hall, and member states were given the option to suspend full operation temporarily to manage congestion, so queue lengths are not predictable month to month. If your plan was to buy connectivity after passport control and message your transfer driver after that, the plan now contains a gap of unknown length. Arrange connectivity so that it works on landing, whichever route you choose.

So: Italian SIM, or profile from home?

Before you fly: a five-item check

1. Confirm the handset is eSIM-capable and carrier-unlocked. The GSMA’s eSIM pages are the authoritative record of which device variants implement consumer remote SIM provisioning; regional variants of the same model differ.
2. Carry the passport you will actually present. If you do buy locally, the copy taken must be of a document in force — a passport within its validity, not an expired one carried “for reference”.
3. Check whether you are already covered. An EU or EEA SIM needs nothing; several UK, US and Japanese plans include EU data as well.
4. Install and test the profile before you leave home. Installation needs a working connection, which is exactly what you will not have at the gate. Install on your own wi-fi, then leave it switched off until landing.
5. Keep your home SIM in the phone. Bank one-time passwords and airline rebooking texts still arrive by SMS to your own number, and most travel profiles are data-only.

FAQ

Do I need a residence permit to buy a SIM in Italy?

No. Article 32 of Decree-Law 48/2025 requires that, for a non-EU customer, the firm acquires a copy of the residence permit the customer holds or of a valid passport, equivalent travel document, or identity document. The residence-permit-only wording appeared in the committee draft and was widely reported, but the enacted text uses “ovvero” — or. A tourist’s valid passport satisfies the rule.

Do I need a codice fiscale to buy an Italian SIM?

Not as a matter of the SIM rules, which speak of identity documents. Some operators’ and dealers’ own systems require the tax code to complete a contract, so in practice it depends on where you walk in. Non-residents can obtain one from an Italian consulate abroad, or in Italy at a single desk for immigration or a police headquarters. For a short trip it is rarely worth the errand.

Does an Italian eSIM avoid the identification requirement?

No — Italy is unusual in naming it. Article 98-undetricies requires identification before activation at the moment the SIM is delivered or the profile is supplied in the case of a digital SIM (eSIM). What does fall outside the rule is a profile issued by a foreign operator, because that is roaming rather than an Italian subscriber contract.

Why do Italian shops now insist on photocopying my passport?

Because the 2025 decree inserted a new paragraph 19-bis into article 30 of the Code: a firm authorised to sell SIMs that does not observe the identification duties can be ordered closed for five to thirty days. The copy has long been required; what changed is the consequence of skipping it.

I have an EU SIM. Do I need anything for Italy?

No. Regulation (EU) 2022/612 extends roam-like-at-home to 30 June 2032 and adds a quality-of-service entitlement, so an EU or EEA SIM works in Italy at domestic prices and, where the Italian network supports it, at home-equivalent quality including 5G.

Which Italian operator has the best coverage?

There is no single answer, and that is the useful part. AGCOM’s first-quarter 2026 figures put human-SIM share at 25.2 percent for Fastweb+Vodafone, 23.6 percent for WindTre, 22.3 percent for TIM and 16.1 percent for Iliad — a genuinely four-way split, with rural performance differing between them. For a rural itinerary, find out which host network your profile uses before you buy.

My documents were stolen in Italy. Can I still get a SIM?

Yes, and the law provides for it explicitly. Paragraph 1-bis, added in 2025, says that where the customer does not have the documents required by paragraph 1 because they were stolen or lost, the firm acquires a copy of the relevant police report instead. File the denuncia first; the report is what the dealer needs.

Sources (primary)

• Normattiva — Legislative Decree 259/2003, article 98-undetricies (Identificazione degli utenti) — the consolidated text of the identification duty: identification before activation at the delivery of the SIM or the supply of the profile in the case of a digital SIM (eSIM), the obligation to capture and copy identity-document data on activation, portability and SIM replacement, the express permission for remote or indirect identification, the availability of subscriber lists to the Ministry of the Interior’s data-processing centre, and the exemption in paragraph 2 for embedded machine-to-machine SIMs.
• Normattiva — Decree-Law 48 of 11 April 2025, article 32 — the 2025 amendments: the new sentence in paragraph 1 allowing a non-EU customer’s residence permit or valid passport, equivalent travel document or identity document; new paragraph 1-bis on stolen or lost documents and the police report; new paragraph 1-ter on incapacity to contract for six months to two years following an article 494 impersonation conviction; and new paragraph 19-bis of article 30 imposing closure of the premises or activity for five to thirty days on sellers who do not observe the identification duties.
• AGCOM — Osservatorio sulle comunicazioni n. 2/2026 — the Italian communications regulator’s quarterly observatory, and the source for just over 111 million active SIMs at 31 March 2026, the market shares on total and human SIMs for Fastweb+Vodafone, TIM, WindTre, Iliad, PostePay, CoopVoce and Lyca Mobile, average daily consumption of about 1.10 GB per human SIM, and the 19.3 percent year-on-year rise in human-SIM data traffic.
• Agenzia delle Entrate — Tax identification number for foreign citizens — the Italian Revenue Agency’s guidance on the codice fiscale: its role in identifying foreign citizens before public authorities, its sixteen-character composition, and the routes to obtain it (Italian consular authorities abroad; in Italy, the single desks for immigration or a police headquarters).
• Regulation (EU) 2022/612 on roaming on public mobile communications networks within the Union — the legal text behind roam-like-at-home, its validity to 30 June 2032, the quality-of-service entitlement while roaming, and the fair-use safeguards against permanent roaming.
• European Commission — Entry/Exit System — the official description of the biometric border-registration system for non-EU nationals on short stays, the start of operations on 12 October 2025 and full operation from 10 April 2026, the facial image and fingerprint data recorded, and the three-year retention of the record.
• GSMA — eSIM specifications and device support — the consumer Remote SIM Provisioning standard that every eSIM profile is issued against, and the authoritative record of which handset variants implement it.

Itineraries that pair with Italy run on different rules and are worth reading separately: Switzerland sits outside the EU roaming zone and catches out travellers on a Milan-to-Lugano hop, Malta and Slovenia are the common short add-ons by ferry and by road, Spain is the usual second stop on a southern-Europe trip, and the country index covers the rest.

Editorial note: this page is written from the consolidated Italian statute, the text of the 2025 decree, the communications regulator’s quarterly observatory, the Revenue Agency’s own guidance, the EU roaming regulation, the European Commission’s border-system documentation and the GSMA’s eSIM specification — not from other travel blogs and not from resellers’ marketing copy. Where a figure has a date attached, that date is the reporting period, not the day we published. Italian identification rules changed in 2025 and dealer practice is still settling, so verify at the moment of booking. Where we could not confirm something from a primary source — current retail prices and per-operator plan structures, for instance — we have not invented figures. Our sourcing and correction policy is on the about page. Last updated 2 September 2026.