How To Create an Italian tax code - Codice Fiscale
The Codice Fiscale is an alpha numeric code which is assigned to all Italians at birth. Anyone who comes to live and work in Italy will need this code too.
Recently a number of readers have been having problems with Italian web sites which require a codice fiscale before certain operations can be carried out. For example, online stores in Italy often request a codice fiscale before a purchase can be completed.
The trouble is, if you are not Italian, or not resident in Italy, you probably will not have one of these codes. So here is how to obtain your very own, unofficial, Italian codice fiscale.
A Fine Evening in Genoa
Visitors to Genoa’s old port area could be in for a little surprise, for the city’s authorities are cracking down on drinking in the street.
This summer I spent some time down in Genoa and stayed in my friend Mauro’s appartment which overlooks Genoa’s attractive and relatively recently refurbished former dock area.
This zone has many bars, restaurants, Genoa’s famous aquarium, shops, and other attractions. It certainly manages to draw the crowds who stroll round during the evenings at most times of the year, often stopping off for a drink or a meal in one of the area’s restaurants.
However, despite the outwardly relaxed atmosphere, there is something tourists need to watch out for. Read more
Just the thing for Penny Pinching Travellers in Italy
One small way to save money while travelling Italy on a limited budget.
Italy is not the cheapest nation in the world by far, so those visiting all that Italy has to offer may find their budgets stretched more than a little at times.
However, for those watching the pennies, or rather, the Eurocents, this may be a useful little piece of information. Read more
How to Avoid Fines while Staying in Italy
If you are coming to Italy this summer, and have booked into a hotel in the central area of an Italian city, such as Florence or Pisa, and you are coming by car, either your own or a hire car, then watch out!
As is evidenced by all the 200 odd comments on my Speeding and other Traffic Fines in Italy post, it is easy to fall foul of the, by now, infamous Zona Traffico Limitato, ZTL or Restricted Traffic Zones which exist in many Italian cities. The net result is often a registered/recorded delivery letter announcing a fine, which is often difficult to contest and to settle.
Advise Your Hotel
Well, in order to avoid this awkward, but seemingly common, little problem, what you need to do is to advise the hotel where you are staying that you have come by car, provide the staff with the car licence plate/registration number and ask them, politely, to inform the local traffic police of your stay.
Insisting on having a copy of documentary proof which shows that the hotel has indeed told the police about your car would not be a bad idea either.
Technically, Italian hotels are obliged to tell the police about your car, and Italian local traffic laws often make provisions which allow registered vehicles to be exempted from the payment of fines relating to entry into these honey trap limited traffic zones. This means that when (not ‘if’!) your car is photographed by the street cameras while in a ZTL, it will be seen to be on the right list, and you will not be sent, a year or so later, a fine.
Note that Italy’s traffic cops can apparently issue a fine without stopping you. All they have to do is see your car in the wrong area.
Many foreign hotel guests do not know about these nasty ZTLs and thus do not tell the hotels about their cars. Now you know, so you should not make the same mistake.
If you have requested that your hotel notify the local traffic authorities of the existence of your car, and you still receive a fine, you can then write back, in English, enclosing a copy of the document your hotel should have provided you with, and point out that your vehicle had been registered with the police in the area.
Invalids Can Annul Fines
You may also like to note that if one of your travelling companions has a registered disability, then this too can be grounds for annulling these pesky fines.
Use the Local Tourist Information Office
If you want to be doubly sure, then pop into a local tourist information office and ask about this. You should find someone who speaks English. ‘Multa’ in Italian = Fine.
Hope that helps, and you stop being fined and I stop receiving so many comments, as a result!
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