guardian news Italy looks set for fresh elections as it enters third month without government

[umbertino]

No plan to fund flat tax with deficit 'yet' says Conte

Salvini pushing hard for govt to bring in fiscal reform

 

Redazione ANSA Rome

31 May 201916:46 News

 

 

http://www.ansa.it/english/news/2019/05/31/no-plan-to-fund-flat-tax-with-deficit-yet-says-conte_e3508a15-e871-4d72-b941-8eb60ddf6c56.html

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Reply to EC will avert infringement procedure says Salvini

Commission asked for clarification about lack of progress on debt

 

Redazione ANSA Rome

30 May 201916:30 News

 

 

http://www.ansa.it/english/news/politics/2019/05/30/well-avert-eu-sanctions-salvini_ef92ef10-ac54-43ce-91d9-b8bc5c0226a7.html

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Don't make EU an adversary warns Bank of Italy chief

Visco says spending increases must be sustainable

 

Redazione ANSA Rome

31 May 201915:17 News

 

 

http://www.ansa.it/english/news/2019/05/31/dont-made-eu-an-adversary-warns-bank-of-italy-chief_3d357c19-ddcd-46ac-9de9-86fad9f3358a.html

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Bannon's alt-right gladiator school blocked

 

31 May 2019

 

 

 

http://www.italianinsider.it/?q=node/8160

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Mussolini's progeny voted down in EU elections

 

31 May 2019

 

 

 

http://www.italianinsider.it/?q=node/8158

 

Good

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

First right-wing victory in Mussolini's hometown since WWII

 

31 May 2019

 

 

 

http://www.italianinsider.it/?q=node/8157

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Italy's coalition government is one year old, but how much longer can it survive?

 

Matteo Salvini's hard-right League is flourishing one year after Italy's populist coalition came to power, but the government remains riven by infighting and the economy is in the doldrums

 

 

AFP

news@thelocal.it
@thelocalitaly

31 May 2019

16:58 CEST+02:00

 

 

"This is a government that has talked a lot but has done much less than it said it would," Franco Pavoncello, political science professor at the John Cabot university in Rome, told AFP.

 

There have been two major reforms on the socio-economic front: a basic national income -- wanted by the League's coalition partner, the anti-establishment Five Star Movement (M5S) -- and a chance to retire earlier, which was a League election promise.

 

The measures may have been crowd pleasers, but they dealt a blow to the country's public deficit and its already mammoth debt, which is more than €2,300 billion.

 

"The past year has led to the situation Italy now faces," Pavoncello said. "With having to find 40 to 50 billion euros for next year's budget, the increase in the spread, [and] the decline in growth, we are moving towards a new fall-out with the EU."

 

Italy also lowered its growth figures for the first quarter of 2019 on Friday to just 0.1 percent -- a blow for the government.

 

 

Role reversal

The European Commission has called on them to explain the deterioration of its public accounts. It won't be their first sparring match: the coalition rowed bitterly with Brussels at the end of last year over its big-spending 2019 budget, which the European Commission rejected in a historic first.

 

Both sides then made compromises to get the budget over the line a few months before European elections, soothing nerves among international investors and market.

But the spread -- the closely watched premium asked by investors for Italian versus German debt and a good indication of market concern -- has widened to around 280 points over the year, compared to 150 in May 2018.

 

In the meantime, the political situation has undergone a complete about-turn since June 1st 2018, when the eurozone's third-largest economy got its first populist administration. The M5S celebrated taking an impressive 32 percent at last year's general election, while the League scored 17 percent.

 

At last week's EU vote, however, the M5S won just 17 percent, while the League triumphed with 34 percent.

 

Strongman Salvini, deputy prime minister and interior minister, was already acting as if he was head of government, the major Italian dailies said on Friday.

 

 

Salvini 'predominant'

The Corriere della Sera newspaper said it would take about a month to see whether or not the government would survive.

 

"For a year, the League and M5S have contradicted each other. Continuous and exhausting negotiations have led to the adoption of laws on divergent interests, with a negative impact on the deficit and debt," it said.

 

"Now, even negotiations no longer seem likely... Salvini's project has become predominant."

 

The League and M5S are set to wrangle over numerous issues in the coming weeks. The League wants its coalition partner to end its resistance to a high-speed rail line between the cities of Turin and Lyon in France, and their idea for a flat-tax rate.

 

"It remains to be seen if the coalition finishes its entire term, given the major ideological differences that constantly cause friction," said Michiel van der Veen from Rabobank.

 

But Flavia Perina, political journalist with La Stampa daily, said Salvini would not be the one to pull the plug: "He is determined to leave any responsibility for political crises to the M5S."

 

Nor does he want to risk losing the votes the League has just picked up from disaffected M5S supporters, "an enormous army of deserters who need to be kept close," she said. 

 

By AFP's Ljubomir Milasin

 

 

https://www.thelocal.it/20190531/italy-coalition-government-is-one-year-old-but-how-much-longer-can-it-survive

 

By far the worst ever Gov't Italy has had since the return of democracy ( after 2nd WW)...Incompetence, arrogance  and less and less spaces for  allowing freedom to diff. stances

[umbertino]

Did Italy just make selling 'cannabis light' illegal?

 

The sale of cannabis derivatives is a crime under Italian law, Italy's top court has ruled. Here's what the decision means for all those who've become used to buying and selling 'legal weed'

 

 

The Local

news@thelocal.it
@thelocalitaly

31 May 2019

13:52 CEST+02:00

 

 

What does the law say?

In a ruling on Thursday, the Court of Cassation (Italy's Supreme Court) said that selling derivatives of cannabis sativa – notably oils, resins, buds and leaves – is illegal in Italy. Only certain "agricultural" varieties are permitted under a December 2016 law that was designed to help Italian farmers grow industrial hemp, the highest court of appeal said.

 

Its decision aimed to close a loophole in the legislation that left the door open to the marketing of so-called cannabis light, strains that contain less than 0.2 percent of THC, the compound that produces mind-altering effects. So long as the THC content is below this threshold – and so long as it doesn't end up as anything that can be eaten or smoked – the 2016 law said cultivators could grow cannabis light without any special permission.

 

But the ruling states that selling cannabis derivatives is a crime "unless they are effectively devoid of narcotic effects". It's not clear whether that definition applies to the low-THC varieties currently on sale all over Italy.

 

 

What do Italy's 'legal weed' shops sell?

Ever since the 2016 law passed, shops, delivery services and even vending machines have sprung up selling everything from seeds to shampoos.

 

Since buds, flowers and leaves could potentially be eaten or smoked, as prohibited by the law, they are marketed as "collector's items" (wink wink) and labelled as unsuitable for human consumption. Seeds are not supposed to be cultivated.

 

Shops also sell a number of "cannabis-flavoured" consumables, including soft drinks, infusions, candies and biscuits, that contain only fragrances or CBD, the substance in cannabis that has been claimed to have relaxing or pain-relieving properties but won't get you high. The court did not say that selling such products was illegal.

 

The wide variety of other paraphernalia typically found in legal weed shops, including cosmetics, crystals and clothing, are not affected by the latest ruling either.

 

 

Will such shops have to close?

In theory, the ruling means that police could begin seizing cannabis sativa derivatives and charge the shops selling them.

 

The application of the law remains unclear, however, and since most shops sell a range of products not listed by the judges, there's nothing to stop them continue to sell their other merchandise – so long as it's profitable enough.

 

But shop owners are understandably worried. One businessman in Sanremo has already announced plans to launch a class action against the court's ruling, which he fears could put him and others in the sector out of business overnight.

 

"It's like cracking down on alcoholism by banning alcohol-free beer," he told the press. 

People who buy cannabis derivatives, meanwhile, are not in danger of being prosecuted.

 

 

Is a further crackdown likely?

Interior Minister Matteo Salvini, head of the hard-right League party, recently declared "war" on cannabis light shops, which he classes alongside drug dealers. He praised police for closing a handful of stores earlier this month – though now that the European elections are over and he's no longer in campaign mode, he might drop the tough talk.

 

"I'm sorry for the jobs [lost], which I hope can be recovered elsewhere. But it sends a clear message and clarifies something obvious: drugs are dangerous and there are other ways to have fun," Salvini commented after the court's ruling.

 

The other party in Italy's coalition government, the anti-establishment Five Star Movement, is far more favourable towards cannabis light, which is says has helped boost small- and medium-enterprises in Italy. 

 

 

How big is Italy's cannabis light business?

There are thought to be around 2,000 agricultural businesses in Italy cultivating 4,000 hectares of hemp or cannabis varieties, according to farmers' association Coldiretti. The sector was worth an estimated €150 million in 2018.

 

 

What about regular cannabis?

Italy legalized medical marijuana in 2013. You must have a doctor's prescription and obtain the drug from a licensed pharmacy, which has permission either to buy it from a tightly controlled supply grown by the Italian army or import it from regulated growers outside Italy.

 

Growing or selling marijuana for recreational use is illegal and can land you in prison. Possession is not a crime, but it remains punishable by a fine and the suspension of your driving licence and/or passport.

 

 

https://www.thelocal.it/20190531/is-selling-cannabis-light-illegal-in-italy

 

 

 

Edited June 1, 2019 by umbertino

[umbertino]

Agree to go on or I quit Conte tells League, M5S

We are ready says Salvini, Toninelli says M5s will be loyal

Redazione ANSA Rome

03 June 201919:51 News

 

 

http://www.ansa.it/english/news/2019/06/03/agree-to-go-on-or-i-quit-conte-tells-league-m5s_692d0127-20fb-49af-b65d-85740cc69acc.html

 

Just a  matter of weeks or maybe a few months ( won't go past 2019 anyway...while its natural expiry should be 2023) before this Gov't enters officially into a crisis....

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Govt vows to solve Venice cruise ship problem after crash

Out-of-control ship hit tourist barge and wharf, injuring four

 

Redazione ANSA Rome

03 June 201911:00 News

 

 

http://www.ansa.it/english/news/2019/06/03/govt-vows-to-solve-venice-cruise-ship-problem-after-crash_d111dead-e8d3-483c-a603-e81e6433e943.html

 

 

 

 

 

 

School bus hijack 'hero' students still waiting for Italian citizenship

 

The debate over citizenship rules is intensifying in Italy, as children hailed as heroes in a school bus hijacking in March are still waiting for their promised Italian citizenship

 

 

The Local

news@thelocal.it
@thelocalitaly

3 June 2019

10:58 CEST+02:00

 

 

 

Schoolchildren in Milan say they haven't heard anything about the Italian citizenship they were promised after their school bus was hijacked in March, Al Jazeera reports.

 

"It's been two months now, we still don't have any news," 13-year-old Adam El Amami, one of the students hailed as a hero for his part in stopping the hijacker, said in the televised news report.

 

The dramatic police rescue of 51 children from the hijacked bus in Crema, near Milan, gripped Italy.

 

Some of the students on board were found not to have Italian citizenship despite being born in Italy, including Adam, who was born in Italy to Moroccan parents.

 

Under an Italian law that hasn't changed since 1911, the children of foreign parents who are born in Italy can only apply for citizenship when they reach 18.

 

Italy's interior minister Matteo Salvini said Adam and other children involved in the hijacking would be awarded Italian citizenship after the incident.

 

"If there are children who are not Italian citizens, we have studied this question and we will complete the process so that they can become Italian," said Salvini, also head of the anti-immigration League party, after meeting five of the children in Rome in March.

 

The childrens' case has reopened a long-running debate about the fairness of Italy's citizenship laws.

 

The previous centre-left government said it would change the law to make it easier to grant citizenship to children born to non-Italian parents in Italy, but the law was never passed, largely due to opposition from the League. 

 

The issue seemed to have been largely forgotten as Salvini and his party gained support for their anti-immigrant rhetoric, but the case of the schoolchildren has led to renewed calls for change.

 

When one of the children, Ramy, suggested changes to the citizenship law, Salvini told the boy: "Get elected and then you can make the law."

 

Salvini previously stressed that Italian nationality would be awarded in this case "without any variation in the law, since the law exists and works, we do not change it."

 

Meanwhile, many have questioned whether the Interior Minister should be able to hand out citizenship as a reward or remove it as a punishment, after he vowed to strip the Senegalese-born bus driver involved in the attack of the Italian citizenship he'd gained through marriage.

 

Italy's tough new package of security laws, which Salvini describes as the "Salvini decree", includes provisions making it easier to strip foreign-born Italians of their citizenship.

 

 

 

https://www.thelocal.it/20190603/school-bus-hijack-heroes-still-waiting-for-italian-ciizenship

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[umbertino]

Italian PM’s threat to quit leaves ball in Salvini’s court

 

Bickering between the League and M5S has intensified since European elections

 

Angela Giuffrida in Rome

Tue 4 Jun 2019 16.10 BST

 

 

Luigi Di Maio (Five Star Movement), left, and Matteo Salvini (League) were reported to have had a cordial conversation, but are at odds again

Photograph: Fabio Frustaci/AP

 

 

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/jun/04/italian-pms-threat-to-quit-leaves-ball-in-salvinis-court

[umbertino]

EU could fine Italy £3bn ($3.81B) for breaking spending and borrowing rules

 

Italy’s debt amounts to 132% and servicing it costs more than annual education budget

 

Daniel Boffey in Brussels and Angela Giuffrida in Rome

Wed 5 Jun 2019 15.42 BST

 

 

 

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/jun/05/eu-could-fine-italy-3bn-for-breaking-spending-and-borrowing-rules

[umbertino]

Infringement procedure justified EU tells Italy

But we're not opening proceedings today says Dombrovskis

Redazione ANSA Brussels

05 June 201918:25 News

 

 

http://www.ansa.it/english/news/2019/06/05/infringement-procedure-justified-eu-tells-italy_9a5c93a4-ecb7-4811-983b-cc9e016ea149.html

 

 

 

 

 

 

Di Maio threatens revoke Whirlpool aid

 

5 June 2019

 

 

http://www.italianinsider.it/?q=node/8176

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Bahamian diplomat found dead in river Po

 

5 June 2019

 

 

http://www.italianinsider.it/?q=node/8174

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Salvini supports continued coalition before issuing warning

 

4 June 2019

 

 

 

http://www.italianinsider.it/?q=node/8171

[umbertino]

Salvini steps up attacks on Italian judges who challenge him

 

Italy’s far-right interior minister escalates campaign against judicial independence

 

Angela Giuffrida in Rome and Lorenzo Tondo in Palermo

Thu 6 Jun 2019 17.35 BST

 

 

Matteo Salvini, Minister of Interior affairs and deputy PM ( plus being Boss of League party)

Photograph: Maurizio Brambatti/EPA

 

 

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/jun/06/salvini-steps-up-attacks-on-italian-judges-who-challenge-him

 

 

 

[umbertino]

How an American spy helped liberate Rome, 75 years ago

 

In the night between June 4th and 5th 1944, Allied soldiers arrived in Rome and the city became the first Axis capital to be liberated from the Nazis. One of those to greet them was an American writer and undercover agent who had spent months working with the Italian resistance to pave the way for Rome's liberation

 

 

Jessica Phelan

jessica.phelan@thelocal.com

5 June 2019

10:59 CEST+02:00

 

 

His name was Peter Tompkins and, despite being a native of Athens, Georgia, he had successfully passed himself off as an Italian in order to spy on Nazi troop movements from behind enemy lines. 

 

He wasn't a soldier. Barely 25 years old at the time American tanks were rolling past the Colosseum, a few years earlier he was studying at Harvard and the Sorbonne, then reporting from Italy in the early years of World War Two for the New York Herald Tribune.

 

Crucially, he had grown up in the aristocratic circles of Rome with his artist parents and spoke Italian like a native.

 

It was this combination of personal connections, political savvy and language skills that led the US Office of Strategic Services, a forerunner of the CIA, to recruit Tompkins in 1943. Back in the States at the time, he was flown to North Africa for training before being parachuted into Allied-controlled southern Italy, where he began recruiting anti-fascist Italians to become spies.

 

By January 1944 the Allies had set their sights on Rome, and the OSS realized that Tompkins would make an invaluable advance man. On orders to coordinate the fractured local resistance and funnel intelligence to Allied forces, he was flown to Corsica and smuggled by speedboat to the coast north of Rome.

 

He had forged his own papers – it was still the early days of American spy ops – borrowing the surname of an Italian aristocrat he'd known at Harvard. "I figured the Germans and Fascists were still impressed with nobility," he would say decades later.

 

Tompkins made it to Rome on January 21st and spent his first anxious hours in his pre-war home, the splendid Palazzo Ricci near the Tiber, where the porter who'd served his family long before gave the infiltrator a place to rest before getting to work.

 

He wasn't counting on his mission lasting long: Allied troops landed at Anzio, some 60 kilometres south of Rome, the day after Tompkins arrived.

 

On the morning of the landings, "I sat disguised as a military policeman astride a motorcycle near Mussolini's former office in Piazza Venezia, watching truckloads of heavily armoured German paratroopers in their camouflaged black and tan uniforms speeding south toward the beachhead," he later wrote. He could see Germans hurriedly packing up their things and preparing to run.

 

But there the Allied forces stopped. They dug in on the beaches for what would prove a long wait. Tompkins' mission was now more crucial than ever, as his commanders looked to him to keep them informed on every Nazi move.

 

To do that, he needed the eyes and ears of Italian partisans. 

 

Within hours of arriving in Rome, Tompkins had made his most important contact: the true hero of this story, a 23-year-old Italian police officer named Maurizio Giglio.

Despite being the son of a high-ranking former chief of the Fascist police, he was working undercover to radio out intelligence to Allied forces via a transmitter codenamed 'Radio Vittoria' – Radio Victory.

 

Giglio, a talented soldier, had fought against the Nazis when they occupied Rome months before. But after making it out to Allied territory in the south, he volunteered to help American forces gather the information they would need to prepare an invasion.

 

Briefed by the OSS and assigned the codename Cervo ('Deer'), Giglio trekked back through enemy lines into the city he had escaped. He took advantage of his father's connections to get a job as a lieutenant in the mounted police, using the uniform as a disguise to coordinate informants and assist fugitives unsuspected.

 

It was Giglio's motorbike that Tompkins rode to observe the Germans in Piazza Venezia, Giglio's home where he hid out during his first days in Rome. Giglio introduced Tompkins to leading members of Rome's resistance, told him what was happening in police stations and which buildings the Nazis were using. 

 

They made an effective team. "Soon we had men and women watching every road in and out of the capital, 24 hours a day," Tompkins wrote. Giglio plugged him into a resistance network so well connected that they even had eyes inside the headquarters of the top Nazi field marshal.

 

 

https://www.thelocal.it/20190605/how-an-american-spy-helped-liberate-rome-75-years-ago

 

You can access site through any free anon proxy ( huge choice on Google or other search engine) in order to view pics

 

[umbertino]

Prostitution never totally free choice - top court

Ruling in Berlusconi 'escort' case

 

Redazione ANSA Rome

07 June 201915:04 News

 

 

 

http://www.ansa.it/english/news/2019/06/07/prostitution-never-totally-free-top-court_2fce7326-230d-4006-b91d-e561d8422c7f.html

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Italy to host 'supercomputer of the future'

In Bologna

 

Redazione ANSA Rome

07 June 201914:09 News

 

 

http://www.ansa.it/english/news/2019/06/07/italy-to-host-supercomputer-of-the-future_b7936f9c-a7ca-49b5-add3-2ef5520195fe.html

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Tetraplegic regains use of hands thanks to new surgery

Nerve-bypass procedure used in Italy for first time in Turin

 

Redazione ANSA Turin

07 June 201913:26 News

 

 

http://www.ansa.it/english/news/science_tecnology/2019/06/07/op-restores-use-of-hands-to-tetraplegic_41e0fd89-d2a7-4b23-a848-2ca346ea8957.html

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The 25 stats that help explain Italy today

 

Where has the highest life expectancy? How many residents are non-Italian? Which region feels safest? We take a look at the latest figures from Italy's national statistics office to show you today's Italy, by the numbers

 

 

Jessica Phelan

jessica.phelan@thelocal.com

7 June 2019

15:55 CEST+02:00

 

 

https://www.thelocal.it/20190607/statistics-that-help-explain-italy

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[umbertino]

How Italy's migrant model town Riace veered far-right

 

The sign reading "Riace, land of welcome" still hangs in the small town, but its dream of migrant integration is over after the far-right's "Italians first" election victory

 

 

AFP

news@thelocal.it
@thelocalitaly

8 June 2019

09:36 CEST+02:00

 

 

The new mayor of the one-time "global village" in southern Italy's rural Calabria elected on May 26th with the support of Matteo Salvini's anti-migrant Lega party, Antonio Trifoli, has so far left the sign up.

 

"We will welcome refugees again," he told AFP.

 

"But we can't have 500 to 600 asylum seekers in a town with 1,500 residents," said the former town policeman.

 

Trifoli was first on the independent "Riace reborn" list, backed by the Lega, whose supporters provided many of the 41.8 percent of the 1,103 votes he won.

 

Until just a few years ago, the Lega was a separatist party at the other end of the country which sneeringly referred to southerners as "bumpkins" or worse.

 

"The problem is that we had too many migrants and we lost the spirit of openness there was initially," said Trifoli.

 

"A whole economic system developed with the migrants, but without making the village dynamic again... The model destroyed itself," he said.

 

Former mayor Domenico "Mimmo" Lucano encouraged migrants and refugees to come to the village to counter a gradual decline of inhabitants and workers and show how migrant integration could be done.

 

But now he is no longer even a member of the town council after his left-backed list lost in the elections, and he has been barred from the town.

 

Lucano is due in court next week to face charges including that he failed to put to tender a garbage collection contract that went to a migrant-linked cooperative.

 

German director Wim Wenders made a documentary in 2010 featuring the leftist mayor and Riace's refugees, but Lucano was last year placed under house arrest for allegedly setting up fake marriages to help foreign women stay in the country after their asylum applications were rejected.

 

The debacle came after a populist coalition formed by Salvini, the country's hardline anti-immigrant deputy prime minister who also holds the interior ministry portfolio, and Luigi Di Maio's anti-establishment Five Star Movement (M5S) formed a government in June last year.

 

The shops and workshops previously occupied by migrants are now shuttered.

The village's historic streets are largely deserted, with funereal music occasionally punctuating the silence.

 

Colourful, multi-ethnic murals can still be seen on walls, testimony to the experiment that took place here and the hopes for migrant integration it spawned in Italy and beyond, before it failed amid alienated locals and allegations of fraud.

 

"Here, we need order and discipline," said agricultural engineer Claudio Falchi, a Milan native who moved here 25 years ago.

 

Three years ago he became Lega leader in Riace.

 

"They were fighting among themselves, they didn't want the crucifix, or the creche," Falchi said of the migrants.

 

"It's not racism, it's just that this is our home. We welcome them and then they make problems."

 

Locals are reluctant to talk about the past or discuss the predicament of the village, which, like so many in Calabria is seeing its youth leave in search of work as the elderly slowly die off.

 

"People wanted things to change. After 15 years of talking only about welcoming and refugees, they got tired," said mayor Trifoli.

 

"Taking in refugees gave Riace prestige around the world but its inhabitants lost interest."

 

Over the years the town took in around 6,000 migrants, opened shops and workshops and even launched its own currency stamped with the heads of Nelson Mandela or Martin Luther King.

 

But that model of tolerance and inclusion has disappeared.

 

"Almost everyone has gone. There aren't even any more children," said Daniel, a 37-year-old Ghanaian, in perfect Italian.

 

The Lega was the big winner in last month's European parliamentary elections, taking more than 34 percent of national votes.

 

On the southern island of Lampedusa, where many migrants arrived after making the perilous journey across the Mediterranean, the Lega won more than 45 percent of votes.

 

 

https://www.thelocal.it/20190608/how-italys-migrant-model-town-riace-veered-far-right

 

 

Riace is famous also for the bronze statues......

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Riace_bronzes

[umbertino]

The essential guide to opening a bank account in Italy

 

Here's everything you need to know if you're planning to open a bank account in Italy, whether you're a resident or not

 

 

The Local

news@thelocal.it
@thelocalitaly

16 May 2019

16:52 CEST+02:00

 

 

Along with finding a flat and a job, opening a bank account is one of the first things you’ll need to do when arriving in Italy. Your overseas account is unlikely to cut it for everyday tasks like paying bills, withdrawing cash, or getting paid yourself.

 

Italy has a good number of banks to choose from, ranging from traditional Italian institutions to international banks and online-only operations.

 

But there are a few things you'll need to know before you open an account. From paperwork to choosing the right bank for you, here's our complete guide to opening a bank account in Italy.

 

What do I need to know about Italian bank accounts?

 

Your first decision is whether to opt for a resident or non-resident account. If you’re not going to be working in Italy and plan to stay for a short period of time (if you're studying temporarily, for example), a non-resident account (conto estero) will be enough and, if you don't have Italian residency, it's all you can have.

 

This type of account doesn't allow you to receive payments from within Italy, but it offers higher rates of interest.

 

Of course, if you’ve moved to the country you'll want a resident account, for which you'll need to be registered as a resident in Italy. (You don't need to be an Italian citizen.)

 

Almost all banks in Italy (except some online only banks) charge monthly fees, which can be a nasty shock for people coming from places like the UK where this is unheard of. You don't get much interest on most accounts, either.

 

They also tend to charge for withdrawals made from cash machines. Most banks allow you to make withdrawals (though often a limited number) from the bank's own machines without paying a fee, so it might pay to choose a bank that has a good network of ATMs.

 

Most banks have a €300 daily withdrawal limit. Still, Italian cash machines tend to be out of cash (or out of service) irritatingly often.

 

Application forms seem to always be in Italian, with no English translation available. Some larger banks may have English speaking staff but usually, unless you've arranged an appointment with an English speaker, it helps to take an Italian speaker with you to translate if you're still getting to grips with the language.

 

What are the requirements?

 

Some online banks such as N26 will allow you to open an account with an address elsewhere in Europe, although there are tighter restrictions on addresses outside the EU.

 

While the specific paperwork is likely to differ from bank to bank, each application is likely to require some combination of the following:

 

• An application form
•  

• Your ID card or passport

•  

• Your tax number

•  

• Proof of your address (such as a utility bill)

•  

• An initial deposit (which will vary from bank to bank);

•  

Americans and other non-EU citizens may have to fill out additional forms.

 

Can I apply online?

 

Online-only accounts have become more popular in Italy in recent years as they often offer a greater degree of flexibility and lower (or no) account fees.

 

Some traditional banks also allow online applications, while others will want you to show up in person. And a lot of people have found that applying in person is much more straightforward.

 

What kind of fees do I need to watch out for?

 

There are various different fees to look out for when opening an Italian bank account. Not all bank accounts will charge every type of fee, so it's worth shopping around to find an account that works in your favour.

 

• Maintenance fee – a service fee, usually monthly, charged simply for having an account.

•  

• Transaction fee – you might find that the bank charges you for each individual transaction that shows up on your statement.

•  

• Cash withdrawal fee – if you use an ATM to withdraw cash, there is often a charge.

•  

• Interest on checking accounts – Some checking accounts charge quarterly interest fees.

•  

• International transfer fees – this can be a big deal. If you’re likely to want to send money abroad, check how much each bank will charge for this and shop around for the lowest fee.

•  

• Cancellation fees – few of us think about this but some banks charge fees for closing an account. It can pay to check what will happen if you decide to cancel your account.

•  

Which bank should I choose?

 

This is a difficult choice to make, and it's wise to ask friends and family for recommendations.

 

To get you started, here's a list of some of the most popular banks among expats and our readers' thoughts on each.

 

BancoPosta

 

The Italian post office offers various types of accounts and you'll find a branch even in the smallest towns. It has “the owest annual fees, better exchange rates for account holders, no ATM fees - and they're everywhere,” says Peter Luigi Bonta in Pistoia.

 

Intesa San Paolo

 

Italy's biggest private bank has plenty of branches and is often recommended as a good place to open a non-resident account. Plus opening an account here is “very easy”, according to reader Martin C Smith in Turin.

 

Fineco

 

Several readers highly recommended Fineco, which they said was easy to manage online.

 

“I can easily manage my account online and keep deposits in multiple currencies. Paying taxes, utilities and other vendors is easy and quick and can be done from an app on my phone,” said A. Reed in Umbria, though she pointed out that US citizens must keep their balance “under 10 thousand or be subjected to additional IRS scrutiny.”

 

Alexandra Miletta in Rome agreed that her account with Fineco was easy to manage and “very straightforward” to set up.

 

Barbara Susan Bale in Naples said she could do almost everything online with Fineco, and praised the app's “easy to navigate” interface – though she deducted points for the rudeness of staff in branches.

 

Unicredit

 

This major international bank has a large presence in Italy.

 

“You can open an account online and there's no monthly payment for basic accounts. Branches of the bank are available in every city,” said reader Dilshya in Mogliano, Veneto, though she said you may be charged other fees by the bank.

 

Basic account holders can be charged for every direct debit, and a two-euro fee for using an ATM belonging to another bank.

 

Deana Murray in Verona praised the variety of account options, and said fees were not too high.

 

“They were so friendly and patient with my Italian and made the whole process extremely stress free,” she said, but warned: “Try not to open the account in a branch that is in a town in the middle of nowhere. Often if there is a problem, you will have to go back to that specific branch so try and open it in a city that is easy to reach in case you move.”

 

John Batten in Lazio agreed that the bank was “very helpful” - but warned that non-resident accounts come with a hefty fee of “at least €200 per year”.

 

CheBanca

 

This relatively new bank has no account fees or charges if you do everything online, and account holders told us that's easy to do and praised the “user-friendly website.”

 

“My local branch was very helpful when I opened my accounts. You can go to any branch in Italy for assistance as your accounts are not associated with any specific branch,” said David Murphy in Sassari.

 

But check that you do have a local branch before opening an account, as it's not found everywhere.

 

John Brown in Florence said the bank's main attraction is “the good customer service and the lack of charges for many services. Only €1 monthly for a current account and €2 monthly for a prepayment bancomat card, useable here and abroad without additional charges.”

 

N26

 

A few readers also recommended this international online banking company, where accounts are free and can be opened online via a video call.

 

The fact that it's based in Germany and has a deposit protection scheme from the German government is something many account holders find reassuring.

 

Daniel Tse in Mantova praised the bank's “EU-wide access to cash machines irrespective of specific banks or building societies”the “, “decent English-speaking (and German-speaking) customer service support,” and “simple, transparent” fees.

 

He added that there are “no hidden fees, but beware of a maximum limit of five free cash withdrawals a month - even if the Summary of Charges says it is 'unlimited' (subject to 'fair use')".

 

This is not a complete list of all the banks available, and it pays to do as much research as possible before opening your account.

 

 

https://www.thelocal.it/20190516/everything-you-need-to-know-about-opening-a-bank-account-in-italy

 

[umbertino]

How to open a bank account in San Marino

 

https://www.b2bpay.co/how-open-bank-account-san-marino

 

 

 

The republic of San Marino is a tiny independent Country inside Italian territory ( just like the Vatican)

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/San_Marino

 

 

[umbertino]

Italy can pay debts and cut taxes - Salvini

Minimum wage only after tax reductions says League leader

 

Redazione ANSA Milan

10 June 201916:16 News

 

 

 

http://www.ansa.it/english/news/2019/06/10/italy-can-pay-debts-and-cut-taxes-salvini_302703f5-1f22-4322-8f2d-91b5da633c46.html

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

PM Conte warns against taking on the European Commission

Infringement procedure could endanger savings says premier

 

Redazione ANSA Rome

10 June 201912:06 News

 

 

 

http://www.ansa.it/english/news/politics/2019/06/10/conte-warns-against-taking-on-commission_39b6a37f-fc72-4a23-aaeb-115587ac6323.html

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

League to run traditionally left-wing cities

 

10 June 2019

 

 

 

http://www.italianinsider.it/?q=node/8193

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Bahamas envoy to monitor diplomat death probe

 

10 June 2019

 

 

 

http://www.italianinsider.it/?q=node/8191

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[umbertino]

Italy going wrong way, risks procedure - Juncker

'Not threat yet, don't want to humiliate Rome'

Redazione ANSA Brussels

11 June 201919:08 News

 

 

http://www.ansa.it/english/news/2019/06/11/italy-going-wrong-way-risks-procedure-juncker_f22970c5-d28b-40dc-95ba-7f2f3acd4702.html

 

Of course...As expected with this Gov't...The wicked  and senseless and childish and stupid thing is they insist in their suicidal economic policy.... I do care as it's my Country and my money.......

 

 

 

 

 

 

We'll seek compromise to avert EU procedure - Tria

Bond spread must be 'normalised' says economy minister

Redazione ANSA Rome

11 June 201916:07 News

 

 

http://www.ansa.it/english/news/2019/06/11/well-seek-compromise-to-avert-eu-procedure-tria_4392c5c9-8570-4e4a-a2e0-b9c8256e780e.html

 

I outright call BS on this one...They've been saying that for months after every warning and  official letter EU sent us......They kept doing the same thing and didn't change anything substancial so far......Typical of populist Gov'ts

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[umbertino]

EU warned Italy preparing for Eurozone currency exit

 

11 June 2019

 

 

http://www.italianinsider.it/?q=node/8196

 

Scary in the least....God forbid  or else we're done

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Knox to return to Italy for first time since prison release

 

11 June 2019

 

 

 

http://www.italianinsider.it/?q=node/8194

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[umbertino]

We want dialogue with EU, not test of strength - Conte

Premier tells ANSA Forum he's upbeat on infringement procedure

 

Redazione ANSA Rome

12 June 201917:00 News

 

 

 

http://www.ansa.it/english/news/politics/2019/06/12/we-want-dialogue-with-eu-conte_ea51e2c0-d7b0-484e-b0d1-9d276af81aec.html

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Delegitimised Commission can't penalize us says Salvini

Deputy premier reports on govt meeting on economic issues

 

Redazione ANSA Rome

12 June 201914:28 News

 

 

 

http://www.ansa.it/english/news/2019/06/12/delegitimised-commission-cant-penalize-us-salvini_4ac0dccb-efd2-43ed-9efe-03ca0a9f70db.html

 

 

Once again the man uses the ostrich policy...Hiding the head into the sand and refusing to acknowledge the reality of the issue (incompetent  economic experts in the Italian Gov't) thus never getting problem solved...

 

I don't know why people like him so much....Most likely because he gives easy answers ( which do not bring anything) to complex questions.....Which is perceived as a great and cool thing apparently......

 

This guy is dangerous  to Italy's economics and to Democracy....Time will soon tell......He's not the minister of Interior affairs...He's just the minister of propaganda and minister of arrogance....

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

New security instruments ready to be appplied to Sea Watch says Salvini

Minister says NGO is operating a 'pirate ship'

 

Redazione ANSA Rome

12 June 201918:40 News

 

 

http://www.ansa.it/english/news/politics/2019/06/12/sea-watch-faces-new-instruments-salvini_5c4526fd-2e81-4aae-9de5-81b0734aa382.html

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Peaceful bible protestor assaulted at Salvini rally

12 June 2019

 

 

http://www.italianinsider.it/?q=node/8202

 

Those people are neo-fascist...Theirs is a culture of violence and violent abuse of power over the power of ideas

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[umbertino]

Amanda Knox: Kercher family lawyer labels return to Italy 'inappropriate'

 

Knox, twice acquitted of killing Meredith Kercher, is to attend a debate on ‘trial by media’

 

Angela Giuffrida in Rome

Thu 13 Jun 2019 19.45 BST

 

 

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2019/jun/13/amanda-knox-meredith-kercher-family-label-return-italy-inappropriate

[umbertino]

We'll be responsible but not stupid with EU - Di Maio

Brussels won't dictate election date says deputy PM

 

Redazione ANSA Sassari

14 June 201916:27 News

 

 

 

http://www.ansa.it/english/news/2019/06/14/will-be-responsible-but-not-stupid-with-eu-di-maio_85fc3037-c21f-4229-be7f-7646ce545d84.html

 

No comment

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

UNHCR implores Italy to reconsider migrant stanc

 

13 June 2019

 

 

http://www.italianinsider.it/?q=node/8207

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Salvini attacks migrant boat heading to Italy

 

14 June 2019

 

 

 

http://www.italianinsider.it/?q=node/8210

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Why is Italy talking about introducing another currency?

 

The Italian government is proposing issuing a new form of currency. But why? And what would it mean for the euro?

 

 

The Local

news@thelocal.it
@thelocalitaly

14 June 2019

16:04 CEST+02:00

 

 

 

https://www.thelocal.it/20190614/why-is-italy-talking-about-introducing-another-currency

[umbertino]

Amanda Knox back in Italy as an advocate for the wrongfully convicted

 

Acquitted former convict Amanda Knox is back in Italy for the first time since being released from prison to speak on a panel about wrongful conviction

 

 

AFP

news@thelocal.it
@thelocalitaly

14 June 2019

14:09 CEST+02:00

 

 

 

Amanda Knox at the opening of the Criminal Justice Festival, at the Law University of Modena on Thursday. Photo: AFP

 

 

 

https://www.thelocal.it/20190614/amanda-knox-back-in-italy-as-an-advocate-for-the-wrongfully-convicted

[umbertino]

Captain of migrant rescue ship says Italy 'criminalising solidarity'

 

Pia Klemp, one of the Iuventa 10, says it is ‘ridiculous’ that she could face jail

 

Daniel Boffey in Brussels and Lorenzo Tondo in Palermo

Sat 15 Jun 2019 05.00 BST

 

 

 

Pia Klemp is seeking to raise funds to cover legal costs likely to reach €500,000

Photograph: Paul Lovis Wagner

 

 

 

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/jun/15/captain-of-migrant-rescue-ship-says-italy-criminalising-solidarity