Registration, banking and utilities in Rome

Codice fiscale, and the appointment nobody expects

The codice fiscale is free, issued on the spot by any territorial office of the Agenzia delle Entrate on form AA4/8, and it is the first thing every landlord, bank and employer asks for. Bring a valid travel document, and if you are non-EU also the permesso di soggiorno or the papers justifying your stay, meaning the visa and entry documents. What catches people is that a foreign citizen's first issuance requires a booked in-person appointment, because physical identification is mandatory, so you cannot simply walk in. An Italian consulate before you fly is the easier route if you have the time.

• Check the spelling of your name against your passport before you leave the counter. An error here propagates into every other file.

Non-EU: the permit comes before the residenza

In Rome the permesso di soggiorno application goes in as a free postal kit handed over at a Poste Italiane Sportello Amico counter, and the file is then handled by the Questura's Ufficio Immigrazione, reported to sit at Via Teofilo Patini 23 in Tor Sapienza. Confirm that address and its opening hours on the Questura's own pages before crossing the city. The postal receipt legalises your stay while the file is processed, which matters because reported waits run to months rather than weeks and vary widely from case to case. The order is the point: Roma Capitale wants a copy of the valid permit, or its receipt, attached to the residence declaration, so the permit is a prerequisite for residenza rather than something residenza unlocks.

• The cost is a marca da bollo, the electronic permit fee, postal handling and a statutory contributo that varies with the permit's length. Ask for the current total at the Sportello Amico counter rather than budgeting from a figure found online.
• Keep the receipt on you. It is what proves your position until the plastic permit arrives.

Declaring residenza at your Municipio

The declaration is made on the ministerial modello unico di dichiarazione anagrafica, with a signed copy of a valid ID for every person moving, minors included, and the address written out down to the building number, staircase and internal unit. Non-EU citizens attach a copy of the valid permit. If somebody is already resident in the flat you need that resident's written consent and a copy of their ID, and without it the file is dead on arrival. Rome takes the declaration at a Municipio counter, by PEC, by registered post or through the Cambio di Residenza online channel on comune.roma.it, and ordinary email has not been accepted since 1 March 2022. Residence takes legal effect from the date you file, the office must decide within two working days, and the address check follows within forty-five.

EU citizens: the ground for staying

An EU citizen registering in Rome must additionally document why they are staying beyond three months, which is a Directive 2004/38 requirement rather than a Roman invention. Workers show an employment or collaboration contract with pay evidence, and the self-employed show their company documents. Those not working show documented sufficient economic resources, which may be self-certified but must state where the income comes from. Students show private health insurance covering the whole national territory for at least a year or for the length of the course.

Digital identity, the bank, and the bills that follow

SPID or CIE is the login for most Italian public services, including Roma Capitale's nursery and infanzia enrolment portals, and both currently work. PosteID is the most-used SPID provider, but it is not the free option it used to be: identification in person at a post office costs €12, and from 2026 PosteID is free only for the first year and €6 a year after that, while identifying yourself online with a CIE or electronic passport and its PIN still costs nothing. Without residenza most banks will only open a conto per non residenti, which is typically restricted to salary credit, deposits and withdrawals and priced worse, and that is one practical reason not to postpone the anagrafe. On utilities, establish which operation your meter needs before you sign: a voltura if it is live and you are taking it over, a subentro if the meter exists but is switched off, an allaccio if there is no meter at all. The three cost and take different amounts of time.

• Electricity in Rome is distributed by Areti and gas by Italgas Reti. The distributor is fixed by your address, but since the end of the protected market every new contract is on the free market and any national supplier will serve you.
• The canone RAI is €90 for 2026, charged to whoever holds the electricity contract and collected through the electricity bill in ten instalments of €9 from January to October. The no-television exemption must be claimed from the Agenzia delle Entrate by 31 January.
• Water comes from ACEA ATO2 and in most condominiums is billed to the building and passed on through the charges rather than to you.
• TARI, the waste tax, is owed to Roma Capitale by the occupier and has to be declared when you take occupancy.

In order

1. 1Book the Agenzia delle Entrate appointment and get the codice fiscale, or get it from an Italian consulate before you fly.
2. 2Non-EU: lodge the permesso kit at a Sportello Amico post office and keep the receipt.
3. 3Sign the lease and make sure it is registered with the Agenzia delle Entrate.
4. 4File the residence declaration on the modello unico, at the Municipio, by PEC, by registered post or online at comune.roma.it.
5. 5Put your name on the buzzer and letterbox, and be reachable for the next forty-five days.
6. 6Set up SPID or CIE. Most municipal portals have no other way in.
7. 7Open a bank account, which residenza upgrades from the restricted non-resident version.
8. 8Do the voltura, subentro or allaccio on electricity and gas, and set up direct debits.
9. 9Declare TARI to Roma Capitale, and register with your ASL for the tessera sanitaria.