Before you start

Codice fiscale
Passport or ID, plus permesso di soggiorno for non-EU nationals
An unlocked or eSIM-capable handset
An address, and some knowledge of the building for a fixed line

Step-by-step

1
Buy the SIM in a shop with your documents
Operators must record an identity document and codice fiscale against every SIM. Bring the passport and the tax code — a photograph of either is often refused. The line works the same day.
In personWho: YouWeek 1
2
Use a low-cost operator
Iliad and the incumbents' second brands — Ho. Mobile, Kena, Very Mobile — run on the same networks for a fraction of the price with no minimum term.
In personWho: You
3
Prefer prepaid to a bundled handset contract
Postpaid plans commonly bundle a phone over 24 or 30 months and are awkward and expensive to exit. Ricaricabile prepaid with automatic top-up carries no lock-in.
Mobile appWho: You
4
Check FTTH by exact civic number
Coverage tools resolve to a specific address, and in the centre one palazzo can be served while its neighbour is not. Run the check against the address you are about to sign for, before you sign for it.
OnlineWho: You
5
Establish who holds the fixed-line contract
In subdivided and shared flats the internet contract is often in a previous tenant's or the landlord's name. If you work from home, find out at the viewing rather than after the move.
OnlineWho: You
6
Keep your number when you switch
Portability is a legal right and takes a few days using the SIM serial and your codice fiscale. Never cancel the old plan first.
OnlineWho: You

Documents you’ll need

Codice fiscale
Passport or ID card
Permesso di soggiorno or receipt
Proof of address, for fixed lines

Things most newcomers don’t know

There is no anonymous SIM in Italy, so the tax code gates your phone number.

Every SIM, prepaid included, is registered against an identity document and an Italian codice fiscale under anti-terrorism rules. A newly arrived visitor cannot simply buy a working Italian number on landing. The tax code is free and same-day, which is one more reason it should be the first errand of the move.

Source: AGCOM; Ministry of the Interior

'Fibra' in a shop window covers fibre to your door and fibre to a cabinet down the road.

The regulated labels distinguish FTTH from FTTC, but advertising shorthand does not, and FTTC over a long copper run delivers a fraction of the headline speed. Ask which of the two serves the address, in those words, and get the answer in writing if your income depends on the connection.

Source: AGCOM

In a city whose airport shuts several times a year, redundant connectivity is a business continuity measure.

An Etna ash closure can strand you for a day or three at either end of a trip, and the standard response is to move whatever you were going to do in person onto a call. That makes a second connection — a generous 5G bundle on a different network from your fixed line — a genuinely rational spend here rather than an over-engineered one, particularly for anyone whose income depends on being reachable.

Source: community-reported

Lava stone is a genuinely awkward building material to cable.

Catania's centre is built from basalt: half-metre walls of dense volcanic rock, in buildings that predate any conception of a service riser. Retrofitting fibre inside them is slow, sometimes needs the condominio's agreement, and is occasionally refused. If the flat you want is in a historic palazzo and your work depends on the line, get the activation confirmed before the contract rather than after.

Source: community-reported