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, for a landline contract, the building's technical situation

Step-by-step

1
Buy a SIM at a shop with your documents on you
Every operator must record an identity document and codice fiscale against the SIM. Bring the passport and the tax code to the shop; a photo on your phone is often refused. Registration is immediate and the SIM works the same day.
In personWho: YouWeek 1
2
Use the low-cost operators rather than the flagship plans
Iliad and the incumbents' second brands — Ho. Mobile from Vodafone, Kena from TIM, Very Mobile from WindTre — run on the same networks at a fraction of the price with no minimum term. Milan has excellent coverage on all four networks.
In personWho: You
3
Prefer prepaid to a contract for the first year
Italian postpaid contracts often bundle a handset over 24 or 30 months and are painful to exit. Prepaid ricaricabile plans with automatic monthly top-up are the norm here and carry no lock-in.
Mobile appWho: You
4
Check what is actually wired into the building before signing fibre
Ask the landlord or the building administrator whether the flat has FTTH to the door or FTTC to a street cabinet. Milan's coverage is high but the pre-war blocks in the centre and the Navigli courtyards are among the last to be reached, and the marketing word 'fibra' covers both.
OnlineWho: You
5
Insist on an FTTH coverage check by address, not by street
The operators' coverage tools resolve to a civic number. A neighbouring building on the same street can be on full fibre while yours is not. Run the check against the exact address, including the internal staircase where relevant.
OnlineWho: You
6
Keep your number when you switch
Number portability is a legal right and takes a few days. You need the seriale of your SIM and your codice fiscale. Never cancel the old plan first — the port request cancels it for you.
OnlineWho: You

Documents you’ll need

Codice fiscale
Passport or ID card
Permesso di soggiorno or receipt, for non-EU nationals
Proof of address, for fixed-line contracts

Things most newcomers don’t know

There is no anonymous SIM in Italy, and the codice fiscale is the blocker.

Anti-terrorism rules require every SIM, including prepaid, to be registered against an identity document and an Italian tax code. This means a newly arrived visitor cannot simply buy a working Italian number at the airport in the way they can in much of Europe. The tax code is free and same-day, but it has to come first — which is another reason it belongs on day one of the move rather than week three.

Source: AGCOM; Ministry of the Interior

'Fibra' in an Italian advert can mean fibre to a cabinet 300 metres away.

The regulated labelling distinguishes FTTH from FTTC, but the shorthand in shop windows does not. In Milan's older central blocks the riser is often the constraint: full fibre reaches the building's entrance and stops, because installing to each flat needs the condominium assembly's agreement. If your income depends on the connection, make it a question you ask the agent before signing the lease.

Source: AGCOM

The condominio, not the landlord, controls whether fibre can be installed.

Bringing FTTH into a flat in an older Milanese block usually means work in the common stairwell, which is the condominium's property. Italian law makes it relatively easy for a single owner to have it done at their own expense, but the administrator has to be engaged and it takes weeks. A landlord who says 'no fibre here' often means 'no one has asked the amministratore' — which is a different answer.

Source: community-reported

Mobile is the fallback that actually works in Milan.

Coverage across all four networks in the city is strong and unlimited or very large 5G bundles are cheap by European standards. For a remote worker waiting three weeks for a fixed line, or living in a building where the riser is a lost cause, a mobile plan used as a hotspot is a genuine substitute rather than a stopgap — and considerably better than what the same money buys in most of northern Europe.

Source: community-reported