Foreign patente conversion: how to convert a foreign patente in Italy

Patenti issued by a State of the European Union or of the European Economic Area are equivalent to the corresponding Italian patenti. Equivalent means that they have the same value: the category of your patente is worth the same as the corresponding Italian category (Codice della strada (Highway Code), art. 136-bis).

The European Economic Area includes the States of the European Union and some other European States linked to the Union by agreements.

If you take up residence in Italy, you can ask for the recognition of your patente or for its conversion into an Italian patente, without taking the exam. Registered residence (residenza anagrafica) is the registration at the municipality of the place where you live in a stable way.

If your patente is from a State outside the European Union and the European Economic Area, the situation is different. You can drive in Italy only if you have not been resident in Italy for more than one year (Codice della strada, art. 135).

Together with the patente you must have:

• an international permit, or
• an official translation of the patente into Italian.

The international permit is a document that accompanies the patente for use abroad. The patente must be valid: an expired patente is not enough.

If you have a patente of a State outside the European Union and the European Economic Area and you have taken up registered residence in Italy, you can convert it into an Italian patente without the exam only under these conditions (Codice della strada, art. 136):

• a bilateral agreement exists between Italy and the State that issued the patente, and this agreement allows the conversion;
• conditions of reciprocity apply, that is, that State applies similar conditions to Italian citizens;
• you have the required physical and mental requirements.

If one of these conditions is missing, conversion without an exam is not possible.

The list of States that have an agreement with Italy can change over time and we do not report it here. To find out whether conversion is possible in your case:

• contact an office of the Motorizzazione civile, the public office that deals with the patente;
• bring your patente and the information about the State that issued it with you;
• ask for confirmation before starting the paperwork, so you avoid useless steps.

If the office confirms that an agreement exists, follow its instructions on the necessary documents.

If no agreement exists between Italy and the State that issued your patente, conversion without an exam is not possible. In this case, to drive in Italy as a resident, you must get the Italian patente by passing the required exams.

Pay attention to residence: the Italian patente is issued to those who have residence in Italy (Codice della strada, art. 116).

To prepare for the theory exam you can practise with PatenteInTasca, practice material with explanations in simple Italian and exam simulations. It does not replace the driving lessons that the law requires at a driving school.

PatenteInTasca is not affiliated with the Ministero delle Infrastrutture e dei Trasporti (MIT) or with the Motorizzazione, and it is not a driving school.