Telephone numbers in Italy

Numbering plan

Telephone numbers in Italy changed to a closed telephone numbering plan in 1998. The plan which had originally been advertised in early 1998 was to merge the trunk code "0" into subscribers' landline numbers effective June 19, 1998, and then to replace that leading "0" with a "4" starting from December 29, 2000. As a result of this change, all landline numbers would begin with a "4", and mobile phone numbers with a "3". Other initial digits had been reserved for different special purposes. It was later decided that landline numbers should still begin with a "0", unlike in the closed numbering plans of many other countries. E.g. a land line number in Rome (area code 06):

        xxxxxxxx  (within Rome—old) 
     06 xxxxxxxx  (within Rome—new)
     06 xxxxxxxx  (Italy except Rome—unchanged)   
 +39 6  xxxxxxxx  (outside Italy—old)
 +39 06 xxxxxxxx  (outside Italy—new)

Calls to mobile phone numbers within Italy were also affected, deleting the previously used trunk code "0". International calls to Italian mobile phone numbers were not affected. E.g. for former Omnitel, now Vodafone Italy:

    0347 xxxxxxx  (within Italy—before 1999)
     347 xxxxxxx  (within Italy—after 1999)
 +39 347 xxxxxxx  (outside Italy—both before and after 1999) 

Landline numbers (area code+exchange+number) are generally 9 or 10 digits long, although they can be as few as 6 or as many as 11 digits. Mobile numbers are always 10 digits long, with the only exception of very old TIM numbers, which are 9 digits long (though those are now extremely rare).

Mobile telephones

Mobile phone number in Italy: without a zero, started with a 3. Mobile phone numbers are generally 10 digits long (3 digits for the prefix + 7 digits for the subscriber number). However, some rare 9 digits long (3+6) phone numbers are still in use, and so are new numbers with 11 digits (3+8).

     3xx xxxxxxx (within Italy and San Marino)
 +39 3xx xxxxxxx  (from the rest of the world)

San Marino

Until 1996, San Marino was part of the Italian numbering plan, using the Italian area code 0549 but in that year it adopted its own country code 378. However, instead of using international dialing codes, dialing arrangements between San Marino and Italy continued as before. In 1998, San Marino incorporated the 0549 area code into its subscribers' numbers, following the Italian format:

      0549 xxxxxx  (San Marino from Italy)
+ 378 0549 xxxxxx  (San Marino from rest of the world)
 + 39 0549 xxxxxx  (San Marino via Italy)

Vatican City

Similarly, Vatican City is assigned country code 379. However, Vatican City is still reached via the Italian numbering plan. Telephone numbers in the Vatican City are similar to telephone numbers in Rome, with "698" following the "06" for Rome.

      06 698x xxxx (Vatican City from Italy)
+ 379 06 698x xxxx (Vatican City from rest of the world—do NOT use this format yet)
 + 39 06 698x xxxx (Vatican City via Italy—continue using THIS format)

List of codes

00-     international access code (+)
00800-  toll free (international)
0878-   mass calls phone number (polls, television programs, etc.), max. 0.66€ + 0.23€/min

1-      Service and emergency numbers
112     Gendarmerie (Carabinieri)
113     Police (Polizia di Stato)
115     Fire brigade (Vigili del Fuoco)
116     Road help (ACI)
117     Italian Customs/Financial/Border Police Guardia di Finanza 
118     Ambulance (Italian Red Cross included)
12xx    Premium rate services 
144-    Premium rate services, max. 0.07€ + 1.31€/min
15xx    Other emergency and information services
1515    Forest and environemental emergency (Corpo Forestale dello Stato)
1518    Road information service (CCISS)
1530    Coastguard (Corps of the Port Captaincies – Coast Guard)
166-    Premium rate services, max. 0.07€ + 1.31€/min
178-    Premium rate services, max. 0.15€ + 0.35€/min
18-     Customer care services
19-     Customer care services
199-    Premium rate services, max. 0.12€ + 0.26€/min

2-      Reserved for future purposes

3-      mobile phones
313-    Rete Ferroviaria Italiana (GSMR and internal service number, personal ones accessible even from public network)
32x-    Wind mobile phones customers
33x-    TIM mobile phones customers
34x-    Vodafone Italy mobile phones customers
35x-    future full-MVNO mobile phones customers
36x-    TIM mobile phones customers
37x-    various ESP/MVNO mobile phones customers
38x-    Wind mobile phones customers
39x-    H3G Italy mobile phones customers

4-      internal phone net service numbers

5-      Voip numbers (implemented and accessible only by few operators) 

6-      reserved for future purposes

7xx-    internet service numbers
70x-    dial-up internet access numbers

8-      special rate numbers
80x-    toll free number (within Italy)
84x-    shared rate (information services), max. 0.10€ + local rate/min
89x-    Premium rate services (information and adult services)
892-    Premium rate services, max. 0.30€ + 1.50€/min

9-      reserved for future purposes

It is to be noted that this numbering plan does not strictly follow the boundaries of the provinces and city areas in order to solve in a simple way some technical constraints. So, for example, the geographical province of Avellino has two main prefixes (0825 and 0827) but also some common land with other prefixes like 0824 for San Martino Valle Caudina and 081 as for Baiano.

See also

• List of dialling codes in Italy
• Telephone numbers in San Marino
• Telephone numbers in Vatican City

References

• Un elenco (parziale) delle tariffe da telefono fisso (in Italian)
• ITU allocations list
• The telephone area codes in Italy (PagineBianche)
• Find an Area Code (PagineBianche)
• whole in-force Numbering Plan