Italy Mailing Address Formats and Other International Mailing Information

When mailing an envelope or postcard, leave at least the bottom 16 millimeters (5/8 inch) blank on both front and back. (The postal service's reading and sorting machines might need this space to print bar codes on your mail.)

Address Format Examples

A simple street address

   SIG MARIO ROSSI       [recipient]
   VIALE EUROPA 22       [street + house/building number]
   00144 ROMA RM         [postal code + city + province code]   Province code is two letters.
   ITALY
   

(Old UPU documentation has a different, outmoded form of this address.)

Street address with slash / used to separate main house/building number from "exponent" number

   MARIA RUSSO            [recipient]
   VIA APPIA NUOVA 123/4  [street + main house number / "exponent"]
   00184 ROMA RM          [postal code + city + province code]
   ITALY
   

Address with PO Box ("Casella Postale" in Italian)

   TASTIERA SRA            [recipient, in this case a business name]
   UFFICIO ROMA TRULLO     ["UFFICIO" + post office location name possibly including a number]  This is the name of the post office where the box is.
   CASELLA POSTALE 1234    ["POST OFFICE BOX" + box number]
   00149 ROMA RM           [postal code + city + province code]
   ITALY
   

Address with 'Attention:' some person

   TASTIERA SRA            [recipient, in this case a business name]
   C.A. FELIX GATTO        ["Attn:" Felix Gatto (a person's name)]
   UFFICIO ROMA TRULLO     ["UFFICIO" + post office location name possibly including a number]  This is the name of the post office where the box is.
   CASELLA POSTALE 1234    ["POST OFFICE BOX" + box number]
   00149 ROMA RM           [postal code + city + province code]
   ITALY
   

Street address with a 'kilometric civic number'. Kilometric numbers may be written with commas for readability.

   ALDO DE LUCA           [recipient]
   VIA CARDANO KM 1,234   [road name + KM (kilometers) + 'kilometric number']
   20042 OMATE MI         [postal code + city + province code]  
   ITALY
   

Address Format Information

How to write Italian addresses

Based on various sources of information from Poste Italiane (the Italian postal service), but for clarity we've reorganized, edited, and written some new explanations.

The general rule is, the address must contain three to five lines, plus an extra line at the bottom for the country name. Street Address Format   Address Line / Element Must All Addresses Include This? 1. Recipient / Addressee YES 2. Additional information about the recipient (e.g. specific person within an organization) N 3. Additional information about the building or location (which floor, suite/apartment number, etc.; in some unusual cases, district or village) N 4. Street Name + House Number YES 5. Postal Code (like a U.S. zip code) + Locality (city/town/village) + Province Abbreviation (two letters) YES 6. Country Name YES FOR FOREIGN COUNTRIES (*) (*) With the exception of San Marino and the Vatican City-State Post Office Box ('CASELLA POSTALE') Address Format   Address Line / Element Must All Addresses Include This? 1. Recipient / Addressee YES 2. Additional information about the recipient (e.g. specific person within a recipient organization) N 3. Specific post office where the box is located ('UFFICIO' + post office name possibly including a number) YES (to avoid processing delays and potential confusion) 4. 'CASELLA POSTALE' (Italian for 'PO BOX') + Box Number YES 5. Postal Code (like a U.S. zip code) + Locality (city/town/village) + Province Abbreviation (two letters) YES 6. Country Name YES FOR FOREIGN COUNTRIES (*) (*) With the exception of San Marino and the Vatican City-State Rules for best addressing and address format Write rows in the correct order, as given in the table above. Always write all required rows. Print (not cursive) and use ALL CAPITAL LETTERS. Usually it's best to avoid punctuation and other special characters. In some cases slash '/', commas, periods, apostrophes, and accent marks are acceptable. Don't underline! House/building number comes after the street name, never before. The postal code ("Codice di Avviamento Postale" = CAP, like a US zip code) must be used on every type of mail. Use correct & consistent postal code, city, and province abbreviation. Use your specific address's postal code, not a generic postal code for a large city/area. Otherwise your mail might be delayed.

An older, outmoded address style included a dash between your postal code and locality (city/town/village) and parentheses around the province abbreviation. Mail with these will probably be delivered anyway.

Address Composition Standards (2007 PDF published by Post Italia, the Italian postal service)

Google ad(s) are sometimes shown above.

Postcode Search (find Italy postcodes / postal codes = 'Italian zip codes')

Italian Post Code Search (in Italian, but not hard to figure out)

An Italian postcode is also called a "CAP" or a "Codice di Avviamento Postale".

Postal Rates to or from Italy

Postage calculators and tables showing how much postage you need to mail or ship to and/or from Italy are at the International Postal Rates Page.

Finding Out Addresses (such as addresses in Italy / Italy address search)

See Finding An International Address / Address Search.