When I moved to Italy with my valid permesso di soggiorno, I learned that I could apply for an Italian driving license (‘patente di guida’) or convert my existing license from my home country. It’s worth noting that you can use your foreign license during your first year of residence here, depending on your citizenship.

Italy offers different types of driving licenses based on the vehicle you want to drive, but let me focus on the B driving license, which you’ll need to drive a car. With my permit of stay in hand, I had two options: I could either apply for a driving license directly at the Civil Motorization Office (‘Ufficio Motorizzazione Civile’) or go through a driving school (‘scuola guida’).

You might wonder, if there’s a driving school that can handle everything for me, why should I do it myself? Well, I had the same thought and visited a driving school. I found out that the cost for theory classes and exam registration ranges from €550 to €700 without the payment for practical driving classes, depending on the school (in Milan). Since I studied online to prepare for the theory exam, I asked if I could just register for the exam through any school in Milan. However, every school I spoke with required me to pay the full amount (€550 to €700), even if I didn’t attend the theory classes and only wanted to register for the exam.

So, I decided to handle the registration myself. Trust me, it was worth it—I ended up paying only €152!

Navigating the requirements and paperwork was quite an experience. If you’re in the same boat, I hope my experience can help make the Italian Driving License process smoother for you!

To obtain an Italian driving license, you will need:

• Modulo TT 2112
• Medical Certificate
• Payments of marca da bollo (registration fee)
• Copy of valid identity document (carta d’identità or passport)
• Copy of permesso di soggiorno or the renewal or first issue receipt
• Copy of your codice fiscale or tessera sanitaria

Modulo TT 2112

This is the main form you need to fill out for Italian Driving License theory exam registration. You can directly download the editable PDF form by clicking here. If you use this editable PDF, once you fill out a field on one page (like your name), it will automatically fill in the same information on other pages where it’s needed. Some fields should be left blank. You can consider my completed form as a reference.

You only need to fill in the information on pages 2, 4, 5, and 6 in specific fields, while leaving some fields blank.

Medical Certificate

You need to get a dematerialized medical certificate with a photo, dated no earlier than three months, issued by a doctor from the Local Health Authority (ASL) to obtain an Italian Driving License. To obtain this certificate, visit the ASL near your home or in your region and ask them for the information.

For Milan, you can call 02 5799.4560 from Monday to Friday, 8:30 to 13:00 and 13:00 to 16:00 (these hours are accurate as of the time I am writing this). Alternatively, you can email patenti@asst-nordmilano.it for information and to book an appointment.

I called this number and they emailed me the requirements and booked an appointment at the ASL nearest to my office, as I requested.

The documents you need to take with you on the day of the appointment are:

• Declaration of medical history – You need to complete a declaration of medical history using the given form (see the picture below). I received this form after booking the appointment by calling the provided number. In your case, the form might vary, as this one is specific to North Milan.
• Health insurance card (Tessera sanitaria)
• In the case of a hearing aid, produce certification with the characteristics of the prosthesis.
• Corrective glasses even in case of habitual use of contact lenses;
• For people suffering from diabetes, a diabetes assessment form to be filled out by yourself of the diabetes specialist with whom you are being treated.
• Payment receipt of €16.
• Medical history certificate issued by the attending physician (Certificato anamnestico rilasciato dal Medico Curante)
• 2 Passport size photographs. In my case, they just took one, did the scan, and returned it to me.

This certificate must be issued no more than three months before the date of your registration for the driving license. You need to pay around €43 (depending on your city or region) at the time of the visit, and payment can only be made by debit or credit card. Some ASLs, like the one I visited, do not accept cash payments.

Payment receipt of €16

To pay the €16 fee, you need to use PagoPa on the website www.ilportaledellautomobilista.it accessing it via SPID or CIE. For this payment, use the category code N019 – IMPOSTA DI BOLLO. You can make the payment using this Payment Guide. Click the here for detailed instructions. While following this guide, remember to search for N019 on the portal to select IMPOSTA DI BOLLO payment category, as there are many other categories available. You need to print the payment receipt after completing the payment.

Medical history certificate issued by the attending physician (Certificato anamnestico rilasciato dal Medico Curante)

To collect this certificate (i.e. Certificato Anamnestico), you need to contact to your personal doctor that you have selected while doing the Health insurance (Tessera sanitaria). You need to pay for this certificate directly to your doctor while you request it. I wont take time. I asked my doctor that I need a Medical history certificate (Certificato Anamnestico) for driving license and with the payment of €50 (it may vary depending on city or region) he provided the following certificate.

It doesn’t have any validity. When you will provide this certificate along with the requested documents, the doctor in ASL will keep this Medical history certificate (Certificato Anamnestico) and will provide you the Medical certificate (Ricevuta della trasmissione della relazione medica)

Payments of marca da bollo (registration fee)

As a registration fee for the theory exam, you need to pay DIRITTI € 26,40 | BOLLI € 16,00, in total €42.40. However, you don’t need to pay them separately. They will be combined under the code N067. To make the payment, log in with your SPID to the same site as before and pay using PAGOPA (Click here). You can use the same GUIDE that you used before for your convenience. This time, search for CODICE TARIFFA N067 in the category and select the description ESAME DI TEORIA CONSEGUIMENTO PATENTE DI GUIDA. This will include one combined payment of €42.40. After payment, print the receipt.

Now you have all the documents you need. Therefor you can now go to your local  to submit the application. In Milan Motorization Office you don’t need to book any appointment, you just go to the office. The office is open from Moday to Friday from 8:30 AM–12 PM, but they won’t let you enter after 11:30AM as there is always a huge queue so I would suggest to go there early in the morning in order to avid huge waiting time. In the office you might not find any information desk. I was confused to take which number from the serial number machine as there are many numbers. You need to take the serial number with letter A to submit your application. They did’t asked me for any photo but asked for original permesso di soggiorno.

Now that you have all the necessary documents, you can go to your local Motorization Office (‘Ufficio Motorizzazione Civile Milano’) to submit your application. In the Milan Motorization Office, you don’t need to book an appointment; you can simply walk in. The office is open from Monday to Friday, 8:30 AM to 12:00 PM, but they won’t let you enter after 11:30 AM due to the long queues. I recommend going early in the morning to avoid a lengthy wait.

In the office, you might not find an information desk. I was initially confused about which number to take from the serial number machine, as there are many options. You need to take the serial number with the letter A to submit your application. They didn’t ask me for any photos, but they did require the original permesso di soggiorno.