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 some knowledge of the building for a fixed line

Step-by-step

1
Buy the SIM in a shop with your documents
Operators must record an identity document and codice fiscale against every SIM. Bring the passport and the tax code — a photograph of them is often refused. The line works the same day.
In personWho: YouWeek 1
2
Use a low-cost operator
Iliad and the incumbents' second brands — Ho. Mobile, Kena, Very Mobile — run on the same networks for a fraction of the price with no minimum term. Coverage across Bologna is good on all four.
In personWho: You
3
Prefer prepaid to a bundled handset contract
Italian postpaid plans commonly bundle a phone over 24 or 30 months and are awkward to exit. Ricaricabile prepaid with automatic top-up is the local default and has no lock-in.
Mobile appWho: You
4
Check FTTH by exact civic number
Coverage tools resolve to the specific address, and inside the walls one building can be served while its neighbour is not. Run the check against the address you are about to sign for.
OnlineWho: You
5
Ask the amministratore, not just the landlord
Bringing fibre into a flat usually means work in common parts belonging to the condominio, and in the arcaded centre there may be constraints on external cabling. The building administrator knows what has been approved.
OnlineWho: You
6
Keep your number when you switch
Portability is a legal right and takes a few days using the SIM serial and your codice fiscale. Never cancel the old plan first.
OnlineWho: You

Documents you’ll need

Codice fiscale
Passport or ID card
Permesso di soggiorno or receipt
Proof of address, for fixed lines

Things most newcomers don’t know

There is no anonymous SIM in Italy, so the tax code gates your phone number.

Every SIM, prepaid included, is registered against an identity document and an Italian codice fiscale under anti-terrorism rules. A newly arrived student cannot simply buy a working Italian number on the day. The tax code is free and same-day, which is another reason it should be the first errand — especially in September when the Bologna offices are absorbing the entire intake at once.

Source: AGCOM; Ministry of the Interior

The city's backbone is excellent and your flat's connection may still not be.

Bologna hosts the ECMWF data centre and one of Europe's most powerful supercomputers at the Tecnopolo, and the regional network reflects that. None of it helps if the final run into a fifteenth-century building inside the walls is copper. The relevant question is not whether Bologna has fibre but whether your specific civic number has FTTH, and that is answerable in two minutes on the operator's checker before you sign.

Source: AGCOM; community-reported

'Fibra' in an advert covers both fibre to your door and fibre to a cabinet down the road.

The regulated labels distinguish FTTH from FTTC, but shop-window shorthand does not, and FTTC over a long copper final run delivers a fraction of the headline speed. Ask which of the two serves your address, in those words, and get the answer in writing if your income depends on it.

Source: AGCOM

In shared student flats the contract holder matters more than the connection speed.

Most Bologna lets are rooms, and the internet contract is typically in one flatmate's name or the landlord's. If it is in a departing student's name it can be cancelled without notice to you; if it is the landlord's it may be shared across flats with the bandwidth to match. For anyone working from home, establishing whose name is on the line and what the actual delivered speed is belongs in the viewing, not the second month.

Source: community-reported

Common mistakes to avoid

Turning up at a phone shop without the codice fiscale.
Assuming a city with a supercomputer has fibre to every flat inside the walls.
Checking coverage by street rather than exact civic number.
Moving into a shared flat without establishing whose name the internet contract is in.
Signing a 24- or 30-month handset contract for a small monthly saving.

Some of this may be out of date. Spotted something inaccurate? Help us keep it right for the next newcomer.