Before you start

Codice fiscale
Passport or ID, plus permesso di soggiorno or its receipt for non-EU nationals
Proof of address — a registered lease is cleanest
Proof of income or a student enrolment certificate

Step-by-step

1
Open a digital account for the IBAN in week one
Rent, utilities, salary and grant payments all want an Italian IBAN. Digital banks accept the codice fiscale and video identification and issue one in days, which is faster than a September branch appointment in Florence.
Mobile appWho: YouWeek 1
2
Ask about student and under-30 accounts
Most Italian banks waive fees for students and under-30s, and several have branches on or near the university campuses that handle the paperwork routinely. It is worth asking rather than accepting the standard tariff.
In personWho: You
3
Get reclassified as resident once the comune registers you
Accounts opened before residence registration are often non-resident accounts carrying higher charges. Banks do not revisit the classification on their own — go back and ask once your residence is confirmed.
In personWho: You
4
Set up SPID or the CIE identity
SPID is the login to the Italian state: the tax portal, INPS, the Tuscan health booking system, the comune's services and the public payment app. The CIE electronic identity card from the comune does the same job.
OnlineWho: YouWeek 2–4
5
Arrange direct debits for utilities and TARI
Domiciliazione avoids paying by bollettino at a post office. Ask for it when signing each supply contract rather than later.
OnlineWho: You
6
Expect the annual account stamp duty
Italy charges an imposta di bollo on accounts above an average-balance threshold and on securities accounts. It is a tax, not a bank fee, and appears automatically.
OnlineWho: You

Documents you’ll need

Codice fiscale
Passport or national ID
Permesso di soggiorno or postal receipt
Registered lease or certificate of residence
Employment contract, payslips or enrolment certificate

Things most newcomers don’t know

A registered lease is what makes residence, banking and health cover possible, and Florence's informal room market is full of unregistered ones.

Landlords must register a tenancy with the Agenzia delle Entrate within 30 days, and the registration receipt is what the anagrafe, the bank and the health service accept as proof of address. In a city where a large share of lets are rooms in shared flats arranged informally, unregistered contracts are common — and they leave you unable to register residence at all, which blocks the health card and the licence clock. Ask for the registration receipt before paying a deposit.

Source: Agenzia delle Entrate

SPID converts most Italian bureaucracy from a queue into a five-minute task.

The Agenzia delle Entrate portal, INPS, the Tuscan health booking system, the comune's certificates and the public payment app all sit behind SPID or the CIE. Every one has an in-person alternative and every one of those is a counter with a ticket machine. Newcomers who set this up in month one save a large amount of time; the ones who postpone it queue for a year.

Source: AgID — Agency for Digital Italy

The non-resident account classification is invisible and expensive.

Banks open a conto non residenti for people who arrive before their address is registered and then leave it in place indefinitely. It carries higher maintenance charges and restricts some products, and there is no automatic review. Once the comune confirms residence, ask the branch explicitly for the switch — nobody will offer it.

Source: community-reported

Italy caps cash payments between private parties by law, and it catches room deposits.

Cash transfers above a statutory ceiling between individuals are prohibited outright, with penalties for both payer and payee. In Florence's informal room market, a landlord asking for a deposit and a few months' rent in cash is not unusual — and the amount can pass the ceiling. Check the current limit before any large payment and pay by transfer, which also creates the evidence you will want if the deposit is disputed.

Source: Ministry of Economy and Finance