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 the cleanest
Proof of income for better-priced account tiers

Step-by-step

1
Open a digital account immediately for the IBAN
Salary, rent, utilities and direct debits all want an Italian IBAN. Digital banks accept a codice fiscale and video identification and issue one within days, which is faster than any Roman branch appointment.
Mobile appWho: YouWeek 1
2
Ask to be reclassified as resident once the comune registers you
Accounts opened before residence registration are often non-resident accounts with higher charges. Banks do not update the classification on their own; go back and ask.
In personWho: You
3
Get SPID or the CIE identity as early as possible
SPID is the login to the Italian state — the tax portal, INPS, the health booking system, Roma Capitale's services and the public payment app. The CIE electronic identity card issued by your municipio does the same job. Both take days to a couple of weeks.
OnlineWho: YouWeek 2–4
4
Choose a bank with a branch you can reach
Rome's public transport makes a nominally close branch awkward. Since mortgages, disputes and identity refreshes still happen in person, pick on the branch you would actually walk to rather than on the headline fee.
In personWho: You
5
Set up domiciliazione for bills
Direct debit for electricity, gas, water and TARI avoids paying by bollettino at a post office counter, which in Rome is an hour of your life each time. Request it when each contract is signed.
OnlineWho: You
6
Expect the annual stamp duty on the account
Italy levies an imposta di bollo on accounts above an average-balance threshold and on securities accounts. It appears as an automatic deduction and is a tax, not a bank fee.
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 or recent payslips

Things most newcomers don’t know

SPID is the login to the Italian state, and Rome is the worst place to be without one.

The tax portal, INPS, the Lazio health booking system, Roma Capitale's certificates and appointments, and the public payment app all sit behind SPID or the CIE. Every one of those has an in-person alternative, and in Rome the in-person alternative is a queue at a municipio counter. Newcomers who set SPID up in month one convert most of Roman bureaucracy into five-minute tasks; the ones who do not spend a year queueing.

Source: AgID — Agency for Digital Italy

The registered lease is the document that unlocks residence, banking and health cover.

Landlords must register a tenancy with the Agenzia delle Entrate within 30 days. The registration receipt is what the anagrafe, the bank and the ASL accept as proof of address. An unregistered lease leaves you unable to register residence at all, which in turn blocks the health card, the bank reclassification and the driving-licence clock. Ask for the registration receipt as a condition of paying the deposit, not afterwards.

Source: Agenzia delle Entrate

The non-resident account classification is invisible and costs money for years.

Banks open a conto non residenti for people who arrive before their address is registered, then leave it in place. It carries higher maintenance charges and restricts some products, and the bank has no reason to revisit it. Once the anagrafe confirms your residence, go back to the branch and ask explicitly for the reclassification — nobody will offer.

Source: community-reported

Italy caps cash payments between private parties by law, and the ceiling has moved repeatedly.

Transfers of cash above a statutory threshold between individuals are prohibited outright, with penalties for both sides. It catches people paying a rental deposit, buying a used car or settling a builder's invoice in notes — exactly the transactions where a Roman counterparty may suggest it. Check the ceiling in force before any large payment rather than relying on what someone tells you at the time.

Source: Ministry of Economy and Finance