Banking and paying in Italy: the conto di base is your right, and cash stops at € 5,000

Yes, you open a bank account in Italy before your residenza is done: the law obliges every bank to offer the conto di base to anyone who may legally reside in Italy or another EU country, explicitly including people without a fixed address. It costs a limited annual fee, and is free with an ISEE under € 11,600 or a pension under € 18,000. The trap is not the account but the habit: in Italy the government runs through pagoPA, and cash stops at € 5,000 — above that it is forbidden, for payer and payee alike.

What is the conto di base, and what can I do with it?

The conto di base is a payment account with a fixed package: making and receiving bonifici (transfers), having your salary or pension paid in, and a debit card — the bancomat — to withdraw and pay. What is not included: an overdraft, a chequebook, or a linked investment account. For the first months that is exactly enough; a full account with all the trimmings you choose later, once your residenza and CIE are in and you can compare banks.

Situation	What the conto di base costs
Ordinary account holder	a limited annual fee (canone), with a fixed number of transactions included
ISEE under € 11,600	free, and without the stamp duty
Pensioner with a gross income under € 18,000	free, but with the stamp duty of € 34.20 a year and a different package of transactions
More transactions than the package, or extra services	extra charges according to the bank's tariffs
Closing	at any time, and free

What do I bring, and may the bank refuse?

Legally your passport and your codice fiscale suffice. A bank may only refuse the conto di base if you are not legally resident in Italy, or on a well-founded suspicion that the account will be used for illegal purposes — and then it must tell you at once and give the reasons in writing within ten working days. Against a refusal you can complain to the bank, report to the Banca d'Italia or go to the Arbitro Bancario Finanziario. Your Europe adds the European principle: a bank may not reject your application merely because you do not live in the country where the bank is established.

Don't let yourself be sent away over a missing residenza. A counter clerk who wants to see "the residenza first" is asking for something the law does not require for the conto di base. Ask explicitly for the conto di base and for a written refusal — usually the account suddenly turns out to be available after all.

Why is cash limited in Italy?

Italy has a legal ceiling on cash payments: a payment of € 5,000 or more in cash is forbidden, on pain of a fine for whoever pays and whoever receives. That also applies to gifts and loans to family. Whoever buys a second-hand car, pays a deposit of three months' rent or pays a contractor upfront therefore does so by bonifico. Below the threshold cash is simply allowed; a coffee or the market you pay however you like.

How do I pay the government?

Fees, fines, the school canteen, the cost of exchanging your driving licence: the Italian government collects through pagoPA, the national payment platform. The Portale dell'Automobilista shows how it works: you log in with SPID or CIE, choose the tariff and pay through the platform; the proof of payment goes with your application. What you cannot do: wait for a giro slip. An Italian account and a digital key therefore belong together; the order CIE, then SPID is in residenza and codice fiscale.

What do I do with my Dutch account?

Keep it. Your AOW or pension, your M return and every refund from the Dutch Tax Administration run through the Netherlands, and your Dutch bank is moreover the key to your DigiD; how you keep those two lines alive is in keeping a bank account and DigiD. Only let your pension fund or employer switch to the Italian account once it runs stably. For the ordinary monthly costs — rent, energy, insurance — the Italian account is the right one from the first month: suppliers prefer to work with an Italian IBAN, and you see at a glance what life here costs.

The bank account is a step of its own in phase 4 of the plan, after the codice fiscale and before the first payslip; the order and what waits on what is at /italie.

In Vertrekklaar this is phase 4 of 5 of the journey, step 4.6: the same steps, but for your situation — in your order, tickable, and with the deadlines watched. See the whole journey to Italy or go straight to step 4.6 in the open plan.