Your driving licence in Italy: valid until it expires, and then it becomes Italian

You don't have to do anything with your driving licence in Italy: a valid Dutch licence is treated as equivalent to the Italian one and remains usable until its expiry date, even when you are registered as a resident. Exchanging it costs € 10.20 in fees and € 32 in stamp duty, but is voluntary. The trap is on the Dutch side: anyone living outside the Netherlands can no longer renew their licence with the RDW. When it expires, you exchange it in Italy — with a medical check, and with a validity that shortens from your fiftieth birthday.

Do I have to exchange my licence after two years?

No. The Ministry of Infrastructure writes it plainly: with a valid licence from an EU or EEA country you may drive in Italy without converting it, until its expiry date, even if you have your residenza there. The mandatory conversion after two years of residence applies only to licences without an administrative validity period or with a longer period than the European directive allows. A Dutch licence is valid for ten years and does not fall under that rule.

What does count: Italian traffic rules apply to you too. Commit an offence that under Italian law carries suspension or revocation, and driving on Italian territory can be denied to you for a period, in which case the licence has to be converted after all.

When does my licence become Italian by obligation?

At four moments, and the first comes for everyone: when your licence expires. Further on loss, theft and damage, and after an offence that leads to a measure. In all those cases you don't get a new Dutch document but an Italian licence, through the Motorizzazione Civile of your province.

That is the Dutch side of the story. NederlandWereldwijd is clear: if you live in another EU country, you can no longer renew your Dutch licence and you exchange it for a licence from your country of residence. Driving on an expired licence is an offence, and you are not insured in an accident.

Put the expiry date in your diary, and start months earlier. The exchange requires a medical certificate, a pagoPA payment and an application at the Motorizzazione. Whoever lets the date pass may not drive in the meantime — and whoever lets it pass by more than five years has to take a practical test again.

How long is an Italian licence valid?

Here Italy differs noticeably from the Netherlands: the validity of category B depends on your age, and every renewal requires a medical check.

Age at issue or renewal	Validity of categories AM, A and B
up to 50	10 years
50 to 70	5 years
70 to 80	3 years
from 80	2 years

For anyone retiring to Italy that is the rule to remember: from seventy you see the examining doctor every three years, from eighty every two. The doctor can also impose a shorter term if he wants to check more often.

What does it cost, and what do you bring?

The exchange of an EU licence runs through form TT 2112 at the Motorizzazione. You pay via pagoPA, after logging in to the Portale dell'Automobilista.

Item	Amount	For
Diritti di motorizzazione (tariff N003)	€ 10.20	the exchange itself
Imposta di bollo (tariff N003)	€ 32.00	the application and the new document
Imposta di bollo on the medical certificate (tariff N019)	€ 16.00	the examining doctor's certificate
Examination and photos	the doctor's fee	two passport photos, plus a certificato anamnestico from your own GP

The medical certificate may be no older than three months if issued by an individual examining doctor, six months if by a medical commission. Also bring your licence (original and copy), a valid identity document and your codice fiscale. It is the same codice fiscale you already needed for your residenza, so that step is already done.

Can I exchange voluntarily?

Yes, as soon as you live in Italy, provided your licence is valid and no restriction or measure rests on it. That is worth it if your Dutch document expires within a few years anyway, or if you want to avoid hassle with rental companies and insurers. What you do not do is quietly renew your licence in the Netherlands on an old address: NederlandWereldwijd is clear that renewal belongs in the country where you live.

How this fits with converting your car, which does have a hard three-month deadline, is in your car to Italy; the order of both is in the step-by-step plan at /italie.

In Vertrekklaar this is phase 5 of 5 of the journey, step 5.7: 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 5.7 in the open plan.