If you are a foreign citizen who intends to stay in Italy for a short vacation or for a longer period of time, you can get an Italian mobile phone number just by going to one of the mobile phone company stores which you can find almost anywhere throughout the city, and asking for a sim card.

While you are in Italy, an Italian phone number is useful not only for making regular calls, sending text messages (SMS), or surfing the internet at a cheap price, but often for opening a bank account, or for dealing with public administrations, institutions, service providers (energy, gas, light, internet, etc.), public and private companies (e.g. insurance companies), etc.. Some of them prefer to communicate via text messages.

It is possible to ask for a rechargeable sim card or, if all the requirements are met, for a card with a monthly payment plan.

It is very easy for a foreigner to obtain a rechargeable sim card with a regular Italian phone number. As a matter of fact, foreigners can get an Italian phone number just by going to one of the mobile phone company stores with a valid passport.

The provider will give you a sim card that will be associated with a calling/data plan, that generally includes a certain number of minutes, text messages (sms), and Gigabytes per month, for which you will have to pay (i.e. recharge the card) a determined sum every month (currently prices are around € 6-15 per month). It is generally possible to recharge the card at tobacco shops, supermarkets, company stores, online or via app.

If you want to keep the card active and use the offer that you signed up for you must recharge it periodically (generally every 4 weeks) before your monthly offer expires, and at least once a year otherwise the sim card will expire. So, you can keep recharging the card every month until you need it.

If you do not recharge your card, it will remain active for 12 months and you will be able to receive incoming calls or text messages, but not to make outgoing calls, send text messages or surf the internet. 12 months after the last recharge, the sim card will expire. Therefore – considering that, while you are in Italy, it could be cheaper to use an Italian phone number with its calling/data plan, rather than your national one – if you need an Italian phone number for a short period of time, or if you do not want to spend a lot of money or be bound for years to a phone company, a rechargeable card is probably your best solution.

As a matter of fact, rechargeable cards are very popular among Italians themselves.

It is also possible to sign a contract with the provider that gives you a monthly payment plan. This means that the provider offers a calling/data plan that generally includes a certain number of minutes, text messages, and Gigabytes per month, for which you will have to pay a determined sum every month, for a predetermined period (generally 24/30 months).

The difference with the rechargeable card is that, while with the rechargeable card you can decide if you want to recharge it or not, with this kind of contract the company will charge you the sum you agreed to pay every month, by automatically withdrawing the money from your credit card or bank account, for the entire duration of the contract (24/30 months). As a matter of fact, if you withdraw from the contract before its expiration you will have to pay the remaining installments in addition to a penalty.

This type of contract is widespread among Italians, especially because it allows customers to include the purchase of a smartphone in their contract for which an additional fee (generally € 0/3/5/10/20 depending on the phone) will be added to the monthly payment (for the calling/data plan). This way it is possible to acquire an expensive smartphone by paying for it in monthly installments. Currently, it is possible to sign a contract that includes a certain number of minutes, text messages, and Gigabytes per month, plus a smartphone, for a total of € 15/20 per month.

However, to sign a contract as described above, you will need:

1) passport/ID;

2) tax code (certificate or card);

3) permit of stay (if applicable);

4) Italian credit card (which means an Italian bank account).

Some companies activate your new phone number (sim card) for free, while others will charge an activation cost that usually goes from € 5 to € 30.

Having said the above, if needed, it is possible to buy smartphones in the phone company stores, supermarkets, specialized stores, major nationwide tech stores. You can find them everywhere and special offers are always on!