Codice fiscale, bank account and healthcare in Sicily

Italian paperwork runs on one number, the codice fiscale, and on one principle: each office wants a document issued by another office. Do things in the right order and the first month is manageable. Do them in the wrong order and you'll find yourself queuing twice.

This chapter covers the practical steps after arrival: tax code, registration with the Comune, bank account, health cover and a few everyday rules. It assumes you already know your status from the visa chapter. Where something touches tax or immigration law, a commercialista or an immigration lawyer can confirm the details for your case.

Codice fiscale: the number you need first

The codice fiscale is your Italian tax code. You need it for almost everything: a registered lease, a bank account, a SIM card in your name, utilities, healthcare, even many online purchases.

How you get it depends on who you are:

The AA4/8 form is free to download. At the office the code is usually issued on the spot. No fee is mentioned in the sources we checked, and it is commonly free.

To find an office in Palermo, Catania or elsewhere, use the Agenzia delle Entrate's office finder and book through "prenota appuntamento". Some consulates (Edinburgh and Marseille, for example, in March 2025) have published new procedures for non-residents, so check yours if you want the code before you travel.

Later, if you register with the national health service, you receive the tessera sanitaria: a plastic card that carries the codice fiscale and works as your health card.

Iscrizione anagrafica: registering with the Comune

Iscrizione anagrafica means entering the resident population register of the Comune where you live. It is what makes you officially "resident" in a town, and many other procedures ask for it.

• EU citizens must register after 3 months, under D.Lgs. 30/2007, showing either their work activity, or resources plus health insurance if they don't work. The details and the 2026 resource threshold are in the visa chapter.
• Non-EU permit holders: we have not verified the exact document list Sicilian Comuni ask for; ask the Anagrafe office directly once you have your permesso or its receipt.
• In Palermo registration can be done online or at the Comune's Anagrafe offices; we could not verify the exact page, so start from comune.palermo.it. The University of Palermo's English guide explains how the process works.

Keep in mind that registration has a tax side: being on the register is a (rebuttable) presumption of Italian tax residence. Read the taxes chapter before you register if you plan to remain tax resident elsewhere.

Opening a bank account

Italian banks and most fintech apps ask for three things: a codice fiscale, a passport or ID card, and an address. If you are not resident, banks offer a conto non residenti, often more expensive and with more checks. Online banks are usually the easiest route.

We have not verified each provider's current requirements for foreigners, so we won't list them here: check the Italian page of the bank or app you are considering before you start.

One EU rule saves a lot of trouble: under the SEPA Regulation (EU) 260/2012, art. 9, Italian companies such as landlords, utilities and phone operators may not refuse a SEPA direct debit from an account in another EU country. In practice some utilities still ask for an Italian IBAN. If that happens, you can point to the regulation; if the company still refuses, an Italian account is the quicker way out.

Healthcare

The SSN and the tessera sanitaria

Italy's national health service, the SSN (Servizio Sanitario Nazionale), is run locally. In Sicily that means the ASP (Azienda Sanitaria Provinciale) of your province. Registering gives you a medico di base (family doctor) and the tessera sanitaria, mailed by the Agenzia delle Entrate, which also works as your European Health Insurance Card.

All six sites responded in November 2026; we did not verify the addresses of individual offices, so take them from each site.

Who must register, and who pays

• Compulsory registration covers, among others, employees of Italian companies, self-employed people with Italian income and a partita IVA, and holders of family permits.
• Voluntary registration (iscrizione volontaria) is for others, for example people on elective residence and, depending on ASP practice, holders of the digital nomad permit. Since the Budget Law 2024 (L. 213/2023) it costs at least €2,000 a year (€700 for students, €1,200 for au pairs). You pay via form F24 to the Region and then register at the ASP.

We could not find how Sicilian ASPs treat holders of the digital nomad permit. Ask your ASP directly, and bring your permesso, codice fiscale and proof of address.

Which cover fits your status

Private health insurance

The digital nomad visa requires a private policy covering medical care and hospitalisation, valid throughout Italy for the whole stay. Some guides quote a €30,000 minimum cover: that comes from the Schengen short-stay visa rules and is not in the nomad decree. Keep the policy active until your SSN position, voluntary or not, is sorted.

EU citizens: EHIC (TEAM) and S1

• On short stays, your EHIC (in Italian, TEAM, Tessera europea di assicurazione malattia) covers medically necessary care at public facilities.
• For longer stays, workers register with the SSN.
• Posted workers use the S1 form issued in their home country.

Summer clinics and emergencies

• Guardia medica turistica: in summer each ASP opens walk-in GP posts for non-residents in tourist areas. The list changes every year and has gaps (in 2026, for example, there was no dedicated post in Marzamemi). Check your ASP's website each June.
• 112 is the single European emergency number. The older numbers still work: 113 police, 115 fire brigade, 118 ambulance.

Paying: cards must be accepted

Since 30 June 2014 shops and professionals must accept card payments, and since 30 June 2022 refusing a card payment of any amount is fined €30 plus 4% of the refused transaction (art. 15 of D.L. 179/2012, as amended by art. 18 of D.L. 36/2022). The only exception is objective technical impossibility. In practice you can pay by card for an espresso as legally as for rent; carrying some cash is still sensible, but no one may lawfully refuse your card.

Who does what: the offices you will deal with

Half the battle is knowing which door to knock on. These are the offices that come up in this guide, and what each one handles for a remote worker.

The Questura also passes your file to INPS, INAIL, the Agenzia delle Entrate and the Labour Inspectorate, so what you declare in one place is visible in the others. Keep your details (address, activity, income) consistent everywhere.

One folder for everything

Offices ask for the same documents again and again, often as paper copies. Keep one folder, physical and digital, with:

• passport, plus copies of the visa page;
• permesso di soggiorno, or the ricevuta while you wait for the card;
• codice fiscale (the Agenzia's certificate, or the tessera sanitaria once it arrives);
• your registered lease or property deed;
• your health insurance policy, with the clause showing it is valid in all of Italy;
• the attestato di iscrizione anagrafica, once you have it;
• partita IVA opening certificate, if you are self-employed;
• F24 receipts (for example for voluntary SSN registration);
• your EHIC, if you are an EU citizen.

Original documents submitted for the visa matter most: the Questura wants to see them, stamped by the consulate, at your first appointment.

Checklist: your first week

Non-EU, on a digital nomad or remote worker visa

• Book and attend the Questura within 8 working days of entry, with the originals of your visa documents. Keep the ricevuta: you can start working once you have it.
• Note the codice fiscale assigned with the permit application.
• Keep your private health insurance active.
• Get a local SIM; a codice fiscale is commonly requested. See the internet chapter.

EU citizen

• Get your codice fiscale at an Agenzia delle Entrate office with form AA4/8 and your ID.
• Carry your EHIC for any medical visit.
• Get a local SIM or rely on EU roaming for the first weeks.

Everyone

• Save 112 and your ASP's website in your phone.
• Check that your lease is registered and keep a copy: you will need it for the anagrafe and the bank.
• Find a coworking for the first days while your home connection is set up: see the coworking directory.

Checklist: your first month

• Open a bank account (or confirm that your EU account works with utilities and landlord via SEPA direct debit).
• Register at the anagrafe if you are EU and staying more than 3 months; if you are non-EU, ask the Anagrafe what it needs once you have the permit or its receipt. Read the taxes chapter first.
• Open a partita IVA with a commercialista if you are self-employed (mandatory on the digital nomad visa).
• Register with the SSN at your ASP: compulsory if you work in Italy or have a partita IVA, otherwise ask about voluntary registration (from €2,000 a year).
• Choose a medico di base when you register; the tessera sanitaria arrives by post.
• Start counting your days in Italy for tax purposes.
• If you are eyeing a permanent move, read the incentives chapter before you buy or renovate anything.

For neighbourhoods and city-specific tips, see our pages on Palermo, Catania and Siracusa, and the housing chapter.