Italian Postal Codes
Poste Italiane administers the Italian postal system, including the postal codes.
History
The Codice di avviamento postale (CAP) system was established by the Ministry of Post and Telecommunications during World War 2, though just for the largest municipalities. Postal codes were phased in over the next two decades and eventually became mandatory for postal service.
The CAP system was reformed on September 20, 2006. Some municipalities were re-assigned a code, but the reforms mostly just made more codes available by relaxing the organizational constraints. In 1997 and 2004, a total of 11 new provinces were established. It was no longer possible to assign postal codes such that the first two digits indicated a specific province.
Specification
Italian postal codes are 5 digits long (zero-padded).
Generally, the first digit indicates which of the 20 administrative regions an address is within. Exceptions are:
- Basilicata is comprised of just two provinces, Matera and Potenza, which are split between two groups.
- Three provinces are re-grouped with Lombardy:
- The provinces of Novara and Verbano-Cusio-Ossola are within Piedmont.
- The province of Piacenza is within Emilia-Romagna.
- Two provinces are re-grouped with Emilia-Romagna:
- The province of Mantua is within Lombardy.
- The province of Rovigo is within Lombardy.
First Digit |
Regions |
0 |
Lazio, Sardinia, Umbria |
1 |
Valle d'Aosta, Piedmont, Liguria |
2 |
Lombardy |
3 |
Trentino-Alto Adige, Veneto, Friuli-Venezia Giulia |
4 |
Emilia-Romagna |
5 |
Tuscany |
6 |
Marche, Abruzzo |
7 |
Puglia |
8 |
Campania, Calabria, Molise |
9 |
Sicily |
Vatican City
Vatican City is serviced by the Italian postal service. It holds the postal code of 00120.
San Marino
San Marino is serviced by the Italian postal service. It uses postal codes ranging from 47890 to 47899.