Vehicle registration plates of Italy

Present Italian car number plates have black characters on a rectangular white background, with small blue side-fields on the right and left (see European vehicle registration plates). The current numbering scheme, in use from 1994, is unrelated to the geographical provenance of the car. Italian plates are printed by the state (i.e. nation, country).

History

1897-1901

The very first Italian plates bears owner's name and municipal license numbers on the left side.

1901-1905

These early Italian number plates gave the unabbreviated name of the place of origin, followed by a number, as GENOVA 83 and PADUA 2. These were first plates to be made of metal.

Schematic representation:

GENOVA 83

1905-1927

Plate was black-on-white. The registration number was a numeric code (in red), different for each province, and a progressive number, unique for that province (in black). E.g. 63 – 2993, where 63 is the code for Turin.

Schematic representation:

63 – 2993

1927-1976

Plate was black with white digits. Rear plate was 27.5 × 20 cm (since 1951), front plate was 26.2 × 5.7 cm. Note that single line rear registration plates (similar to the ones used by other European countries) will not be available until 1976. The registration number was the provincial designator, which is a two-letter code (exception: Rome's code is Roma), and a progressive code, unique for that province, up to 6 characters long.

From 1927 to 1932, the progressive code was before the provincial designator. Then, the progressive code was before the provincial designator in front plates and after it in rear plates.^[1]

The progressive code for the first 999999 cars of the provinces was just a progressive number, not filled with initial zeroes; in the rear plate the last four digits are in the second row and the first ones (when present) in the first row. For cars from 1000000, it was A00000-A99999, B00000-B99999 etc. Possible letters were, in this order, A B D E F G H K L M N P R S T U V Z X Y W. After that, it was 00000A-99999A, 00000D-99999D etc. Possible letters were, in this order, A D E F G H L M N P R S T V W X Y Z; then, the letter was moved to the second position, and then to third (same range as in second position).

Schematic representation:

LI16   0116

1976-1985

Front plate was identical as in the period 1927-1976. Rear plate, instead, came in three pieces. One, size 10,7 × 33 cm, black with white digits, contains the progressive code and, very small, the provincial designator. The other two were black with orange letters, and contained the provincial designator. One was 10,7 × 33 cm, the other one was 10,7 × 20 cm. Only one of the latter two was used: for a long plate, the small province code piece is put left of the progressive code, for a roughly square plate, the big province code piece is put above the progressive code.

Schematic representations:

X74036 ROMA	Front plate
ROMA <span style:"color:white">X74036	Back plate

1985-1994

Plates become white with black digits. Rear plate was identical as in the period 1976-1985. Front plate becomes larger (32.5 × 10.7 cm) and the progressive code on it is moved after the provincial designator, as it was already for rear plates.

VR VR A58322

1994-present

An entirely new numeration system was introduced which omitted any explicit reference to the place of origin. A simple alpha-numeric serial code takes the form AA 999 AA. Here ‘A’ can be any letter of the Latin alphabet except I, O, Q, U and is treated as a base-22 digit; ‘9’ can be any decimal digit. e.g. AK 514 RH, AX 848 LK, BA 924 NS, etc. The three-digit number changes first, then the letters from right to left. So, first plate is AA 000 AA, followed by AA 001 AA...AA 999 AA, then AA 000 AB to AA 999 AZ, then AA 000 BA to AA 999 ZZ, then AB 000 AA to AZ 999 ZZ, then BA 000 AA to ZZ 999 ZZ.

Rear plates are no more in two pieces. Instead, a square plate can be chosen instead of the ordinary long one. If the rear plate is square, the numbering scheme starts from ZA 000 AA.

In 1999, the plates were redesigned, starting from the serial number BB 000 HH. The digits are thicker. The last decimal digit is now very close to the third letter. The standard European blue band has been added on the left side, with the European flag motif (12 yellow stars) and the country code I. Another blue band was added, on the right side, bearing a yellow circle with the year of registration (optional).

The two-letter provincial code is optionally present on the right band in capital letters (90% of circulating vehicles bear such code). For the capital city of Rome, the word Roma replaces the two-digit provincial code. Provincial codes are in capital letters except for three cases, where the second letter is expressed in small caps for the provincial codes of the autonomous provinces of Bolzano/Bozen (Bz) and Trento (Tn) and the autonomous region Aosta Valley (Ao), that are surmounted by the local coat of arms.

The reintroduction of the provincial code (although no longer as a compulsory element of the plate) was implemented because the 1994 suppression of the two-letter provincial codes proved extremely unpopular. Unlike before, the provincial code is not part of the registration number, which is the same for the whole nation.

Schematic representations:

AE 170 HJ	1994-1999 plate
CZ 898NF  <span style="width="10px" align="center" style="background:blue; color:white;">Bz	Current registration plate from Bolzano.
ZA MI 904 SZ	Square registration plate from Milan.

Special plates

Motorbike plates

Motorbikes have plates formed by two letters and five digits, starting from AA 00000. For these vehicles the provinces' codes are not used to avoid confusion (for example, the plate after AF 99999 is AH 00000, because AG means Agrigento). Plates size is 177x177 mm (6,96x6,96 inches).

BB ROMA 03813

Moped plates

Registration plates of small mopeds where introduced in 1994 (before that date Italian moped had no plate at all) they were trapeze-shaped and have a registration system based on a five letter-and-digit combination (treated as a 31-base numeric system), with the first two placed on top and the following three below (such as 47 A23 or K3 561 or 8X 4RF whereby whole sets of series are assigned locally). In 2006 new moped plates are introduced; new plates have a square shape measuring 12 by 14 cm. The registration shows six characters: the first is always "X" ("Y" for Local Police plates), the other five follows the same scheme of the old system; but the digit 1 and 0 and the letters A, E, I, O, Q and U are not used. Since 2012 old moped plates are no longer valid and have to be replaced by new ones.

Trailer plates

Car's and truck's trailers had two plates: the trailer's own one was quite small and bore the word "RIMORCHIO" (trailer) and a two letters-five digits code, the other had the same size of vehicles' rear plates and bore the same registration of the prime mover written with black stickers on a retroflective yellow base. From February 2013 new trailer plates have been introduced: they use the same pattern of standard vehicle plates, the numeric scheme is XL 000 LL where "L" is a generic letter, "0" is a digit and "X" is the reserved letter. Mover repetition plates are no longer needed on trailers registered with new plates; but they are still compulsory for old trailers with small plates and small unregistered "appendix trailers".

Schematic representation (2013):

XA 123 AA  <span style="width="10px" align="center" style="background:blue; color:white;">MI

Police plates

Local police forces have the word "POLIZIA LOCALE" (local police) in blue. They have the same pattern as trailer and civilian plates, the scheme is YL 000 LL where "L" is a letter, "0" is a digit and the "Y" is the reserved letter (for motorcycles YL 00000, mopeds Y00 000). Unlike civilian plates they don't show up the code. National police plates have "POLIZIA" in red followed by letter, then numbers (formerly numbers only). Customs police plates start with prefix "GdiF" in red. The serial letters and three serial numbers are in black.^[2]

Diplomatic plates

Diplomatic plates have blue letters. These have the "CC" (Corpo Consolare), "CD" (Corpo Diplomatico) and four numbers, while "UN" (Nazioni Unite (Permanent)), "UNP" (Nazioni Unite (Specialists)), and "UNT" (Nazioni Unite (Transit)) plates have three. Scheme is CC 0000 AA or UNP 000 AA. The "AA" is a country code (blue) while "0" is a digit. Front and rear plates are identical and both measure 34 by 11 cm.

Schematic Representations:

CD 0213 XG	Diplomatic corps plate of Vatican City.
UNP 147 AA	United Nations plate for specialists.

Military plates

Military plates have the prefixes EI (Esercito Italiano, Army), AM (Aeronautica Militare, Air Force) and MM (Marina Militare, Navy), all of them red, the trailers have the indication "RIMORCHIO". There is a code same as mentioned before, but it is small and it is black. The scheme is EI LL 000. While "EI" is the prefix, "LL" is a letter and "0" is a digit. Between the letter and number there is a green dot. In 1980 Army plates adopted the 11 by 34 cm size for both front and rear plates, but more recent plates use the 1994-99 civilian plate standard for rear plates. Starting from 2004, historical military vehicles does not use original plate, instead the scheme is EI VS 000, "VS" is colored green.

Schematic representations:

EI BL 235	Esercito Italiano plate.
MM 567 RM	Marina Militare plate.
EI VS 132	Historical Esercito Italiano plate

Dealer plates

Italian dealer plates have a square (16.5 by 16.5 cm) size and follows the format XXpX/XXXX (where "X" could be a letter or a digit) arranged in two lines. They are the only kind of Italian plates whose code could be chosen by the owner.

Red Cross plates

Have the prefix "CRI" (Croce Rossa Italiana) in red, the style is CRI 000LL (pre-2007 was CRI L000L, motorcycles CRI 0000), while "L" is a letter, and "0" is a number. Between "CRI" and the other characters there is the Red Cross sign. They use the same style of pre-1999 plates; the final code of two-line plates always starts with the letter "Z".

Schematic representations:

CRI A 350 C	Pre-2007 plate.
CRI 273 AA	Current plate.

Firefighters

Have the prefix "VF" (Vigili del Fuoco) in red. They have the same style and dimension of Port Authority plates, but they don't have text in the bottom section. Firefighters of autonomous regions use special Firefighters plates issued locally. Their schemes were VF 0L0 AA (formerly VF L00 AA), where "AA" at the end can be TN or BZ. Trailers have small red "R" between prefix and numbers.

Schematic representations:

VF 25646	National firefighters plate (except for autonomous provinces below)
VF R 1234	Trailer plate
VF 7A0 TN	Firefighter plate from Trento.

Port Authority plates

Have the prefix "CP" (Capitaneria di Porto) in red. They have the text "GUARDIA COSTIERA" at the bottom. Those plates are considerably shorter than a standard one (circa 35 by 52mm), front and rear plates have the same size and square rear plates are not available.

Schematic representation:

CP 2378

SMOM plates

Uses prefix "SMOM" (Sovrano militare ordine di Malta) in red, followed by two numbers (previously red). They have the text "SMOM" at the bottom. These plates used only by Sovereign Military Order of Malta members (only plate that was circulating on along with its diplomatic plate (code XA), being SMOM is a subject of international law.), and these plates were issued by Ministry of Defence.

Schematic representation:

SMOM 60

Temporary plates

They have the same style of Diplomatic plates, but they start with "EE" (black) instead of "CD". The upper part of the plate has a small space for accommodating expiry date stickers.

Schematic Representation:

EE 053 AM

Agricultural plates

Agricultural machines have motorcycle-sized plates following the AA-0/00A scheme written in black on yellow. Agricultural trailers have the text "RIM AGR." in red on the upper part. The style is same as the old trailer plates but background is yellow and the serial is AA-000A. Agricultural trailers have to show both their own plates and a prime mover repetition one.

State Forestry Corps plates

These plates have the prefix "CFS" (Corpo Forestale dello Stato) in red. The format is CFS 000 LL, "CFS" is a prefix, then three numbers and then "LL" suffix. Forestry Corps of autonomous regions use special dedicated plates, showing the province (or region) of registration. These plates have scheme CF AA L00 AA, where "CF" is red, "AA" is where the region is registered to ("FD" (means Forst Dienst) for Bolzano, "VA" (means Vigilanza Ambientale) for Sardinia), then followed by a letter and two numbers, and then suffix.

Schematic representations:

CFS 123 AA	National Corpo Forestale dello Stato plate (except for autonomous provinces below)
CF FD A12 AA	Corpo Forestale dello Stato plate from Bolzano.

Road Machinery plates

The style of these plates is LL LL000. They are red on yellow background.

Civil Defense plates

These plates only exist in autonomous regions, they have the prefix "PC" (Protezione Civile) in red and an alfanumeric serial chosen by local authorities (PC ZS0LL in Bolzano (ZS means Zivilschutz), PC L00TN in Trento). Cars of national Civil Defense department have special plates bearing the "DPC" (Dipartimento della Protezione Civile) code followed by an alphanumeric serial (DPC L 0000), while operative vehicles usually use civil plates. Emergency plates have the text at top:"DIPARTIMENTO PROTEZIONE CIVILE RICOVERO DI EMERGENZA", then a provincial designator and four numbers.

Schematic representations:

DPC X 1234	Dipartimento della Protezione Civile plate
PC ZS0FZ  <span style="width="10px" align="center" style="background:blue; color:white;">Bz	Civil Defense plate from Bolzano.
PC B61TN  <span style="width="10px" align="center" style="background:blue; color:white;">?	Civil Defense plate from Trento.
DIPARTIMENTO PROTEZIONE CIVILE RICOVERO DI EMERGENZA RM 0123	Emergency shelter plate.

Carabinieri plates

These plates have the prefix "CC" in red. The style is CC LL 000 where "CC" is a prefix, "LL" is a letter, and "0" is a digit.

Schematic representation:

CC DF 948

Trolleybus plates

These plates format is serial number, then logo and then the operator's number (normally 3 digits). Blue-on-white, plates size is 320 x 115 mm. Until 1950's they were circulated along with normal car plates.

Province Codes

Province Codes 1927 to present day

Code	Province	Code	Province	Code	Province	Code	Province	Code	Province
AG	Agrigento	AL	Alessandria	AN	Ancona	AO	Aosta	AP	Ascoli Piceno
AQ	L'Aquila	AR	Arezzo	AT	Asti	AV	Avellino	BA	Bari
BG	Bergamo	BI	Biella	BL	Belluno	BN	Benevento	BO	Bologna
BR	Brindisi	BS	Brescia	BT	Barletta-Andria-Trani	BZ	Bolzano/Bozen	CA	Cagliari
CB	Campobasso	CE	Caserta	CH	Chieti	CI	Carbonia-Iglesias	CL	Caltanissetta
CN	Cuneo	CO	Como	CR	Cremona	CS	Cosenza	CT	Catania
CZ	Catanzaro	EN	Enna	FC	Forlì-Cesena	FE	Ferrara	FG	Foggia
FI	Florence (Firenze)	FM	Fermo	FR	Frosinone	GE	Genoa (Genova)	GO	Gorizia
GR	Grosseto	IM	Imperia	IS	Isernia	KR	Crotone	LC	Lecco
LE	Lecce	LI	Leghorn (Livorno)	LO	Lodi	LT	Latina	LU	Lucca
MB	Monza and Brianza	MC	Macerata	ME	Messina	MI	Milan (Milano)	MN	Mantua (Mantova)
MO	Modena	MS	Massa-Carrara	MT	Matera	NA	Naples (Napoli)	NO	Novara
NU	Nuoro	OG	Ogliastra	OR	Oristano	OT	Olbia-Tempio	PA	Palermo
PC	Piacenza	PD	Padua (Padova)	PE	Pescara	PG	Perugia	PI	Pisa
PN	Pordenone	PO	Prato	PR	Parma	PT	Pistoia	PU	Pesaro-Urbino
PV	Pavia	PZ	Potenza	RA	Ravenna	RC	Reggio Calabria	RE	Reggio Emilia
RG	Ragusa	RI	Rieti	RN	Rimini	RO	Rovigo	Roma	Rome (Roma)
SA	Salerno	SI	Siena	SO	Sondrio	SP	La Spezia	SR	Syracuse (Siracusa)
SS	Sassari	SV	Savona	TA	Taranto	TE	Teramo	TN	Trent (Trento)
TO	Turin (Torino)	TP	Trapani	TR	Terni	TS	Trieste	TV	Treviso
UD	Udine	VA	Varese	VB	Verbania	VC	Vercelli	VE	Venice (Venezia)
VI	Vicenza	VR	Verona	VS	Medio Campidano	VT	Viterbo	VV	Vibo Valentia

These abbreviations for the names of provinces are extensively used in contexts other than vehicle registration. For example, "Trino (VC)", to indicate a place called Trino in the province of Vercelli, could appear on letterheaded paper or in a postal address or in a guide book and very often on business cards and trade signs. The abbreviations even count as valid words in crosswords and in Scarabeo, the Italian version of the board game Scrabble. Sometimes, the code RM is used instead of Roma for the province of Rome, in postal addresses or documents.

Sardinia formed four new provinces in its territory in 2001, but this act was recognized by national authorities only in 2008; these provinces gained the right to put their codes on cars, which are VS for the Province of Medio Campidano (from its capital cities Villacidro and Sanluri), CI for the Province of Carbonia-Iglesias, OG for the Province of Ogliastra and OT for the Province of Olbia-Tempio.^[3]

Province Codes 1905 to 1927

Number	Province	Number	Province	Number	Province	Number	Province
1	Alessandria	2	Ancona	3	L'Aquila	4	Arezzo
5	Ascoli Piceno	6	Avellino	7	Bari	8	Belluno
9	Benevento	10	Bergamo	11	Bologna	12	Brescia
13	Cagliari	14	Caltanissetta	15	Campobasso	16	Caserta
17	Catania	18	Catanzaro	19	Chieti	20	Como
21	Cosenza	22	Cremona	23	Cuneo	24	Ferrara
25	Florence (Firenze)	26	Foggia	27	Forlì	28	Genoa (Genova)
29	Agrigento	30	Grosseto	31	Lecce	32	Leghorn (Livorno)
33	Lucca	34	Macerata	35	Mantua (Mantova)	36	Massa and Carrara
37	Messina	38	Milan (Milano)	39	Modena	40	Naples (Napoli)
41	Novara	42	Padua (Padova)	43	Palermo	44	Parma
45	Pavia	46	Perugia	47	Pesaro	48	Piacenza
49	Pisa	50	Imperia	51	Potenza	52	Ravenna
53	Reggio di Calabria	54	Reggio nell'Emilia	55	Rome (Roma)	56	Rovigo
57	Salerno	58	Sassari	59	Siena	60	Syracuse (Siracusa)
61	Sondrio	62	Teramo	63	Turin (Torino)	64	Trapani
65	Treviso	66	Udine	67	Venice (Venezia)	68	Verona
69	Vicenza	70	Pola	71	La Spezia	72	Taranto
73	Trent (Trento)	74	Trieste	75	Zara	76	Fiume

Province Codes which have been abandoned (post-1927)

Code	Province	Reason	Years
AU	Apuania	Province renamed back to Massa-Carrara.	1939-1949
CG	Castrogiovanni	City renamed to Enna.	1927-1928
CU	Cuneo	Code changed to CN.	1927-1928
FU	Fiume	Code changed to FM.	1927-1930
FM	Fiume	City no longer in Italy.	1930-1945
FO	Forlì	Province renamed to Forlì-Cesena (FC).	1927-1994
GI	Girgenti	City renamed to Agrigento.	1927-1928
LB	Lubiana	City no longer in Italy.	1941-1945
PL	Pola	City no longer in Italy.	1927-1945
PU	Perugia	Code changed to PG.	1927-1933
PS	Pesaro	Province renamed to Pesaro and Urbino (PU).	1927-1994
ZA	Zara	City no longer in Italy.	1927-1945

Diplomatic Codes^[4][5]

Greyed out means not used. Bold means it's used. Q and U cannot be used in consular corps plates, as such they are Bold Italic.

Code	Country	Code	Country	Code	Country	Code	Country	Code	Country
AA	Albania	AC	Austria	AE	Belgium	AG	Bulgaria	AK	Czech Republic
AM	Cyprus	AN	Denmark	AP	Finland	AQ	France	AU	Germany
AV	West Germany	BA	East Germany	BC	United Kingdom	BF	Slovenia	BG	Greece
BM	Ireland	BN	Italy (Holy See)	BP	Serbia	BQ	Croatia	BR	Luxembourg
BS	Malta	BT	Monaco	BV	Norway	BX	Netherlands	CA	Poland
CC	Portugal	CE	Romania	CG	San Marino	CH	Spain	CM	Switzerland
CN	Sweden	CQ	Switzerland	CR	Turkey	CX	Hungary	DA	Russia (formerly  Soviet Union)
DC	Ukraine	DD	Uzbekistan	DE	Vatican City (Apostolic Nunciature)	DF	Slovenia	DG	Macedonia
DH	Bosnia and Herzegovina	DL	Slovakia	DM	Armenia	DN	Georgia	DP	Kazakhstan
DQ	Latvia	DR	Belarus	DS	Lithuania	DT	Moldova	DV	Iceland
DZ	Azerbaijan	EA	Burkina Faso	EB	Dominica	EC	Uganda	ED	Burundi
EF	Rwanda	EG	Zimbabwe	EH	Qatar	EL	Chad	EM	Mauritania
EN	Eritrea	EP	Mali	ER	Belize	ES	Equatorial Guinea (c/o FAO)	ET	Kosovo
GA	Afghanistan	GB	Saudi Arabia	GC	Bangladesh	GD	Myanmar	GE	Taiwan
GF	China	GK	Philippines	GL	North Korea	GM	South Korea	GP	United Arab Emirates
GQ	Philippines	GS	Japan	GZ	Jordan	HA	India	HC	Indonesia
HE	Iran	HF	Iraq	HL	Israel	HP	Iraq?	HQ	Kuwait
HR	Lebanon	HS	Malaysia	HT	Oman	HV	Pakistan	HX	Syria
LA	Sri Lanka	LB	Thailand	LE	Vietnam	LF	Yemen	LH	Montenegro
LM	Timor-Leste	NA	Algeria	NC	Angola	ND	Cameroon	NF	Cape Verde
NG	Central African Republic	NH	Republic of the Congo	NL	Ivory Coast	NM	Egypt	NR	Ethiopia
NT	Gabon	NX	Ghana	PA	Guinea	PB	Kenya	PC	Lesotho
PD	Liberia	PE	Libya	PL	Madagascar	PN	Morocco	PQ	Nigeria
PS	Senegal	PT	Sierra Leone	PV	Mozambique	PX	Somalia	QA	South Africa
QC	Sudan	QE	Tanzania	QG	Tunisia	QL	Democratic Republic of the Congo	QN	Zambia
QP	Niger	SA	Canada	SD	Mexico	SF SH SL SN SQ	United States	TA	Costa Rica
TC	Cuba	TE	Dominican Republic	TF	Ecuador	TG	Jamaica	TH	Guatemala
TL	Haiti	TM	Honduras	TP	Nicaragua	TQ	Panama	TS	El Salvador
UA	Argentina	UE	Bolivia	UF	Brazil	UH	Chile	UL	Colombia
UN	Paraguay	UP	Peru	US	Uruguay	UT	Venezuela	VA	Argentina
VF	Brazil	VL	Colombia	VS	Uruguay	XA	S.M.O.M and  Palestine	XC XD XE XF XH	FAO,  United Nations, International organizations, and  European Union
XG	Vatican City	ZA	Australia	ZC	New Zealand

References

External links

• Plates in Rome provides detailed coverage of Italian number plates from 1903 onwards.

Wikimedia Commons has media related to License plates of Italy.