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HEALTH

What is Italy’s Covid-19 digital ‘green pass’ and how do you get it?

As Italy rolls out the digital version of its Covid-19 health certificate, here's what you need to know about using it.

Published: 17 June 2021 15:26 CEST
Updated: 6 July 2021 10:05 CEST
What is Italy’s Covid-19 digital ‘green pass’ and how do you get it?
Photo: ERIC LALMAND/BELGA/AFP

Italy has been using paper certificates as a ‘health pass’ since April, but now the health document has now moved to a digital (and printable) format.

READ ALSO: Italy launches Covid-19 ‘green pass’ website

The Italian government made the details of the digital pass available online on June 17th when its certificazione verde website went live at www.dgc.gov.it.

According to the website, the pass will be made available “automatically and free of charge” if you are in Italy and one of the following applies:

  1. You have had at least one vaccine dose or the 15-day single-dose vaccine;
  2. You have tested negative via a molecular or rapid swab test within the previous 48 hours;
  3. You have recovered from Covid-19 within the previous six months.

Certificates contain a scannable QR code, and are available in Italian as well as English, French or German.

Note that the Italian version of the green certificate is only available to people who were vaccinated, tested or recovered from Covid-19 in Italy. If you were vaccinated in another country, at the moment you would need to obtain a health pass in that country.

In Italy, children under the age of two are exempt from the health pass requirement.

Health pass for travel

Italy’s certificazione verde or ‘green pass’ is mainly to be used for quarantine-free travel throughout the EU as of July 1st, with certificates issued in any member state valid throughout the rest of the bloc.

That means that residents of other EU countries planning to visit Italy should claim a certificate from their own country, which will be accepted in Italy. 

Italy is currently also recognising equivalent travel documents from the US, Canada and Japan.

Travellers from more countries are expected to be able to use equivalent health certificates once agreements have been made with the EU, or with individual member states.

The health ministry warns that people should continue to check the requirements for travel to other European countries using the Re-open EU website.

Photo by Denis LOVROVIC / AFP

How do you get an Italian ‘green pass’?

If you live in Italy and have been vaccinated, tested or recovered from Covid-19 here, you can use the government’s online portal to claim a digital “green pass”.

Here are the steps involved in getting and using your digital certificate, according to the official website:

  • After vaccination, a negative test result, or recovery from Covid-19, your green certificate will be automatically issued in a digital and printable format via a national platform run by the health ministry.
  • Once it’s available to download or access, you’ll receive an SMS or email containing an authentication code (known as an AUTHCODE) with further instructions.
  • You’ll be able to use this code to access the certificate via either the official website, the IO public administration app or the Immuni contact-tracing app, or by accessing your electronic health records (Fascicolo Sanitario Elettronico, available on your regional health system’s website). If you’re not able to retrieve your certificate online, you can ask for help from your doctor or pharmacist.
  • To login, you’ll need a digital identity document (SPID digital ID or electronic ID card (CIE), or your tessera sanitaria (health card) if you have one, along with the authentication code sent by email or SMS.

READ ALSO: How to use your Italian ID card to access official services online

  • Your certification will include a scannable QR code, which is what you’ll need to show when asked for the pass. You can either print out the document with the QR code, or show it directly from your smartphone or tablet.
  • When the QR code is scanned, for example at an airport or when entering an event venue, this is done using the VerificationC19 app which the health ministry says “respects users’ privacy”. The person verifying your code may also ask you to show a valid identity document.

The old paper certificates issued at testing centres or by regional health authorities can no longer be used as a health certificate for travel as of July 1st, the health ministry said.

What if I got vaccinated before the green pass was available?

If you were vaccinated before Italy launched its digital certificate earlier this month, you were supposed to receive your AUTHCODE by June 28th – though by early July many people reported that they had not.

If that’s the case for you, either try logging in using a SPID or ID card, or ask for assistance by calling 800 91 24 91 or emailing [email protected].

Going forward, it will be possible to claim your certificate 15 days after your first dose of a vaccine (including the Johnson & Johnson single shot), within 48 hours of your second dose, the same day as you receive a negative test result, or within 24 hours of being confirmed recovered from Covid-19.

Certificates will remain valid until you get your second vaccine dose (if applicable), for nine months after you are fully vaccinated, six months after you recover, or 48 hours from when you get tested.

What if I don’t have a tessera sanitaria?

While most login options require a tessera sanitaria (public healthcare card) and in some cases a SPID digital ID or electronic ID card (CIE), the new site also includes an option for people who are not enrolled in the Italian public health system and therefore do not have a health card.

People without a tessera sanitaria can request their certificate using an official ID alongside the authentication code they will receive from now on when they are vaccinated, tested or confirmed recovered in Italy.

See a complete guide to the process here.

More information

Find further details on the official website (currently only available in Italian).

You can also call 800 91 24 91 (freephone) or email [email protected] for assistance.

For more information about the current coronavirus situation and health measures in Italy please see the Health Ministry’s website (in English).

Member comments

  1. As the problems with the different vaccines are still going on: scientifically, geo politically, and logistically, and there was no opportunity for me, at 80, to have a vaccine, I went to the Serenissima Republica di San Marino.
    Within two days I had an appointment for the first vaccine and had the second one 4 weeks later.
    Albeit with staying two times for 3 nights each and €50,00 for two vaccines.
    Well organised and professional, appointment on the minute! So after just 4 weeks, at last’peace of mind’.
    A very good experience, but with a price tag.
    The Sputnik vaccine is scientifically proven by now, to a high degree, by the Lancet and other papers and scientists (research now also in Rome and Bologna,) The roll out by the European Medical Association has started and is going on.
    I parafrase scientifical articles writing about 98% protection.
    Besides, The Serenissima Rebublica San Marino is worth visiting, one of the oldest Republics in the world, it is not in the EU nor in Schengen and has an incredible history, very interesting and a “mozzafiato view’

      1. Absolutely right, a lot of negative info, also about packaging, handling etc.
        But Sputnik is now used in nearly 69 countries (a bigger roll out than EMU) Info from those countries may not be as sophisticated but are still positive and not yet side effects like Astra vaccine (approved for emergency before trial 3 was finished) and the others. Your article does not name anyone, hearsay.
        There are now coming in numerous positive papers and articles from different institutes and researchers, all precisely named.
        Of course I did a seriological test weeks after the vaccine, to be absolutely sure, and had a very good result. Before deciding I read a lot in the worldwide newspapers and on medline. Besides having a medical biologist son helped a bit.
        At least I have the antibodies that are helpful with Delta and Gamma also.
        Anyway better than no vaccine at my age.Wikipedia.org has a good neutral overview about:
        Sputnik V Covid-19 vaccine.

  2. Hi there,
    How long does it take to receive the cert Verde after the 2nd vaccine dose? The article states 48h, various gov websites quote ‘couple of days’, we (in Abruzzo) are on 72h and waiting. Noting coming through logging in using SPID/CIE and trying to manually pull the cert. We were not able to access the cert after the first dose either but being bounced from office to office as noone seems to know why…
    Martyna

  3. We’re in Tuscany, both vaccinated but never received the AuthCode. We don’t have Tessera Sanitaria. Went to the pharmacy who couldn’t help. The dgc site, accessed with SPID, says the green pass is not available.. We have emailed the help email but no reply. Has anyone found a way to get the Green Card?

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HEALTH

Italy’s schools warned to ‘avoid gatherings’ as Covid cases rise

As Italy’s new school year began, masks and hand sanitiser were distributed in schools and staff were asked to prevent gatherings to help stem an increase in Covid infections.

Published: 11 September 2023 12:48 CEST
Italy’s schools warned to ‘avoid gatherings’ as Covid cases rise

Pupils returned to school in many parts of Italy on Monday and authorities said they were distributing masks and hand sanitiser amid a post-summer increase in the number of recorded cases of Covid–19.

“The advice coming from principals, teachers and janitors is to avoid gatherings of students, especially in these first days of school,” Mario Rusconi, head of Italy’s Principals’ Association, told Rai news on Monday.

He added that local authorities in many areas were distributing masks and hand sanitizer to schools who had requested them.

“The use of personal protective equipment is recommended for teachers and students who are vulnerable,” he said, confirming that “use is not mandatory.”

A previous requirement for students to wear masks in the classroom was scrapped at the beginning of the last academic year.

Walter Ricciardi, former president of the Higher Health Institute (ISS), told Italy’s La Stampa newspaper on Monday that the return to school brings the risk of increased Covid infections.

Ricciardi described the health ministry’s current guidelines for schools as “insufficient” and said they were “based on politics rather than scientific criteria.”

READ ALSO:

Recorded cases of Covid have increased in most Italian regions over the past three weeks, along with rates of hospitalisation and admittance to intensive care, as much of the country returns to school and work following the summer holidays.

Altogether, Italy recorded 21,309 new cases in the last week, an increase of 44 percent compared to the 14,863 seen the week before.

While the World Health Organisation said in May that Covid was no longer a “global health emergency,” and doctors say currently circulating strains of the virus in Italy are not a cause for alarm, there are concerns about the impact on elderly and clinically vulnerable people with Italy’s autumn Covid booster campaign yet to begin.

“We have new variants that we are monitoring but none seem more worrying than usual,” stated Fabrizio Maggi, director of the Virology and Biosafety Laboratories Unit of the Lazzaro Spallanzani Institute for Infectious Diseases in Rome

He said “vaccination coverage and hybrid immunity can only translate into a milder disease in young and healthy people,” but added that “vaccinating the elderly and vulnerable continues to be important.”

Updated vaccines protecting against both flu and Covid are expected to arrive in Italy at the beginning of October, and the vaccination campaign will begin at the end of October, Rai reported.

Amid the increase in new cases, Italy’s health ministry last week issued a circular mandating Covid testing on arrival at hospital for patients with symptoms.

Find more information about Italy’s current Covid-19 situation and vaccination campaign on the Italian health ministry’s website (available in English).

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