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LIVING IN ITALY

15 must-have apps to make your life in Italy easier in 2024

From calling a taxi to booking a restaurant table, there are some essential apps that can make many of your daily tasks in Italy far simpler.

Published: 14 February 2024 16:09 CET
Colosseum, cyclist
A cyclist rides past Rome's Colosseum. (Photo by Filippo MONTEFORTE / AFP)

Though some may not always fulfil their purpose, apps are essentially designed to make daily life easier and for those living in a foreign country any type of help, however big or small, is worth its weight in gold.

So, in no particular order, here are 15 apps that might prove essential for life in Italy. 

Moovit

Moovit is by far the best urban mobility app available in Italy.

From public transport to taxis and e-bikes, Moovit will give you travel options to get to your destination in the quickest possible time. 

The times where you’d need multiple apps to figure out the quickest way to get from A to B are long gone.

Enjoy

Public transport options aren’t always great in Italy, especially at night, and you might find yourself looking for a car to hire on more than one occasion. 

If you live in Milan, Rome, Turin, Bologna or Florence, you’ll be able to do so via Enjoy.

Once you’ve uploaded your driving licence to the app, you’ll only need to locate the nearest car in your area and book it with a simple click. Parking at the end of your journey will be free of charge. 

Similar services exist in major cities around the country, with ShareNow generally being the second most popular option. 

Lime

If you’re not a fan of cars (or simply can’t stand traffic during peak hours), you’ll also have the option to hop on an e-bike and cycle your way through the city.

Lime bikes

Lime electric bicycles in Milan’s Piazza Duomo in March 2023. Photo by GABRIEL BOUYS / AFP

There are countless bike-sharing services across the country, but Lime is arguably one of the most reliable ones.

Prices vary depending on where you live, but they’re generally very affordable. A 240-minute time pass in Milan currently costs 19.99 euros.

Free Now

Regular Uber services are not available in Italy, so you’ll have to turn to local taxis for a ride. 

Free Now will spare you quite a bit of traipsing around (and a lot of roadside waving) by allowing you to summon a taxi to your exact location and pay for your ride via the app.

Other apps, like appTaxi and itTaxi, are also available and some are more widely used in certain cities than others.

Prezzi Benzina

As fuel prices in Italy remain close to 2 euros a litre, even small savings can make a big difference.

You can use Prezzi Benzina (Fuel Prices) to quickly locate the cheapest petrol station in your area and get the best available deal. 

All you have to do is select the type of fuel your vehicle runs on and enter your location. The app will do the rest. 

Il Meteo

While it might not have the most creative of names – it literally means ‘the weather’ – Il Meteo is the best mobile app if you’re looking to keep up to date with weather conditions in your corner of the boot.

Aside from giving you ten-day forecasts, the app gives you updates on pollen levels, road traffic and earthquakes as well as live satellite images.

MedInAction

MedInAction allows you to book an appointment with a qualified English-speaking doctor within 24 hours.

However, the service isn’t cheap – prices for house calls start at 120 euros, whereas online consultations with a GP are available for 50 euros – and only the biggest Italian cities are covered.

Satispay

Satispay is a useful time-saver when it comes to making small purchases at your local supermarket, especially if you don’t have Apple Pay or Google Pay set up on your phone.

The app is essentially an online wallet which allows you to pay by simply scanning a QR code at the relevant check-out machine. 

Other than that, it allows you to send money to your phone contacts and make a series of in-app payments, including phone top-ups and car tax payments.

The Fork

Booking a spot at a local restaurant can be a bit of a hassle at times, especially if your Italian is still così così. 

That’s where The Fork comes in. A couple of effortless taps on your screen and you’re booked. 

Restaurant

A woman has lunch at a restaurant in Piazza Navona, central Rome, in May 2020. Photo by ANDREAS SOLARO / AFP

The Fork also gives you access to a number of generous discounts (as much as 50 percent in some cases) on your restaurant bill.

Glovo

If you’re craving a restaurant meal but don’t want to leave the comfort of your home, Glovo is one of the more popular options available in Italy.

Glovo is available in more than 450 towns and cities across Italy and their deliveries are usually bang on time. 

Aside from delivering food orders, the service will also bring anything from groceries to medicine to flowers right to your doorstep.

Giallo Zafferano

One of the most popular ways to tap into Italian culinary tradition is by downloading the Giallo Zafferano app.

Giallo Zafferano stores over 4,000 recipes, many of which are paired with video tutorials, nutrition facts and historical notes.

The app will also allow you to share tips and photos of your creations with other users.

Subito

Subito is an online marketplace where you can buy or sell anything from cars to real estate to home furniture.

The app has over six million ads, but searching for items is surprisingly easy thanks to the filters and categories provided. 

Also, Subito allows you to post ads for free and chat with potential buyers (or sellers) directly within the app. 

Bonus X

Every year Italy offers a number of financial benefits (or ‘bonuses’) which can sometimes lead to hundreds of euros’ worth of savings. 

Claiming these bonuses however is not always easy as applicants are often required to hire a professional to help them figure out the process.

The creators of Bonus X say the app helps cut the red tape by putting a team of lawyers, accountants and labour consultants at your service. Further info on costs and requirements can be found here.

IO

Italian bureaucracy is notoriously tricky to navigate, but setting up the IO app on your phone may make things easier for you.

IO allows you to message and exchange documents with most Italian public bodies, including your town hall and Italy’s tax office, and gives you the option to pay for a number of public administration services from within the app.

You’ll need SPID credentials or an Italian Electronic Identity Card (CIE) to access the service. 

Drops

Drops is an excellent app for anyone looking to increase their Italian vocabulary, no matter what their current learning stage is. 

From health to school to sports, there are 50 language themes to choose from which are all useful for daily life in Italy. The activities are often multiple choice or spelling exercises, which make it easy (and fun) to learn new words. 

Drops can only be used for 10 minutes a day without paying, but a premium package currently costs 12.39 euros a month.

Member comments

  2. Enjoy and Share Now require an EU driver’s license. Not sure if a UK license still works, but definitely not American.

    At least in Rome, I would never trust an app to make a restaurant reservation. They tend to get overlooked, and you can arrive finding no table in your name. Calling is always best; if you don’t speak Italian, most restaurant staff speak at least enough English to take a reservation.

    1. Hi Max,

      Thanks for the comment!

      According to Enjoy’s website (link here – https://enjoy.eni.com/it/roma/istruzioni/car#:~:text=Il%20servizio%20di%20vehicle%20sharing,patente%20internazionale%20(se%20richiesta).), they currently accept licences issued by EU countries, the United Kingdom, Switzerland, Russia, and the USA, whereas Sharenow says they accept EU, EEA, Switzerland and UK licences.

      If you haven’t been able to access their services for any reason, I’d be happy to know what your experience has been. You can contact me at [email protected].

      Thanks again for reading.

      Giampietro

  3. Uber is available, at least in Rome, due to an agreement with the taxi association. You can now use the app to order the more expensive black cars, or regular taxis.

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MOVING TO ITALY

Readers recommend: Eight books you must read to understand Italy

After we published our own recommendations of some of the best books to read for those considering a move to Italy, The Local's readers weighed in with suggestions of your own.

Published: 25 April 2024 17:24 CEST
Readers recommend: Eight books you must read to understand Italy

In our previous guide to some of the best books to read before moving to Italy, we asked our readers to get in touch with your recommendations.

A number of you responded with your favourite reads about Italy; here’s what you suggested:

Ciao Bella – Six Take Italy

An anonymous reader describes this as “a delightful book about an Australian radio presenter who takes her husband and four children Bologna for a year which turns into two years (one being Covid).”

Kate Langbroek’s comic memoir “had me laughing and crying,” they write.

A Small Place in Italy

An apt choice for those considering their own rural Italian renovation project, Sam Cross recommends this book by British writer Eric Newby about buying, remodelling and moving into a cottage in the Tuscan countryside.

Cross also recommends Newby’s earlier work, ‘Love and War in the Appennines’, about his time as a British prisoner of war captured in Italy by the Germans in WWII.

READ ALSO: Eight of the best books to read before moving to Italy

Here, the author tells of his escape assisted by local partisans, “including a girl, Wanda, who became his future wife. A beautiful story,” says Cross.

The Italians

The Italians is written by veteran Italy correspondent John Hooper, who formerly wrote for the Guardian and is now the Economist’s Italy and Vatican reporter.

From politics to family traditions and the Mafia, the book tackles a range of aspects of Italian history and culture without getting lost in the weeds.

Simone in Rome describes it as “the best single volume on Italian customs and culture there is”.

READ ALSO: Nine things to expect if you move to rural Italy

Venice

It may be more than six decades old, but Jan Morris’s Venice is still considered one of the definitive English-language works on the lagoon city.

Book, Venice, library

A woman reads a book in Venice’s famous Acqua Alta library. Photo by Clay Banks on Unsplash

Though a work of non-fiction, the book has been compared to Waugh’s Brideshead Revisited for its nostalgic, evocative tone.

“A personal view, beautifully written,” recommends reader Mary Austern.

Thin Paths

Described as a mix of travel book and memoir, Thin Paths is written by Julia Blackburn, who moved with her husband into a small house in the hills of Liguria in 1999.

Despite arriving with no Italian, over time she befriended her elderly neighbours, who took her into their confidence and shared stories of the village’s history under the control of a tyrannical landowner and the outbreak of World War II.

“Write it down for us,” they told her, “because otherwise it will all be lost.”

READ ALSO: Six things foreigners should expect if they live in Rome

In Other Words

If you’re currently learning Italian, consider Pulitzer Prize-winning author Jhumpa Lahiri’s In Other Words / In Altre Parole, which discusses the writer’s journey towards mastery of Italian through full immersion.

Reader Brett says, “The book is written in both Italian and English, presented on opposite pages, so it’s also a nice learning tool!”

Lahiri has since written Racconti Romani, or Roman Tales, a series of short stories set in and around Rome riffing off Alberto Moravia’s 1954 short story collection of the same name.

A Rosie Life in Italy

Ginger Hamilton says she would “highly recommend the ‘A Rosie Life in Italy’ series by Rosie Meleady.”

It’s “the delightfully written true story of an Irish couple’s move to Italy, purchase of a home, the process of rehabbing it, and their life near Lago di Trasimeno.”

The Dark Heart of Italy

Reader William describes The Dark Heart of Italy by Tobias Jones as an “excellent” book.

The product of a three-year journey across the Italy, Jones takes on the darker side of Italian culture, from organised crime to excessive bureaucracy.

Though it was published in 2003, Dark Heart stands the test of time: “twenty-odd years old but the essential truth of it hasn’t changed,” William writes.

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