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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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POLITICS

Can foreign residents in Italy vote in the European elections?

The year 2024 is a bumper one for elections, among them the European elections in June. Italy is of course a member of the EU - so can foreign residents vote in the elections that will almost certainly affect their daily lives?

Published: 3 May 2024 15:25 CEST
Can foreign residents in Italy vote in the European elections?

Across Europe, people will go to the polls in early June to select their representatives in the European Parliament, with 76 seats up for grabs in Italy. 

Although European elections usually see a much lower turnout than national elections, they are still seen as important by Italian politicians.

Giorgia Meloni will stand as a candidate this year, hoping use her personal popularity to give her Brothers of Italy party a boost and build on her success in Italy to “send the left into opposition” at the European level too.

When to vote

Across Italy, polling takes place on Saturday 8th and Sunday 9th June 2024.

Polling stations will be set up in the same places as for national and local elections – usually town halls, leisure centres and other public buildings.

You have to vote at the polling station for the municipality in which you are registered as a resident, which should be indicated on your electoral card.

Polling stations open at 8am and mostly close at 6pm, although some stay open later.

Unlike in presidential or local elections, there is only a single round of voting in European elections.

Who can vote? 

Italian citizens – including dual nationals – can vote in European elections, even if they don’t live in Italy. As is common for Italian domestic elections, polling booths will be set up in Italian consulates around the world to allow Italians living overseas to vote.

Non-Italian citizens who are living in Italy can only vote if they have citizenship of an EU country. So for example Irish citizens living in Italy can vote in European elections but Americans, Canadians, Australians, etc. cannot.

Brits in Italy used to be able to vote before Brexit, but now cannot – even if they have the post-Brexit carta di soggiorno.

If you have previously voted in an election in Italy – either local or European – you should still be on the electoral roll.

If not, in order to vote you need to send an application more than 90 days before the election date.

How does the election work?

The system for European elections differs from most countries’ domestic polls. MEPs are elected once every five years.

Each country is given an allocation of MEPs roughly based on population size. At present there are 705 MEPs: Germany – the country in the bloc with the largest population – has the most while the smallest number belong to Malta with just six.

Italy, like most of its EU neighbours, elects its MEPs through direct proportional representation via the ‘list’ system, so that parties gain the number of MEPs equivalent to their share of the overall vote.

So, for example, if Meloni’s party won 50 percent of the vote they would get 38 out of the total of 76 Italian seats.

Exactly who gets to be an MEP is decided in advance by the parties who publish their candidate lists in priority order. So let’s say that Meloni’s party does get that 50 percent of the vote – then the people named from 1 to 38 on their list get to be MEPs, and the people lower down on the list do not, unless a candidate (for example, Meloni) declines the seat and passes it on to the next person on the list.

In the run up to the election, the parties decide on who will be their lead candidates and these people will almost certainly be elected (though Meloni would almost definitely not take up her seat as an MEP, as this would mean resigning from office in Italy).

The further down the list a name appears, the less likely that person is to be heading to parliament.

Once in parliament, parties usually seek to maximise their influence by joining one of the ‘blocks’ made up of parties from neighbouring countries that broadly share their interests and values eg centre-left, far-right, green.

The parliament alternates between Strasbourg and Brussels. 

Find out more about voting in the European elections from Italy on the European Parliament’s website or the Italian interior ministry’s website.

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