Remote work
Remote work ('lavoro agile') is governed by law 81/2017 and requires a written individual agreement. Coworking is widespread in large cities; FTTH fibre is growing but does not yet cover the whole country. SPID or CIE are indispensable for online bureaucracy.
Sections: Coworking · Internet · Time zones · Communities · Relevant conditions
The legal framework
Remote work for employees is called lavoro agile (or smart working) and is governed by articles 18–24 of law 81/2017. It is not an automatic right: it requires a written individual agreement between employer and worker setting places, tools, disconnection times and duration; the employer notifies the names to the Ministry of Labour electronically. Parents of children up to twelve, workers with severe disabilities and carers have priority in requests. Since the pandemic hybrid work (two or three days at home) has become common in big-city service sectors and in public administration, while it remains rare in manufacturing and personal services. Anyone working remotely for a foreign employer while living in Italy must sort out tax and social contributions: Italian tax residence is triggered by spending most of the year in the country.
Coworking and where to work
Coworking spaces exist in every regional capital and in mid-sized northern towns; in Milan, Rome, Turin, Bologna and Florence the offer includes large chains and neighbourhood spaces, usually with monthly subscriptions for a fixed or flexible desk. Many municipal libraries offer free desks with Wi-Fi. In small southern and inland municipalities several regional and municipal programmes attract remote workers with shared spaces and incentives, but the offer is patchy: check before moving.
Internet and fibre
Connectivity has improved quickly but remains uneven. According to the AGCOM Observatory, at the end of 2025 fibre-to-the-home (FTTH) lines numbered about seven million and were growing fast, and over a third of residential lines had a nominal speed of at least 1 Gbps; the rest use fibre-to-the-cabinet (FTTC), fixed wireless or 4G/5G. The Piano Italia 1 Giga, funded by the EU recovery plan, aims to bring connections of at least 1 Gbps to areas not covered by private operators. Before signing a lease it is worth checking coverage at the exact address on the operators' websites: in historic centres and mountain municipalities fibre may stop at the street cabinet. Data SIMs with generous allowances are cheap and serve as a backup.
Digital identity and time zone
Almost all dealings with the State (Agenzia delle Entrate, INPS, municipality, regional health service, school enrolment) go through a digital identity: SPID, issued by accredited private providers to anyone with a codice fiscale and a valid Italian or EU document, or the electronic identity card (CIE) with the CieID app. Those without an Italian document yet can obtain SPID with a passport from some providers; it is worth activating it as soon as you have a codice fiscale. The CET/CEST time zone covers the European working day plus the morning in the Americas and the afternoon-evening in East Asia.
Missing: coworking_month, internet_speed_mbps
Sources
Updated: 2026-10-14
Updated: 2026-10-14
Updated: 2026-10-14
Updated: 2026-10-14
Updated: 2026-10-14
Reviewed: 10/20/2026 · by piero.avolio · rev. 1 · Period: → 2027-04-30
No questions in the community · Ask the community