Banks of Italy explains Italian banking to people who did not grow up with it. It covers the banks themselves, the codes you need to pay them, and the everyday money questions that come up when you visit or move to Italy: cash, cards, ATMs, the codice fiscale, pagoPA notices and opening an account.
Since 2026 the site has been rebuilt from scratch around what readers actually need: up-to-date bank profiles with checked SWIFT and ABI codes, practical guides, and tools such as the Italian IBAN checker and the codice fiscale checker. Many bank names in older guides no longer exist after the mergers of 2021 to 2026, so keeping every page current is the main job.
About the author: Ionut Popea
I am Ionut Popea, the founder and editor of Banks of Italy.
I work as a freelancer, and for years I lived as a digital nomad, moving between countries while my clients paid me in different currencies. To get paid, I had to open, switch between and adapt to many banks and fintech payment services, and I learned the practical side of it the hard way: what an IBAN or SWIFT code is really for, how transfer fees and exchange-rate margins add up, and why an account that works in one country can be useless in the next.
Italy was the country I liked enough to stay in. I lived there for five years, and that is when I started this website. Like me, many travellers and newcomers had questions about banks in Italy that were hard to answer in English: which bank to use, what a foreign card is charged at an ATM, how to get a codice fiscale, how to receive money from abroad. I wrote down the answers I wished I had found when I arrived, and I keep them up to date.
What I bring to this site: first-hand experience of moving money across borders as a self-employed person, of using both traditional banks and fintech services, and of settling into Italian everyday life as a foreigner.
What I am not: I am not a bank employee, a lawyer, a tax adviser or a licensed financial adviser, and nothing here is personal financial advice. For anything that depends on your own situation, confirm with the bank or a qualified professional. I check every fact against primary sources and say so when I cannot, as described in the editorial policy.
You can reach me at hello@banksofitaly.com, or through the contact page.
Independence
I am not owned by, or paid by, any bank mentioned on this site, and banks do not see or approve content before publication. The site is funded by display advertising (Google AdSense). If affiliate links, for example to a money transfer service, are ever added, they will be labelled clearly and will not change what I recommend.
Not financial advice
The guides explain how things work; they are not personal financial, legal or tax advice. Fees and rules change, so check important details with the bank or authority concerned. See the disclaimer.