Italian business register
The Italian Business Register and How to Read an Extract
By Elena Riva, Formation and Register Lead, Milan · Reviewed by Stefano Colombo · Updated 12 October 2026
Rules as in force in 2026 · next review January 2027
Every Chamber of Commerce keeps the Register for its province, and all of them publish through one national information system.
The Italian Business Register, the Registro delle Imprese (Register of Companies), is the public register of Italian businesses created by the Civil Code (Art. 2188). Each Chamber of Commerce keeps it under a delegated judge, on one national system (Art. 8 L. 580/1993). A company's number on it is its codice fiscale. Its extract informs; its certificate proves.
What is the Italian Business Register?
The Register (Registro delle Imprese, also called the Register of Companies or the Italian commercial register) is created by the Civil Code, kept by an office and public (Art. 2188 c.c.). That office sits at the Chamber of Commerce, the Camera di commercio (Art. 8(1) L. 580/1993). Every company formation in Italy ends with an entry here.
The Register dates itself: the Civil Code of 1942 provided for it, and the Chambers' reorganisation law brought it into full operation in 1996, so 2026 marks its thirtieth anniversary. The Chambers' English-language portal describes its holdings, in its own words, as over 6 million companies, 10 million people and 900,000 financial statements filed every year.
This guide explains what the Register holds, what its documents prove and what it keeps back; searching and ordering happen on the Chambers' own pages. Our angle is the structure before the registration: what the Register will record is part of designing a company.
Who keeps the Register, and is there a registrar of companies in Italy?
No single officer keeps the Register; four actors share it.
The Chamber of Commerce
Each Chamber keeps the Register office for its province. An application goes to the Chamber of the province where the business has its seat (Art. 11(1) D.P.R. 581/1995).
The delegated judge
The office works under the supervision of one or more judges delegated from the business-court sections and appointed by the president of the competent tribunal (Art. 8 L. 580/1993).
The conservator
The conservatore (conservator), the Chamber's secretary general or a Chamber manager, answers for the correctness of the data.
One national system
All Chambers publish through one national information system (Art. 8(6) L. 580/1993), conceived with IT methods from the start by InfoCamere, the Chambers' IT company.
So Italy has no single registrar of companies: the Chambers keep the Register under judges and conservators, and the English Companies House is an analogy only (Registro Imprese, the national register of businesses).
What does an entry in the Register do in law?
Italian law calls the Register's effect pubblicità legale (legal publicity), and the Register describes it in three forms.
Constitutive publicity
Pubblicità costitutiva: the entry is indispensable for the act to take effect even between the parties. The Register's example is a capital company's deed of incorporation.
Declarative publicity
Pubblicità dichiarativa: the entry makes the act enforceable against third parties, whatever they actually knew. The Register's example is a partnership deed.
Publicity as notice
Pubblicità notizia: the entry serves certification and public information. The Register's example is a small trader's entry.
When the company exists
A company acquires legal personality on entry, not on signing (Art. 2331 c.c.). The entry consists in making its number and the application data available to the public for direct inspection (Art. 11(8) D.P.R. 581/1995).
Who has to be entered, and in which section?
The Register is one archive with an ordinary section and several special sections. The Register's own page lists who is entered:
- Individual entrepreneurs
- Commercial companies
- Cooperatives
- Consortia with external activity and consortium companies
- European economic interest groupings
- Public bodies whose exclusive or main object is a commercial activity
- A company formed abroad with its administrative seat or main object in Italy (L. 218/1995)
- A foreign company with a secondary seat (sede secondaria, a branch) in Italy
The special sections include innovative start-ups and SMEs, social enterprises, professional partnerships, group links (between the company that directs and coordinates and the company subject to it) and acts translated from a language other than Italian (Registro Imprese).
What is an Italian company registration number?
An Italian company's registration number is its codice fiscale (tax code): the Register number (numero di iscrizione al Registro Imprese) is the tax code. For companies the tax code and the VAT number (partita IVA) coincide, bar exceptions; for sole traders they always differ (Registro Imprese, tax code, VAT number and REA).
A business receives one Register number nationally, from the Chamber of its registered office's province. The company shows its seat, Register office and entry number on its documents, correspondence and website; an S.r.l. or S.p.A. adds its paid-in capital and whether it is in liquidation (Art. 2250 c.c.).
A founder's own tax code comes first: see why a founder needs a codice fiscale before the deed.
What is the REA number, and does a foreign company get one?
The REA (Repertorio delle notizie Economiche e Amministrative, the economic and administrative index) sits inside the Register office and collects economic, statistical and administrative data the entry itself does not require. A business holds one or more REA numbers, one from each province where it has a seat or local unit, written with the province code first, as in RM-123456.
A business with its main seat abroad that opens, changes or closes a local unit (unità locale) in Italy is entered in the REA; a foreign company with a secondary seat is entered in the Register itself (Registro Imprese). A foreign company's Italian presence is covered on the branch or subsidiary set-up page.
How do you search the Register for a company?
The search is the Register's own service; each route below shows different data at a different cost.
Know what to search by
Search by name, activity, tax code, VAT number or REA number (Registro Imprese).
Use the free search
An occasional user searches free on the Register's home page and sees the registered seat's address, the PEC (domicilio digitale, certified email), the legal form, the activity, the ATECO activity code and any active local units (Registro Imprese, registered office and local units).
Pay for more in Telemaco
In Telemaco, the Chambers' online counter, a search costs EUR 0.60 and the one-section block "seat and local units" costs EUR 1 (Registro Imprese, 2026).
Get access to Telemaco
Registration is free. Since 30 September 2021 private users enter only through SPID, CIE or CNS, the Italian digital identities, and pay by prepaid account or ICONTO (Registro Imprese).
Your own company's extract
The legal representative or owner of an Italian company obtains its own extract free, in English too, through the Chambers' service for entrepreneurs (Registro Imprese).
What does a visura camerale show?
The extract (visura camerale) comes in two kinds, ordinary (ordinaria) and historical (storica). The Register's page on extracts and certificates and the Milan chamber list what the ordinary extract shows, among other items:
- The officers and the corporate bodies
- The members, with their quotas
- Licences and entries in professional rolls
- Secondary seats and local units
- The VAT number
- The ATECO classification
- The number of employees
- The end of the financial year
- The residence or domicile of people holding corporate positions
In the Milan chamber's list, the last five items sit in the extract and not in the certificate, so the extract is what proves the ATECO code. The historical extract adds the changes since incorporation that were filed at the Chamber. An extract has no validity period: read its issue date.
Is an extract proof, or is a certificate needed?
An extract informs: it has no certifying value and is not enforceable against third parties. A certificate (certificato camerale, the Company Registration Certificate) has legal value for six months and is enforceable against third parties (Registro Imprese).
| Document | Worth in law | How long it lasts | Language | Amount, where printed | Where it is ordered |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ordinary extract (visura ordinaria) | Official information; no certifying value, not enforceable against third parties | No validity period; read the issue date | Italian | Capital company EUR 5.00; partnership EUR 3.50; sole trader and other forms EUR 3.00 | The Register's pages or Telemaco; free for the company's own legal representative or owner |
| Historical extract (visura storica) | As the ordinary extract, plus the history of changes since incorporation, within what was filed | No validity period | Italian | Capital company EUR 6.00; partnership EUR 4.50; sole trader and other forms EUR 4.00 | As above |
| Company Registration Report (English extract) | As the Italian extract; in the Milan chamber's words, not enforceable against third parties | No validity period | English, registered seat only | The Italian extract's amount | As above; free in English for the company's own legal representative |
| Certificate (certificato camerale) | Legal value; enforceable against third parties; used between private parties; issued to businesses in good standing with the annual fee | Six months | Italian | Not printed on the pages cited | The Register's routes or a Chamber counter; for use abroad, issued specifically and hand-signed, through Certiweb (Milan) |
| English certificate (Company Registration Certificate) | A document for use abroad, checked by the QR code on its first page | Six months, as a certificate | English, registered seat only | Less than the Italian certificate: exempt from stamp duty | The Register's routes |
| Declaration of current validity | No insolvency proceedings pending at the time of the request; the certificate with closing option F is the certificato di vigenza | Not stated | Italian | Not printed on the pages cited | From the Chamber, as the Milan chamber lists it |
Sources: Registro Imprese; Milan Chamber of Commerce; checked on 10 October 2026.
Three Register documents, three different values in law
Extract
visura camerale, ordinary or historical
- Worthinformation; no certifying value
- Lastsno validity period; read the issue date
- Third partiesnot enforceable against them
Certificate
certificato camerale
- Worthlegal value
- Lastssix months
- Third partiesenforceable against them
- Usedbetween private parties
Declaration of current validity
from the Chamber
- Worthno insolvency proceedings pending at the time of the request
In English: the Company Registration Report and the English certificate registered seat only
Ask the receiving bank or authority which it accepts
The Register says the extract serves wherever a certificate is not mandatory, the majority of cases. The Milan chamber issues certificates to businesses in good standing with the annual fee, for use between private parties, and states that since 1 January 2012 public administrations may not request or accept them from their users. Ask the receiving bank or authority which document it accepts.
Can you get Register documents in English?
Yes, for the registered seat only: the Register issues two English documents for use abroad, the Visura Camerale in Inglese (Company Registration Report) and the Certificato in Inglese (Company Registration Certificate). The English extract costs the same as the Italian one; the English certificate costs less, being exempt from stamp duty as a document for use in a foreign State.
One document carries four names: visura, Company Registration Report, visura in inglese and the Milan chamber's English company profile, at the ordinary profile's cost. A QR code on the English certificate's first page lets anyone check it against the archived version.
The Register's file stays in Italian; an S.p.A., S.a.p.a. or S.r.l. may also publish its acts in another official EU language with a sworn translation (Art. 2250(5)-(6) c.c.).
Forming an Italian company? Its first extract will show its members, officers and seat. We prepare that structure and coordinate the formation; a notary receives the deed.
How does a foreign owner order a document from abroad?
What differs abroad is identification and, for a certificate, the apostille.
Decide what the document is for
Information, proof or no insolvency proceedings: an extract, a certificate or a declaration of current validity. Ask the receiving bank or authority which it accepts.
Choose the language
English documents exist only for the registered seat (Registro Imprese).
Choose the channel
The Register's pages; Telemaco, open to private users only through SPID, CIE or CNS; the Chambers' English-language portal, with its own login; or a Chamber counter (in Milan, certificates by appointment).
Note the identity rule as Milan states it
The Milan chamber states that foreign citizens can apply for an Italian identity card only if they already hold a valid residence permit, and lists that card among its requirements for SPID.
Pay the state's amount
A capital company's extract costs EUR 5.00 ordinary or EUR 6.00 historical, paid in Telemaco by prepaid account or ICONTO; the company's own extract is free (Registro Imprese).
Check what arrives
An extract has no expiry and a certificate lasts six months; an English document carries a QR code on its first page.
None of the Register's or the Chambers' pages read for this guide says how a non-resident without SPID, CIE or CNS orders through Telemaco, and none gives a delivery time.
Does a Register certificate need an apostille for use abroad?
A certificate designed for use abroad may be required to carry an apostille, which is requested from the local Prefecture (Prefettura). The Milan Prefecture does not apostille certificates downloaded from any website: only certificates issued specifically for use abroad, hand-signed by a Chamber official and obtained through Certiweb (Milan chamber).
That rule is the Milan Prefecture's, and this guide states no other prefecture's practice. No processing time was found for the certificate or for the apostille.
What does the Register show about who owns a company?
The ordinary extract lists the officers and the members with their quotas. With the S.r.l. members' register abolished, that line is the public record of who holds the quotas (Art. 2478(1)(1) c.c.), and where a company holds a quota, the extract names that company.
| Item | Where it sits | Who may see it |
|---|---|---|
| The registered holder of an S.r.l. quota | The ordinary extract's members-and-quotas line; the S.r.l. members' register is abolished (Art. 2478(1)(1) c.c.) | Anyone who orders an extract |
| The officers | The ordinary extract; their residence or domicile is in the extract, not in the certificate | Anyone who orders an extract |
| The members' list of an unlisted S.p.A. | Filed with the approved accounts (Art. 2435 c.c.) | Whether the extract shows it is not stated on the pages cited |
| A group link (direction and coordination) | A special section of the Register | What an extract shows of it is not stated on the pages cited |
| A foreign company's secondary seat | Entered in the Register | Listed on the extract with secondary seats and local units |
| A local unit of a business with its main seat abroad | The REA | The free search shows active local units |
| The beneficial owner | A separate section of the Register (Art. 21(1) D.Lgs. 231/2007) | Authorities, accredited obliged entities and persons with a legitimate interest, decided by the Chamber; not the public |
Sources: Registro Imprese; Milan Chamber of Commerce; the Civil Code; D.Lgs. 231/2007 on Normattiva.
So a holding chain shows on the extract as its first link. An unlisted S.p.A., the Italian joint-stock company, files its members' list with its accounts (Art. 2435 c.c.).
Can anyone see an Italian company's beneficial owner?
No. D.Lgs. 10 June 2026 n. 122, in force since 23 July 2026, repealed the access rule of Art. 21(2) D.Lgs. 231/2007 and inserted Arts. 21-bis to 21-septies. Access now belongs to the authorities of Art. 21-bis, to accredited obliged entities (Art. 21-ter) and to persons with a legitimate interest in preventing money laundering (Art. 21-quater), whose requests the Chamber decides within twelve working days, a term it may extend (Art. 21-quinquies(4)-(5)).
Such a request can obtain the owner's name, month and year of birth, country of residence, citizenship and the condition that makes them a beneficial owner (Art. 21-quater(1)). The listed categories include journalists, third-sector bodies, researchers, persons who document actual negotiations with the company and obliged entities of third countries.
The duty stands: companies with legal personality report their beneficial owners electronically, exempt from stamp duty, to a separate section of the Register, and an omission carries the sanction of Art. 2630 c.c. (Art. 21(1) D.Lgs. 231/2007, text in force from 23 July 2026). D.Lgs. 210/2025, in force since 9 January 2026, amended Art. 21 without replacing it.
A holding of more than 25% of the capital by a natural person, directly or through controlled companies, fiduciary companies or an intermediary, indicates beneficial ownership (Art. 20(2)(a)-(b) D.Lgs. 231/2007); control is a separate test (Art. 20(3)). From 10 July 2027, Regulation (EU) 2024/1624 applies, and its test reads 25% or more.
How the rules are applied is less clear: the Bergamo chamber's notice of 25 June 2026, before the decree came into force, said no term was yet running and no sanction was being applied. Our guide sets out who files beneficial owner data in Italy and how.
How does a new company get onto the Register?
The entry is the last step of forming a company and the moment it exists. The full guide to starting a business has the whole sequence; the page on forming an Italian S.r.l. (società a responsabilità limitata, limited liability company) sets out what forming one involves.
First, the company needs a registered PEC, its digital domicile: without one, the Register suspends a new company's application until it is completed (Art. 16(6-bis) D.L. 185/2008, as in force in 2026, printed to 31 December 2026). See PEC in Italy.
statute a term or rule set by statuteChamber procedure the Chambers' published procedure guide
- 1
PEC registered
The company
- statute without it, a new company's application is suspended (Art. 16(6-bis) D.L. 185/2008, as in force in 2026)
- 2
Deed signed
Before the notary
- 3
Notary files
The notary
- statute within 10 days (Art. 2330(1) c.c.)
- 4
The office checks
The Register office
- statute invitation to correct, within a reasonable term
- statute refusal by reasoned order, notified by registered letter within 8 days (Art. 11 D.P.R. 581/1995)
- 5
Entry
The Register
- statute within 10 days of protocol, 5 if electronic (Art. 11(8) D.P.R. 581/1995)
- statute the company exists: legal personality on entry (Art. 2331 c.c.)
- 6
Single filing receipts
The Chamber and the agencies
- Chamber procedure the Chamber to the company PEC within 5 days; each agency within 7 (GuidaComUnica)
Terms set by statute and the Chambers, not by us
The notary files the deed
The notary who received the deed files it with the Register within 10 days (Art. 2330(1) c.c., as amended by Law 12/2019 from 13 February 2019; Modena chamber).
The office checks
It checks the signature, the form, the act and the attachments (Art. 11 D.P.R. 581/1995). It may invite corrections within a reasonable term, then refuse by reasoned order, notified by registered letter within eight days.
The entry
Without delay and within 10 days of the application's protocol date, or 5 days if the application is electronic (Art. 11(8) D.P.R. 581/1995).
The company exists
Legal personality is acquired on entry, not on signing the deed (Art. 2331 c.c.).
The single filing's receipts
One Comunicazione Unica (single filing) carries the entry, the tax-code and VAT-number requests, the INPS registration and the INAIL position, through DIRE since 12 February 2026. The Chamber confirms to the company's PEC within 5 days; each agency reports within 7 (GuidaComUnica).
A foreign company's secondary seat is entered too: in Milan, the foreign deed is deposited with an Italian notary, who files within 30 days of the deposit and 45 of the deed, with the current statute translated into Italian and certified by an Italian court, or, for an EU parent, a statement of its registration with a certified translation (Milan chamber).
What does the state charge around an entry and its documents?
The amounts below are the state's and the Chambers', each with its source and year. Our own fees are on request, and the list has no total.
| Charge | Amount | Source and year | Note |
|---|---|---|---|
| Stamp duty on the deed of incorporation (imposta di bollo) | EUR 156, with no real estate contributed | Romagna chamber table, 2026 | Paid through the MUI |
| Secretarial fee for entering the deed (diritti di segreteria) | EUR 90 | Romagna chamber table, revision 16 of 27 January 2026 | The line for the deed with the sole-member notice |
| First annual chamber fee (diritto annuale), Milan | EUR 120 for a capital company; EUR 66 for a secondary seat or local unit of a foreign enterprise | Milan chamber, 2026 | Already includes the 50% reduction and the 20% uplift; paid when the application is lodged |
| Deposit of the approved accounts | Stamp duty EUR 65; secretarial fee EUR 60 plus the OIC contribution | Romagna chamber table, 2026 | A yearly filing, not an incorporation charge |
| Paid search in Telemaco | EUR 0.60 | Registro Imprese, 2026 | The home-page search is free for an occasional user |
| One-section block "seat and local units" | EUR 1 | Registro Imprese, 2026 | Other blocks EUR 1 to 3 |
| Extracts of a capital company | Ordinary EUR 5.00; historical EUR 6.00 | Registro Imprese, Telemaco minimum amounts, 2026 | Changes-only extract EUR 2.00; the company's own extract free |
| English documents | English extract at the Italian amount; English certificate exempt from stamp duty | Registro Imprese, 2026 | Registered seat only |
| Beneficial-owner filing | Exempt from stamp duty | Art. 21(1) D.Lgs. 231/2007 | No fee is stated on this page |
| The notary's own fee | No official scale | Art. 9(1) D.L. 1/2012 | The tariffs of the regulated professions are abolished |
Sources: Romagna and Milan Chambers of Commerce, 2026 tables; Registro Imprese; Normattiva, checked on 10 October 2026.
How does a company keep its entry current?
After the entry, the directors keep it current.
- Report changes within their statutory terms, such as 30 days for a director's appointment (Art. 2383 c.c.)
- Deposit an S.r.l.'s approved accounts within 30 days of approval (Art. 2478-bis(2) c.c.)
- For an unlisted S.p.A., file the list of members with the accounts (Art. 2435 c.c.)
- Keep the company's PEC registered (Art. 16 D.L. 185/2008, as in force in 2026)
- Show seat, Register office and entry number on documents and website (Art. 2250 c.c.)
- Report the beneficial owners to the Register (Art. 21(1) D.Lgs. 231/2007)
A late or omitted filing carries the administrative fine of Art. 2630 c.c., EUR 103 to EUR 1,032, reduced to a third if made within 30 days of the original deadline (Genoa chamber). The yearly fee is in the annual duties to the Chamber of Commerce.
What should a foreign group settle before its structure reaches the Register?
Each vehicle puts something different on the record. An S.r.l. shows its quota holders on the extract (Art. 2478(1)(1) c.c.); an unlisted S.p.A. files a members' list with its accounts (Art. 2435 c.c.). A foreign company's branch is entered as a secondary seat, a local unit of a foreign business in the REA, and group links have a special section (Registro Imprese).
A design therefore fixes, among other things: who appears as the holder of record; whether the chain on the extract stops at an Italian or a foreign company; which natural persons the beneficial-owner filing names under the more-than-25% test of 2026; whether acts are also published in another EU language; and the number and seat the stationery and website carry.
These are decisions with conditions, not answers, and this page names none of them as the right one. Discuss your group's structure before the formation.
From our practice: a worked example of a foreign parent's first extract
A worked example from this page's rules, not a client case: a foreign parent company forms a single-member S.r.l. in Milan. The notary files within 10 days; an electronic application is entered within 5 days of protocol. The first extract names the parent as quota holder and carries the company's codice fiscale.
The legal representative obtains that extract free, in English too; the parent's natural-person owners of more than 25% go to the beneficial-owner section, not the extract; the first annual fee in Milan is EUR 120. We check the first extract against the structure that was designed.
Elena Riva, Formation and Register Lead, Milan, runs the formation file from the first identity document to the Register entry: the tax codes, the notary's checklist, the company PEC, and coordinates the filings that follow, which the notary or the directors make.
Sources
- L. 580/1993, Art. 8: the Register office at the Chamber, the delegated judges, one national system (Normattiva)
- D.P.R. 581/1995, Art. 11: competence, the office's checks, the entry terms, correction and refusal (Normattiva)
- D.Lgs. 231/2007, Art. 21: the beneficial-owner filing and its sanction (Normattiva)
- D.Lgs. 122/2026: access to beneficial-owner data from 23 July 2026 (Normattiva)
- The national register of businesses: keepers, legal publicity, who is entered, the sections (Registro Imprese)
- Ordinary and historical extracts and the certificate: value, contents, amounts (Registro Imprese)
- The extract and certificate in English (Registro Imprese)
- Tax code, VAT number and REA number (Registro Imprese)
- Registered office and local units: the free search, the paid search and the block (Registro Imprese)
- Certificates: good standing, the declaration of current validity, the apostille (Milan Chamber of Commerce)
- Company profiles and the Company Registration Report (Milan Chamber of Commerce)
- Filing the deed of incorporation within 10 days (Modena Chamber of Commerce)
Also cited, by article or by name: Civil Code Arts. 2188, 2196, 2250, 2330, 2331, 2435, 2478, 2478-bis and 2630; Art. 16 D.L. 185/2008; Art. 20 D.Lgs. 231/2007; D.Lgs. 210/2025; Regulation (EU) 2024/1624; Art. 9 D.L. 1/2012; the Register's Telemaco, ComUnica and DIRE pages; GuidaComUnica; the Milan chamber's pages on SPID, the 2026 annual fee and the secondary seat; the Romagna chamber's 2026 fee tables; the Genoa and Bergamo chambers' beneficial-owner pages; the Chambers' English-language portal.
Frequently asked questions
What is the Italian Business Register and who keeps it?
The Italian Business Register, the Registro delle Imprese, is the public register of businesses created by the Civil Code. Each Chamber of Commerce keeps a Register office for its province under the supervision of a delegated judge, with a conservator answering for the data, and every Chamber publishes through one national information system.
Is the Register public, and is a search free?
Yes, the Register is public under Art. 2188 of the Civil Code. An occasional user can search it free on the Register's home page and see the registered seat's address, the certified email (PEC), the legal form, the activity and the ATECO code. A paid search in Telemaco costs EUR 0.60.
What is an Italian company registration number?
It is the company's codice fiscale, its tax code: the Register number and the tax code are the same number. For companies the tax code and the VAT number coincide, bar exceptions. A business has one Register number nationally and one or more REA numbers, one for each province where it has a seat or local unit.
What is the REA, and does a foreign company get a REA number?
The REA, the economic and administrative index, sits inside the Register office and collects economic, statistical and administrative data the Register entry does not require. A business with its main seat abroad that opens, changes or closes a local unit in Italy is entered in it. A REA number starts with the province code, as in RM-123456.
What does a visura show, and what does the historical extract add?
The ordinary extract shows the current registered data, among them the officers, the members with their quotas, licences, secondary seats and local units. The historical extract adds the history of changes since incorporation, limited to what was filed at the Chamber. An extract has no validity period, so its issue date shows how current it is.
Is an extract proof, or is a certificate needed?
An extract gives official information but has no certifying value and is not enforceable against third parties. A certificate has legal value, is valid for six months and is enforceable against third parties. The Register says the extract serves wherever a certificate is not mandatory, so ask the receiving bank or authority which one it accepts.
Can I get Register documents in English, and do they cost more?
Yes, for the registered seat only. The Company Registration Report, the English extract, costs the same as the Italian extract, and the English certificate costs less, because it is exempt from stamp duty as a document for use abroad. The Register's own file stays in Italian.
How does a foreign owner order a document?
Through the Register's own pages, through Telemaco, which admits private users only with SPID, CIE or CNS, through the Chambers' English-language portal with its own login, or at a Chamber counter. The legal representative or owner of an Italian company obtains its own extract free. The pages read describe no other route for a non-resident without those credentials.
Does an extract show who owns the company?
It shows the members and their quotas, and for an S.r.l. that line is the public record of who holds the quotas, because the members' register was abolished. Where a quota is held by a company, the extract names that company; the natural person behind it belongs to the separate beneficial-owner section.
Can anyone see an Italian company's beneficial owner?
No. Since 23 July 2026, under D.Lgs. 122/2026, access belongs to the authorities, to accredited obliged entities and to persons with a legitimate interest in preventing money laundering, whose requests the Chamber decides within twelve working days, extendable. The duty to file and its sanction stand; the chambers' notices report no term running.
What does an extract cost?
The Telemaco minimum amounts for a capital company are EUR 5.00 for the ordinary extract and EUR 6.00 for the historical one, with lower amounts for partnerships and sole traders. A one-section block costs EUR 1, and the owner's own extract is free. These are the state's amounts as the Register printed them in 2026.
Does a Register certificate need an apostille for use abroad?
Where the receiving state requires one, the apostille is requested from the Prefecture. In Milan the Prefecture apostilles only certificates issued specifically for use abroad, hand-signed by a Chamber official and obtained through Certiweb, and never a certificate downloaded from a website. The rule given here is Milan's.
How does the Register fit into forming a company?
The notary files the deed of incorporation within 10 days. The Register checks the filing and enters it without delay and within 10 days of protocol, or 5 days for an electronic application, and the company exists from that entry. One single filing also reaches the tax agency, INPS and INAIL.
What happens if a company does not keep its entries current?
Changes are reported within their statutory terms, such as 30 days for a director's appointment, and approved accounts are deposited within 30 days of approval. A late or omitted filing carries the fine of Art. 2630 c.c., EUR 103 to EUR 1,032, reduced to a third if made within 30 days of the original deadline (Genoa chamber).
Forming the company. The S.r.l. for a foreign founder or group, with the deed received by a notary we coordinate: forming an Italian S.r.l.
Choosing the structure. Corporate Structuring in Italy for Groups and Founders
Related pages
- Company Formation in Italy, Structured for Your Group
- Starting a Business in Italy as a Foreigner, Step by Step
- Open an S.r.l. in Italy as a Foreign Founder
- Codice Fiscale for Foreigners and Companies in Italy
- Branch or Subsidiary in Italy for a Foreign Company
- Corporate Structuring in Italy for Groups and Founders