The Italian legal system (the sistema giuridico italiano, the civil law system based on the Codice Civile (the Civil Code of 1942, the Codice Mussolini, as the Italian legal community still occasionally calls it) and the Codice Penale (the Criminal Code of 1930, the Codice Rocco, named after Alfredo Rocco, the Fascist Minister of Justice who drafted it)): the Italian legal system belongs to the Romano-Germanic civil law family (the same legal tradition as France, Germany, Spain, and most of continental Europe) rather than the common law tradition (the UK, the US, Australia, and Canada). The specific Italian legal system characteristics for the foreign visitor: the Italian legal system is written law (the legislation (the Codice) is the primary source of law. The judicial decisions (the sentenze) interpret but don't create law in the common law sense). The Italian criminal procedure is the accusatorial (adversarial) system since the 1988 criminal procedure reform (the Codice di Procedura Penale of 1989 replaced the inquisitorial system with the adversarial system, though the specifically Italian hybrid (the GUP, the preliminary hearing judge, and the specific Italian appeals system) makes the Italian criminal procedure more complex than either the pure civil law or the pure common law model). And the Italian civil court system (the Tribunale (the primary civil court), the Corte d'Appello (the appeal court), and the Corte di Cassazione (the supreme court of legitimacy)) is the three-tier system whose specific case backlog (the Italian civil case takes an average of 4.7 years to reach first-instance judgment, the longest in the EU by a significant margin) is the single most widely criticized element of the Italian justice system.
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Italian Law: Traffic, Arrest, and Expat Questions
Traffic Law. ZTL, Autovelox, and Tow
The Italian traffic law specific situations (see the dedicated ZTL and autovelox guides for the complete treatment): the ZTL violation fine (the administrative violation fine of €80-160 for the ZTL entry without authorization, the fine sent to the vehicle owner/rental company with the 60-day payment window and the 25% discount for payment within 5 days). The autovelox fine (the speed enforcement fine (€160-2,500 depending on the excess speed, increasing with the excess margin) with the 60-day payment window). And the car tow (the rimozione forzata, the Italian municipal police can tow any vehicle parked in violation of the Italian parking code: the tow recovery fee (approximately €150-200 in Rome and Milan) plus the daily storage fee (approximately €20-30 per day) applies).
What Happens If You Are Arrested in Italy
The specific Italian arrest procedure for a foreign national: the fermo di polizia (the police detention, the specific power of the Italian police to detain a person for up to 24 hours without a judicial order (the fermo amministrativo) for identification purposes or up to 96 hours with the public prosecutor's ratification (the fermo di indiziato di delitto) for a criminal offense): the specific foreign national rights (the diritto all'interprete, the right to an interpreter (constitutionally guaranteed and in practice always available at the police station through the police interpretation service for the major European languages). The diritto al difensore (the right to a lawyer, the Italian public defender (the difensore d'ufficio) is appointed automatically if the suspect can't afford a private lawyer). And the consular notification (the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations (1963) guarantees every detained foreign national the right to have their consulate notified, the police are required to ask if you want your consulate notified and to make the call if you confirm)): if detained in Italy as a foreign national, the immediate requests are: interpreter (if needed), lawyer (the difensore), and consulate notification.
Q&A: Italian Legal System
Do I need an Italian driving license after becoming resident in Italy?
EU citizens resident in Italy: the EU driving license (the EU format plastic card) is valid in Italy indefinitely for EU citizens, no conversion is required for EU license holders. Non-EU residents (the US, the UK, the Australian, the Canadian): the driving license conversion (the patente di guida straniera, the conversion to the Italian driving license) is required for non-EU citizens who become legally resident in Italy, within 1 year of the residency registration (the iscrizione anagrafica). The specific procedure (the conversion at the DTT (the Dipartimento Trasporti Terrestri) office with the original license, the Italian residence certificate, the codice fiscale, and the specific conversion documentation): the conversion is administrative (no driving test required for the major non-EU countries whose licenses are recognized by bilateral agreement (the US, Canada, Japan, South Korea, Australia), a practical test may be required for countries without the bilateral agreement).
