Italian license plates

Present Italian car number plates have black characters on a rectangular white background, with small blue side-fields on the right and left (see European vehicle registration plates). The current numbering scheme, in use from 1994, is unrelated to the geographical provenance of the car. By law, Italian plates can only be made by the Istituto Poligrafico e Zecca dello Stato and issued by local departments of motor vehicles.

The very first Italian plates. They had to have the owner's name and the local communal number that had to be visible.

These early Italian number plates gave the unabbreviated name of the place of origin, followed by a number, as GENOVA 83 and PADOVA 2. These were first plates to be made of metal and had to be done by the car's owner.Today, only two plates of that time remained, GENOVA 83 and PADOVA 2, conserved in museums.

Schematic representation:

Plate was black-on-white. The registration number was a numeric code (in red), different for each province, and a progressive number on a single line, unique for that province (in black). E.g. 63 – 2993, where 63 is the code for Turin. Motorcycle plates had squared plates

Front plate was considered completely optional

Schematic representation:

In 1927, Mussolini changes the number plates from white background with black digits, to black background with white digits and introduces the compulsory two letter provincial code for all provinces (except for Rome since it was the capital so it was allowed to have the full name on the number plate until 1994) instead of the number system used until 1927.

From 1927 to 1932, the progressive code was before the provincial code on a single line. Then, the progressive code was before the provincial code in front plates and after it in rear plates. Although Rome had the full name displayed on the number plates, in documents for practical purposes it uses the unofficial code RM.

From 1932 to 1951, Rear plate was square 32.0 x 22.0 cm and used a slightly altered Garamond font. Rear plate had from 1928 to 1944, the Fasces emblem next to the provincial code. After Mussolini's fall, in 1944 to 1948 the Association of War Maimed and Disabled printed the number plates and their symbol appeared instead of the Fasces. In 1948 the Italian Republic Constitution was approved, so the Republic emblem appeared on the number plate on both rear and front plates but the format and font were kept from the previous period, only that the Republic emblem is bigger in these plates than the 1951-1976 period.

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