Working in Italy – CCNL contracts, minimum pay, holidays and recognition of your qualifications
Last updated 25 September 2026Rules checked every MondayOfficial sourcesSources & methodology →
Italy has no statutory minimum wage: your pay floor and much of your working life come from the collective agreement for your sector. Here is how working in Italy is organised in 2026 – contracts, pay, hours, leave and getting a foreign qualification recognised.
Working in Italy in 2026 comes with some new rules. Since 1 January 2026, 4 October – the feast of St Francis of Assisi, Italy's patron saint – is again a national holiday. From January 2026, productivity bonuses paid under a deposited company or local agreement are taxed at 1% up to €5,000 gross, for private-sector employees with employment income up to €80,000. And from 1 July 2026, new private-sector hires are automatically enrolled in a supplementary pension fund unless they choose otherwise within 60 days.
EU citizens need no permit to work here; non-EU citizens need one that allows work (part 2). Losing your job does not revoke a work permit: you can stay for the rest of its validity, and in any case at least one year, except on seasonal permits.
Is there a minimum wage in Italy?
Not by law. Article 36 of the Constitution says pay must be proportionate to your work and sufficient for a free and dignified life for you and your family. In practice, minimum rates are set in the CCNL (contratto collettivo nazionale di lavoro, the national collective agreement) for your sector.
Law 144 of 26 September 2025, in force since 18 October 2025, gave the government six months to make the total minimum pay of the most widely applied CCNL the floor for each category of workers, and to extend it to workers without collective bargaining. For now, treat your sector's CCNL as the source of your minimum pay.
At 30 June 2025, the archive of CNEL (the National Council for Economics and Labour) held 1,038 private-sector agreements covering about 14.6 million employees. Renewals lag: at the end of June 2026, ISTAT, the national statistics institute, counted 50 agreements in force for their pay part, covering 69.9% of employees; in the public sector all had expired.
| Question | Where to look |
|---|---|
| Which CCNL applies to me? | Your contract; your employer also reports the CCNL's code to INPS (the social security institute) every month |
| What is my minimum pay? | The pay tables in the CCNL text, in the CNEL archive |
| Who negotiated it? | Many major agreements are signed by federations of CGIL, CISL and UIL |
| Can I join a union? | Yes – the Workers' Statute (Law 300/1970) guarantees it to all workers and voids discrimination over membership, strikes or nationality |
Source: CNEL, ISTAT and Normattiva, read 23 September 2026.
ISTAT puts the 2023 median gross pay of 'standard' private-sector employees outside farming at over €28,000 a year, with about €5,000 more in the North than in the South. Your employer withholds IRPEF (income tax) at 23% up to €28,000, 33% from €28,000 to €50,000 and 43% above; the middle rate fell from 35% in 2026. Regional and municipal surcharges differ by region and comune (municipality). Pension contributions are 33% of pay; your employer pays them and deducts your share. Part 7 covers tax.
Fixed-term or permanent: what contract will you get?
An open-ended contract (tempo indeterminato) is the standard. Fixed-term contracts (tempo determinato) are limited by national law, although your CCNL can change some limits.
| Fixed-term rule | What it means |
|---|---|
| Without a stated reason | Up to 12 months |
| Up to 24 months | Only for reasons in collective agreements, to replace staff or – until 31 December 2026 – for technical, organisational or production needs agreed by both sides |
| Beyond 24 months with the same employer | The contract becomes open-ended |
| Extensions | At most four within 24 months; a fifth makes it permanent |
| Re-hiring too soon | Within 10 days (contracts up to 6 months) or 20 days (longer ones), the new contract becomes open-ended |
| Share of staff | No more than 20% of permanent staff unless the CCNL says otherwise; employers with up to five employees may always hire one |
Source: Normattiva, read 23 September 2026.
Probation may not exceed six months; on a fixed-term contract it is one day per 15 calendar days, between 2 and 15 days for contracts up to six months and up to 30 days for six to twelve months. Your employer must give you the key terms in writing; anything missing must follow within seven days of starting, some items within a month, or the employer is fined €250–1,500 per worker.
Take Anna, an illustrative example, starting a nine-month fixed-term job in Turin: her probation is capped at 30 days, keeping her beyond 12 months needs a legal reason, and past 24 months she becomes permanent.
What are the hours and holidays when working in Italy?
These are national rules; the notes show where a CCNL can vary them.
| Rule | Legal minimum or limit | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Normal working week | 40 hours | Your CCNL may set less |
| Average maximum, including overtime | 48 hours, averaged over up to four months | CCNLs can extend averaging to six or twelve months |
| Overtime without a CCNL rule | Needs your agreement | Capped at 250 hours a year |
| Daily rest | 11 consecutive hours in every 24 | – |
| Weekly rest | At least 24 consecutive hours | Normally on Sunday |
| Break | After more than six hours of work | At least 10 minutes if no collective rule applies |
| Paid annual leave | At least four weeks | Cannot be paid out instead, except when the job ends |
Source: Normattiva, read 23 September 2026.
At least two weeks of leave must be taken in the year you earn them – consecutively, if you ask – and the rest within 18 months after that year. Public holidays come on top; the national list again includes 4 October, and part 14 has the full calendar.
How do you find a job in Italy?
Public employment services run through the centri per l'impiego (public job centres) together with private employment agencies. Job centres offer an intake interview, guidance, job placement, traineeships and EURES information on working elsewhere in Europe. SIISL is the Ministry of Labour's public digital job marketplace, built with INPS.
If you are 18–59 and your household ISEE (means indicator) is up to €10,140, the Supporto per la formazione e il lavoro pays €500 a month for up to 12 months while you take part in training or job activation through SIISL. ISTAT's provisional July 2026 figures put unemployment at 5.8%.
How do you get a foreign qualification recognised in Italy?
It depends on whether your profession is regulated. For regulated professions, Legislative Decree 206/2007 names a competent authority for each. It checks that your application is complete within 30 days and decides within three months of receiving the complete file – four months for some professions. Foreign academic degrees have no legal value in Italy until recognised, so start early.
| Your qualification | Who decides | Good to know |
|---|---|---|
| Health professions | Ministry of Health | – |
| Architects, planners, some teaching and education professions | MUR (Ministry of University and Research) | – |
| Professions with an Ordine or Albo (professional register) | The ministry that supervises the profession | – |
| Beautician, boiler or heating-plant operator, and other cases | Ministry of Labour | Online; €16 stamp duty via pagoPA; non-EU diplomas also need a dichiarazione di valore (declaration of value) from the Italian consulate |
| Academic degree (full equivalence) | An Italian university | Decision within 90 days; recognition for a specific purpose, such as a public competition, is separate |
Source: Normattiva (Legislative Decree 206/2007), Ministero del Lavoro e delle Politiche Sociali and MUR, read 23 September 2026.
What to do now
| Step | What | When |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Find your CCNL and check your level in its pay tables | Before you sign |
| 2 | Get the key terms of your job in writing | Within seven days of starting at the latest |
| 3 | Check the legal reason if a fixed-term contract runs past 12 months | At signing and at each extension |
| 4 | Decide about the supplementary pension fund | Within 60 days of being hired |
| 5 | Apply for recognition of a regulated qualification | Before you work in that profession |
| 6 | Register with your centro per l'impiego if you are job-hunting | As soon as you start looking |
Source: Normattiva, CNEL, Ministero del Lavoro e delle Politiche Sociali and Ministero dell'Economia e delle Finanze, read 23 September 2026.
Official sources
The official pages this guide is based on, read 23 September 2026. Links open the authority’s own website.
- Normattiva (Istituto Poligrafico e Zecca dello Stato) · normattiva.it
- CNEL – Archivio nazionale dei contratti collettivi · cnel.it
- ISTAT – Retribuzioni contrattuali aprile–giugno 2026 (29 July 2026) · istat.it
- ISTAT – Rapporto annuale 2026 · istat.it
- ISTAT – Occupati e disoccupati, luglio 2026 · istat.it
- Normattiva (Istituto Poligrafico e Zecca dello Stato) · normattiva.it
- Normattiva (Istituto Poligrafico e Zecca dello Stato) · normattiva.it
- Normattiva (Istituto Poligrafico e Zecca dello Stato) · normattiva.it
- Normattiva (Istituto Poligrafico e Zecca dello Stato) · normattiva.it
- Ministero del Lavoro e delle Politiche Sociali · lavoro.gov.it
- Ministero del Lavoro e delle Politiche Sociali · lavoro.gov.it
- Ministero del Lavoro e delle Politiche Sociali · lavoro.gov.it
- Portale Integrazione Migranti (Ministero del Lavoro) · integrazionemigranti.gov.it
- Ministero del Lavoro e delle Politiche Sociali · lavoro.gov.it
- Normattiva (Istituto Poligrafico e Zecca dello Stato) · normattiva.it
- CNEL – 21° Report CCNL vigenti al 30/06/2025 · cnel.it
- Normattiva (Istituto Poligrafico e Zecca dello Stato) · normattiva.it
- Ministero del Lavoro e delle Politiche Sociali · lavoro.gov.it
- Ministero dell'Università e della Ricerca · mur.gov.it
Relocate in Europe provides general information, not legal or financial advice for your individual situation. Check with the authority named above before you act – rules change, and your case may differ.