Addressing invitations to guests in Italy

Italy

Format Examples

A simple street address

SIG MARIO ROSSI [recipient]

VIALE EUROPA 22 [street + house/building number]

00144 ROMA RM [postal code + city + province code] Province code is two letters.

ITALY

(Old UPU documentation has a different, outmoded form of this address.)

Street address with slash / used to separate main house/building number from "exponent" number

MARIA RUSSO [recipient]

VIA APPIA NUOVA 123/4 [street + main house number / "exponent"]

00184 ROMA RM [postal code + city + province code]

ITALY

Address with PO Box ("Casella Postale" in Italian)

TASTIERA SRA [recipient, in this case a business name]

UFFICIO ROMA TRULLO ["UFFICIO" + post office location name possibly including a number] This is the name of the post office where the box is.

CASELLA POSTALE 1234 ["POST OFFICE BOX" + box number]

00149 ROMA RM [postal code + city + province code]

ITALY

Address with 'Attention:' some person

TASTIERA SRA [recipient, in this case a business name]

C.A. FELIX GATTO ["Attn:" Felix Gatto (a person's name)]

UFFICIO ROMA TRULLO ["UFFICIO" + post office location name possibly including a number] This is the name of the post office where the box is.

CASELLA POSTALE 1234 ["POST OFFICE BOX" + box number]

00149 ROMA RM [postal code + city + province code]

ITALY

Street address with a 'kilometric civic number'. Kilometric numbers may be written with commas for readability.

ALDO DE LUCA [recipient]

VIA CARDANO KM 1,234 [road name + KM (kilometers) + 'kilometric number']

20042 OMATE MI [postal code + city + province code]

ITALY

Format Information

How to write Italian addresses

Based on various sources of information from Poste Italiane (the Italian postal service), but for clarity we've reorganized, edited, and written some new explanations.

The general rule is, the address must contain three to five lines, plus an extra line at the bottom for the country name.

Street Address Format

Address Line / Element Must All Addresses Include This?

1. Recipient / Addressee YES

2. Additional information about the recipient

(e.g. specific person within an organization) N

3. Additional information about the building or location (which floor, suite/apartment number, etc.; in some unusual cases, district or village) N

4. Street Name + House Number

YES

5. Postal Code (like a U.S. zip code) + Locality (city/town/village) + Province Abbreviation (two letters) YES

6. Country Name YES FOR FOREIGN COUNTRIES (*)

(*) With the exception of San Marino and the Vatican City-State

Post Office Box ('CASELLA POSTALE') Address Format

Address Line / Element Must All Addresses Include This?

1. Recipient / Addressee YES

2. Additional information about the recipient

(e.g. specific person within a recipient organization) N

3. Specific post office where the box is located

('UFFICIO' + post office name possibly including a number) YES (to avoid processing delays and potential confusion)

4. 'CASELLA POSTALE' (Italian for 'PO BOX') + Box Number YES

5. Postal Code (like a U.S. zip code) + Locality (city/town/village) + Province Abbreviation (two letters) YES

6. Country Name YES FOR FOREIGN COUNTRIES (*)

(*) With the exception of San Marino and the Vatican City-State

Rules for best addressing and address format

Write rows in the correct order, as given in the table above.

Always write all required rows.

Print (not cursive) and use ALL CAPITAL LETTERS.

Usually it's best to avoid punctuation and other special characters.

In some cases slash '/', commas, periods, apostrophes, and accent marks are acceptable.

Don't underline!

House/building number comes after the street name, never before.

The postal code ("Codice di Avviamento Postale" = CAP, like a US zip code) must be used on every type of mail.

Use correct & consistent postal code, city, and province abbreviation.

Use your specific address's postal code, not a generic postal code for a large city/area. Otherwise your mail might be delayed.

An older, outmoded address style included a dash between your postal code and locality (city/town/village) and parentheses around the province abbreviation. Mail with these will probably be delivered anyway.

Address Composition Standards (2007 PDF published by Post Italia, the Italian postal service)

Find Postcodes / Postal Codes

Italian Post Code Search (in Italian, but not hard to figure out)

An Italian postcode is also called a "CAP" or a "Codice di Avviamento Postale".

Hope that helps

I realized what I posted did not answer your questions. Maybe this helps

If you are familiar with Italian, use the polite 'lei' form until a relationship is established, then use the more informal 'tu' form. When doing business in Italy, address people using 'Signor' (m) or 'Signora' (f) followed by their surname. 'Dottore' (m) or 'Dottoressa' (f) is used for those who have graduated.