SPID stands for Sistema Pubblico Identità Digitale. This is the public system of digital ID provided to citizens of Italy, and this marks an attempt of the Italian public office system to move to digital access to its services and databases.
This system is very similar to the Estonian digital ID one.
The SPID is a system based on username and password that allows you to login to every public office portal which is compelled to provide login through SPID.
If you want to set up your SPID you need to have a codice Fiscale and a valid ID (National ID card or passport) and request the recognition to a certified service provider. There are various ways to verify your ID, some providers allow you to do it via webcam from home.
You don’t need to be an Italian citizen, nor to reside in Italy to obtain SPID, you only need to have the two mentioned documents.
SPID is generally free to have, however service providers can charge a fee for certain services.
Once your ID is validated by the service provider, your username and password become valid and you can access every online portal. Some providers use app facial recognition or QR code scan to access the portals seamlessly.
The whole scope of SPID is to associate your unique Codice Fiscale to a user, in this way the system recognizes the user and to protect third party data from being accessed by the wrong person.
How to use SPID
The SPID has been pushed greatly by the Italian public system, a sort of digital revolution to allow citizens to access bureaucracy faster and reduce the burden on the public workers by reducing the access to physical infrastructures.
SPID becomes a must have thing if you live in Italy. In fact you can access the following portals:
- Fascicolo Sanitario Elettronico to store your personal healthcare data, drugs prespiction, hospital access, vaccines, and to change your General Practitioner;
- School enrollment, as you need SPID to register kids in schools from kindergarten to high school.
- INPS website. If you need to obtain INPS benefits, or end your employment voluntarily you must do it through the INPS
- Tax office website. You need SPID to login to the tax office website and file your tax return or access your tax office information.
- Regional public grant offices, if you want to apply to public grant and funding, you must have SPID to file the application.
- Municipal certificates, you can use SPID to login in your town hall website and download the requested certificates (residency certificate, marriage certificate and so on)
