Telephone Numbers in Italy - Numbering Plan

Numbering Plan

Telephone numbers in Italy changed to a closed telephone numbering plan in 1998. The plan which had originally been advertised in early 1998 was to merge the trunk code '0' into subscribers' landline numbers effective June 19, 1998, and then to replace that leading '0' with a '4' starting from December 29, 2000. As a result of this change, all landline numbers would begin with a '4', and mobile phone numbers with a '3'. Other initial digits had been reserved for different special purposes. It was later decided that landline numbers should still begin with a '0', unlike in the closed numbering plans of many other countries. E.g. a land line number in Rome:

06 xxxxxxxx (within Rome - after 1999) 06 xxxxxxxx (within Italy) +39 06 xxxxxxxx (outside Italy - after 1998)

Calls to mobile phone numbers within Italy were also affected, deleting the previously used trunk code '0'. International calls to Italian mobile phone numbers were not affected. E.g. for former Omnitel, now Vodafone Italy:

0347 xxxxxxx (within Italy - before 1999) 347 xxxxxxx (within Italy - after 1999) +39 347 xxxxxxx (outside Italy - both before and after 1999)

Landline numbers (area code+exchange+number) are generally 9 or 10 digits long, although they can be as little as 6 or as many as 11 digits. Mobile numbers are always 10 digits long, with the only exception of very old TIM numbers, which are 9 digits long (though those are now extremely rare).