Italy

Cash is still used more at the till in Italy than the euro-area average. In the ECB’s 2024 SPACE survey, cash accounted for 61% of point-of-sale transactions by number (euro area: 52%) and 49% by value, against 32% and 39% for cards, while mobile payments made up about 4% of transactions. Yet since 2014 every seller of goods and services must accept at least one debit card and one credit card, and refusing a card payment has been fined since June 2022. The domestic Bancomat (PagoBANCOMAT) debit scheme operates alongside Visa and Mastercard, and smartphone and wearable payments are driving the growth of digital payment.

The Politecnico di Milano’s eCommerce B2c Observatory valued Italian online purchases at €62.3 billion in 2025, up 7% on 2024: €40 billion of products (+5%) and €22.3 billion of services (+9%). Online accounted for 13% of total consumer spending, one percentage point more than in 2024, with penetration of 11% for products and 18% for services. Beauty and pharma (+10%) and food and grocery (+7%) were the fastest-growing product categories, while services were driven by event ticketing, tourism and transport, and insurance. The same research notes that Italy has lost more than 85,000 physical shops in ten years.

The Banca d’Italia authorises and supervises payment institutions and electronic money institutions under the Consolidated Law on Banking (TUB). An Italian payment institution needs, among other things, its registered and head office in Italy and initial capital of €20,000 to €125,000 depending on the services offered; firms licensed elsewhere in the EEA can passport in. Sellers of goods and services must accept at least one debit and one credit card, and since 30 June 2022 refusing a card payment carries a fine of €30 plus 4% of the transaction value. Cash transfers of €5,000 or more between different parties have been banned since 1 January 2023. PSD2 strong customer authentication applies online.

Account ownership is lower than in other large western European economies. The World Bank Global Findex 2025 put account ownership at 86% of adults in 2024 and debit card ownership at 81%, and the ECB’s 2024 SPACE survey similarly found 87% of Italian respondents held a payment account. Cash keeps a strong role: in SPACE, 20% preferred to pay cash (61% preferred cashless), 58% said having the option to pay cash was very or fairly important, and cash was still used for 44% of person-to-person payments.