Why your Italian host asks for your ID
Hotel, B&B, holiday home or a flat booked for three nights: in Italy whoever puts you up is required to identify you and report your details to the police. It is not your host being nosy — it is a 1931 law that applies across the country.
What the law says
The obligation sits in article 109 of the Consolidated Public Security Act, royal decree 773 of 1931. It asks two separate things of anyone providing accommodation: they may only host people identified by a valid document, and they must report the personal details of everyone staying overnight to the police headquarters for their area.
The report goes through a State Police portal and the deadline is tight: within 24 hours of arrival, dropping to 6 hours if the stay is shorter than a day. That is why your host wants your details straight away rather than at leisure the next morning.
It applies to homes, not just hotels
This is not a hotels-only rule. It covers anyone providing paid accommodation, including short lets under 30 days and home exchanges. In the eyes of the law, the private owner renting you a flat for a weekend has exactly the same duties as a hotel chain.
It is also why you are asked even when you booked through a platform and never met anyone: the site you paid on does not file this report on your host's behalf.
Why they also want to see your face
This point was argued over for two years. A Ministry of the Interior circular in November 2024 banned fully automated check-in and key boxes; the Lazio administrative court suspended it a few months later; the Council of State settled the matter with judgment 9101 of 21 November 2025.
Where it stands now: keys may sit in a lockbox and entry may be automated, but at some point your host has to see your face alongside your document — in person or on a live video call. What is no longer allowed is blind check-in, where you get a code and walk in without anyone ever having seen you.
So if your host asks for a short video call even after you filled everything in online, they are not making life difficult: they are doing the part the form cannot do for them.
Which details are really needed — and which nobody will ask for
Your name, date and place of birth, citizenship, and your document details: type, number and issuing authority. If you travel as a group, the full document is needed for the lead guest; for everyone else the personal details are enough.
For this report nobody needs your card number, a password, a code sent by text, or a payment. If a message asks you for any of those and calls it check-in, it is not check-in: it is the most common scam in this industry.
What happens to your data
It goes to the public security authority, for that report and nothing else: it is not a marketing list and it is not used to profile you.
If you filled your details in through a Rennovo link: they stay only as long as it takes to produce the file your host has to upload, the link stops working the day after departure, and the data is deleted thirty days later.
This page explains the rule in plain terms, for travellers. It is not legal advice: if you are a host and need certainty about your own case, ask a professional.
Updated 28 August 2026
Are you the host?
You can collect these details before arrival with a link you send your guests, and get the file back ready to upload to the portal. Free, no sign-up.