Because Italian law requires it. Everyone who gives you a bed in Italy — a hotel, a B&B, a flat on Airbnb or Booking.com — may host only people who show an identity document, and has to send their details to the police within 24 hours of arrival. If you’re from outside the EU, that document is your passport. So if an Airbnb host in Italy has asked for yours, they’re doing what the law asks of them. It isn’t a check on foreigners: Italians show their identity card at the hotel desk too.
What the host does with it is also set by law. They send your name, date and place of birth, citizenship and the details of your document to the Questura, the provincial police headquarters, through a State Police portal, and then delete what they sent once the portal issues a receipt.
The rules can change: the official sources, in Italian, are linked below.
The rule behind it
It’s Article 109 of Italy’s public security law, the Testo unico delle leggi di pubblica sicurezza of 1931, known as TULPS (the text in force, on Normattiva, in Italian). It says three things:
- Hotels and every other kind of accommodation may host only people carrying an identity card or another valid identity document.
- For citizens of countries outside the EU, the passport is enough, or a document recognised as equivalent under international agreements, as long as it has the holder’s photo.
- Within 24 hours of arrival, the host sends the details of the people staying to the Questura, electronically.
Since 2018 the same obligations have applied expressly to anyone who lets a home, or part of one, for less than thirty days. That’s why the owner of a flat on Airbnb asks for exactly what a hotel receptionist asks for.
For stays of 24 hours or less the deadline is shorter: six hours from arrival, under the 2021 decree that governs how the registration works.
What you’ll be asked for
- If you’re an EU citizen, your national identity card does the job as well as a passport.
- If you’re from outside the EU — the UK, the US, Canada, Australia — it’s your passport.
- Bring the document itself. The law talks about showing it, and the point of the check is to compare it with the person standing there.
- Everyone is registered, children included. For a family, the decree allows the document details of one spouse, with the other spouse and the children under 18 listed by name, date and place of birth and citizenship; for an organised group, the group leader’s. Anyone else travelling with you is registered with their own document.
Why the host has to see you, not just your passport
On 18 November 2024 Italy’s head of police sent a circular (in Italian) to every prefect and police headquarters in the country, with the growth of short-term rentals and the Jubilee year in Rome in mind. It describes what had become a common way of letting flats: the guest sends copies of their documents online and gets in with an automatic door code or a key box, and nobody ever sees them. The circular’s conclusion is that this isn’t enough, because once the documents have been sent, nobody can rule out that the home is occupied by people the police know nothing about. The host has to check de visu — by sight — that the people staying match the documents.
A federation of non-hotel accommodation providers challenged the circular, and the regional administrative court of Lazio annulled it in 2025. In November 2025 the Council of State (in Italian), Italy’s highest administrative court, overturned that decision with ruling 9101/2025: the circular stands, and so does the check.
The same ruling spells out what the check means. It doesn’t have to be a person at the door: it can be done through a video link the host sets up at the entrance, as long as it establishes there and then that the person coming in is the holder of the document. The ruling gives a digital peephole as an example. What isn’t allowed is the blind version: a passport photo in the chat, a code, an open door.
So what happens at check-in
- Before you arrive, some hosts ask you to send your document details, or a photo of the document. It’s usually to prepare the registration in advance, and it doesn’t replace the check.
- When you arrive, someone checks that you are the person on the document: at the door, or through a video link at the entrance.
- Within 24 hours, or six for a stay of a day or less, the host sends your details to the police.
The obligation is the host’s, not yours. All that’s asked of you is to travel with a valid document and to show it.
What happens to your data
This is the part hosts rarely explain, and it’s all written in the Ministry of the Interior decree that governs the registration, issued on 7 January 2013 and amended in 2021.
- What is sent: the date of arrival, the number of days you’re staying, your surname, first name, sex, date and place of birth and citizenship, and the type, number and place of issue of your document.
- Where it goes: to the Questura of the province where you’re staying, through Alloggiati Web (in Italian), the State Police portal. The data is kept at the State Police’s national data centre.
- Who can see it: State Police officers, for preventing and investigating crime and for public order, and the technicians who run the system. After fifteen days, only investigating officers with a specific national access profile.
- How long it’s kept: no more than five years.
- What the host keeps: once the portal issues the receipt, the host has to delete the digital data they sent and keep only the receipt, for five years. The portal only lets them see what was sent that same day.
If you’d like to know how a particular host handles your document, ask: European data protection law gives you the right to know how your personal data is used.
Hotels, B&Bs and holiday flats: the same rule
If you’ve searched for “Italy hotel passport”, the answer is the same one. A hotel asks for your passport at reception under the same Article 109, which covers hotels, B&Bs, holiday homes, rooms to let and flats let for short stays alike. The only difference is that a hotel has a desk and a flat usually doesn’t — which is why the question of how the check happens comes up with flats.
The tourist tax, the imposta di soggiorno, is a separate matter: it has nothing to do with your passport. Where the city applies it, it’s charged per person and per night, under its own rules.
How it works in the homes we manage
In the homes we look after, your arrival is our job. The online check-in in the Maison Métropole app asks for an identity document for each guest before you travel, so there’s nothing to fill in when you get there. When you arrive, we check that the people coming in are the people on the documents, as the law requires, and we send the details to the police ourselves, within the deadline. Your arrival instructions explain how it works for your home.
How booking and arrival work is on our page for guests. If you’re coming to Turin, where we have our office, start from the Turin page and our guide on where to stay in Turin. For questions before you book, get in touch.
And if you’re reading this as an owner, the host’s side of the same rules — codes, registration, tourist tax — is in Airbnb rules in Italy.
Frequently asked questions
Is it legal for an Airbnb host in Italy to ask for my passport?
Yes, and it’s required. Under Article 109 of Italy’s public security law, anyone who provides accommodation — hotels, B&Bs, flats let for less than thirty days — may host only people with an identity document, and has to send their details to the police within 24 hours of arrival.
Do EU citizens need a passport to check in?
No: a national identity card is enough. For citizens of countries outside the EU, the law asks for the passport, or a document recognised as equivalent under international agreements, with the holder’s photo.
Why does the host need to see me in person?
Because a 2024 police circular, upheld by the Council of State in November 2025, says a document sent online isn’t enough: the host has to check that the person coming in matches the document. The check can also happen through a video link at the entrance, but not with a door code alone.
What does the host do with my passport details?
They send your name, date and place of birth, citizenship and document details to the local police headquarters through the State Police portal, Alloggiati Web. Once the portal issues the receipt, the host has to delete the data they sent and keep only the receipt.
How long do the police keep the data?
No more than five years. For the first fifteen days it can be consulted by State Police officers for preventing crime and for public order; after that, only by investigating officers with a specific national access profile.
Do children need to be registered?
Yes, every guest is registered, children included. For a family, the document details of one spouse are enough, with the other spouse and the children under 18 listed by name, date and place of birth and citizenship.
Written by the editorial team of Maison Métropole.
