The Requirements to get an EU Pet Passport in Italy are:

• • Italian Residency Card or Italian Identity Document (which requires a residency card to obtain)
  • Codice Fiscale – you can get this from your regional Italian Consulate before you leave your home country or go to your local Revenue Office in Italy
  • Italian address
  • Italian phone number
  • EU Health Certificate that shows current rabies vaccine and microchip information

If you plan to travel around Europe with your pet to both European Union and non-European Union countries, an EU Pet Passport is an important document to have.

We moved to Europe from Austin, Texas, to live as nomads and travel full-time. We spend 30 days in a city before moving to a new destination. We are American passport holders and have not applied for long-term visas in Europe. We can travel visa-free with our 90-day Schengen visa. The 90-day Schengen visa allows us to stay in the Schengen for 90 days and then requires that we leave the Schengen for 90 days. This movement in and out of the Schengen requires us to move in and out of the European Union.

When you move in and out of the European Union with your pet, you must carry either an EU Pet Passport issued by a current EU country, so the United Kingdom EU Pet Passport is no longer valid, or an International Health Certificate. An International Health Certificate is expensive and only lasts four months. So, it is a costly document you must frequently get from your veterinarian.

An EU Pet Passport is not expensive, and if you ensure that your rabies vaccine never expires, it is valid for the pet’s life. Now, if you don’t pay close attention to your rabies expiration date and let it expire for just one or two days, your EU Pet Passport is no longer valid, and you must get a new one.

Given our frequent movement around Europe, we had to get our French Bulldog, Gus, an EU Pet Passport.

We learned the process to get an EU Pet Passport in Italy is a two-part process and only done by the regional Sanita Animale office. You can’t get an EU Pet Passport from a private Italian veterinary office. Private Italian vets can only update the EU Pet Passport for new rabies vaccinations.

First, your pet’s microchip must be registered in the Anagrafe Canina, which is the regional Italian pet registry. To do this, you must have an Italian Residency Card (at least in Genoa), Codice Fiscale, Italian address, Italian phone number, and microchip information (this is found on your International Health Certificate).

Once the microchip is registered, the Sanita Animale can issue the EU Pet Passport. Both the registration and the Pet Passport fees must be paid either by Postal Payment or an International Bank transfer. Paying with cash or with a credit card is not an option.

Our journey to get Gus an EU Pet Passport began by reading the U.S. Embassy and Consulates in Italy’s website (it.usembassy.gov).  It says: “Once in Italy, an Italian vet can issue an EU Pet Passport allowing travel within Europe.” I also reviewed the Europa.eu website which states: “You can get a European pet passport for your dog, cat or ferret from any authorized vet (permitted by the relevant authorities to issue pet passports). A pet passport is valid for life as long as your pet’s rabies vaccination is in date.” Additionally, I read several blogs about how surprisingly easy it is to get an EU Pet Passport as an American traveling abroad.

Then, we arrived in Italy…

Soon after arrival in Italy, I Googled “vet offices in Genoa” and headed to a local vet with Gus and all his paperwork. The first vet said we could not get a passport since we did not have a residency card. We said “Grazie” and headed to a second vet office within walking distance.

The second vet explained that she was a “private vet” and could not issue an EU Pet Passport. Instead, only the public health system was allowed to issue passports.

She politely explained that we needed to go to the Sanita Animale (Asl3) to get one which required an appointment scheduled through the public health system. Additionally, she patiently described how we could make an appointment by calling the CUP, going to a pharmacy, or going to the Centro Unico di Prenotazione (CUP) appointment center.

Since we are still learning Italian, calling the CUP did not seem like our best option. Instead, we went to the local pharmacy and politely asked for assistance. The very nice pharmacist requested my Codice Fiscale and called the CUP appointment center. After relaying the Codice Fiscale received from the Houston Italian Consulate’s office to the person on the other end of the line, she informed me the code was not valid. We tried again with Ryan’s Codice Fiscale (also received from the Houston Italian Consulate’s office) and got the same result.

She told us that, because we did not have valid Codice Fiscali, we could not use the telephone scheduling system. Instead, we would need to go to the CUP office to make an appointment with Sanita Animale.

We went back to our apartment and emailed the Houston Italian Consulate and inquired why our Codici Fiscali were not valid. The consulate never responded, but the system now indicates they are valid.

The next morning, we headed to the CUP office to make an appointment. We took a number and when it was our turn, the gentleman asked if we had a sanitary card. We said no and showed him our American Passports. He picked up the phone, called someone, and told us that we could go directly to Sanita Animale at Via Struppa 150.

We picked Gus up from our apartment and took the 45-minute bus ride via Prato 13. There, we met with the “public” veterinarian, who explained we couldn’t get an EU Pet Passport because we didn’t have a residency card. Specifically, we needed to register Gus’s microchip in the Anagrafe Canina for Asl3 before she could issue a passport, and we needed a residency card to register the microchip.

She said we couldn’t get an Italian EU Pet Passport, but she could issue us a new International Health Certificate.

If you are in a similar situation and can’t get an EU Pet Passport from Italy, check out our article, “How to Get an EU Pet Passport in France.“