How much does it cost to apply for an Italian passport at the post office?
Applying for an Italian passport at a post office costs EUR 130.40: a EUR 14.20 charge to Poste Italiane plus the EUR 116.20 of state fees you would owe anyway. With photographs and home delivery the typical real cost reaches about EUR 149.
Verifiable answer
Applying for an Italian passport at a post office costs EUR 130.40: a EUR 14.20 charge to Poste Italiane plus the EUR 116.20 of state fees you would owe anyway. With photographs and home delivery the typical real cost reaches about EUR 149.
- How much does it cost to apply for an Italian passport at the post office?
- €149 / application
- €130 – €180
- Italy
- 22 July 2026
- Confidence: High
- The EUR 14.20 Poste service charge for lodging the application; Fingerprint capture at the postal counter; Forwarding of the file to the competent police headquarters; The EUR 42.70 electronic booklet fee, payable in any case; The EUR 73.50 administrative contribution, payable in any case
- Photographs meeting the ICAO standard; Home delivery of the passport, charged separately; Travel to the post office and to the collection point; The other parent's consent form for a child, with any duty stamp it requires; A fresh application if the passport is lost or stolen
- The distance between your home, the participating post office and the police headquarters; Whether you take home delivery or not; Where you have the photographs taken; Appointment availability through each of the two channels; Whether the application is for an adult or a child, which requires extra paperwork
- 3 sources
Official price versus real cost
Official price
€130
/ application
Difference+€18.60 (+14%)
Real cost
€149
€135 – €180
The EUR 130.40 is the exact sum of three published amounts, but nobody leaves the post office having spent only that. Two compliant photographs are required and appear on no schedule, and in most cases it makes sense to pay for home delivery too, because otherwise collection sends you back to the police headquarters and undoes the reason for using the post office in the first place. Adding photographs and delivery, the typical bill reaches about EUR 149, nearly twenty euros above the published price. The paradox is that the optional item — delivery — is the one that makes the service worth having: paying for it is almost always the rational choice.
Short answer
Applying at the post office costs EUR 14.20 more than applying at a police headquarters. That is not a more expensive passport: it is the price of a counter service, and for anyone living far from the provincial capital it can still work out cheaper.
Since Poste Italiane's Polis programme began bringing public administration services into post offices, an Italian passport can be applied for at a postal counter rather than at a questura, the provincial police headquarters that issues the document. The obvious question is whether this costs more, and the answer is yes, by a precise and small amount: EUR 14.20. Everything else is identical, because the EUR 42.70 booklet and the EUR 73.50 duty stamp are state charges that do not change with the place of application. So the real economic question is not what the service costs but what it is worth. If you live in a small town and the police headquarters is eighty kilometres away, EUR 14.20 buys the removal of one or two journeys. If the headquarters is at the end of your street, EUR 14.20 buys you a shorter queue. This guide lays out the five items on the bill and tries to say when the service is genuinely worth taking.
What is included
- The EUR 14.20 Poste service charge for lodging the application
- Fingerprint capture at the postal counter
- Forwarding of the file to the competent police headquarters
- The EUR 42.70 electronic booklet fee, payable in any case
- The EUR 73.50 administrative contribution, payable in any case
What is not included
- Photographs meeting the ICAO standard
- Home delivery of the passport, charged separately
- Travel to the post office and to the collection point
- The other parent's consent form for a child, with any duty stamp it requires
- A fresh application if the passport is lost or stolen
How the price breaks down
| Item | Type | Frequency | Minimum | Typical | Maximum |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Poste Italiane service chargeThe only item you pay beyond what an application at a police headquarters costs. It covers the counter clerk's assistance, fingerprint capture and forwarding the file to the State Police. | Compulsory | one-off | — | €14.20 | — |
| Booklet feeA state charge set by decree, identical throughout Italy and unaffected by where you apply. Paid through the PagoPA platform, and set at EUR 42.70 since 1 December 2025. | Compulsory | one-off | — | €43 | — |
| Administrative contributionAn electronic duty stamp of EUR 73.50, unchanged since 2014. It is bought at a tobacconist or an authorised reseller, not at the post office counter. | Compulsory | one-off | — | €74 | — |
| Compliant passport photographsTwo ICAO-format photographs, compulsory in order to apply and not covered by any of the three amounts above. An observed market range rather than a tariff. | Compulsory | one-off | €5 | €5 | €15 |
| Home delivery of the passportAn optional service, paid cash on delivery. The sources checked give EUR 9.30 (Naples police headquarters) and EUR 9.88 (Poste): confirm the current figure at the counter. | Optional | one-off | €9.30 | €9.30 | €9.88 |
What the price depends on
- The distance between your home, the participating post office and the police headquarters
- Whether you take home delivery or not
- Where you have the photographs taken
- Appointment availability through each of the two channels
- Whether the application is for an adult or a child, which requires extra paperwork
Hidden costs
- Home delivery is paid on delivery: you need cash or a card ready when the postal worker arrives
- Collecting at the police headquarters if you decline delivery, which cancels part of the point of applying at the post office
- Photographs rejected as non-compliant, which have to be retaken and paid for again
- The EUR 73.50 duty stamp has to be bought at a tobacconist beforehand: post offices do not sell it
- Waiting for an appointment at small offices, where slots are few and concentrated on a handful of days
Three realistic scenarios
Economy scenario
€135
A post office on your doorstep, photographs from a booth for five euros, and collecting the passport in person at the police headquarters while making a journey you were making anyway.
Typical scenario
€149
Applying at the post office to avoid the trip to the provincial capital, photographs from a studio for ten euros and home delivery paid on the doorstep. Most people will recognise themselves here.
Premium scenario
€180
An application for a child requiring a consent form and an extra duty stamp, professional photographs for two people, home delivery, and half a day of leave from work for the appointment.
How to spend less
- Compare appointment waiting times at the police headquarters and at the post office before choosing: if the headquarters can see you soon, the EUR 14.20 buys you nothing you did not already have.
- If you pick the post office to avoid a long journey, request home delivery at the same time: without it, collection can send you back to the police headquarters and the saving disappears.
- Buy the EUR 73.50 duty stamp before your appointment: post offices do not sell it and the application cannot be completed without it.
- Check your police headquarters' photograph requirements before having the pictures taken: rejection for non-compliance is the commonest reason for paying twice.
- For a child's passport, bring the other parent's consent form already completed: doing it afterwards means a new appointment and another journey.
Frequently asked questions
Does a passport cost more at the post office?
Yes, but by exactly EUR 14.20. The state charges are identical through both channels: EUR 42.70 for the booklet and EUR 73.50 as an administrative contribution, EUR 116.20 in total. At a post office you also pay the Polis service charge, taking the total to EUR 130.40. You are not buying a more expensive passport: you are paying for counter assistance and for the file to be forwarded to the police headquarters.
Is it worth applying at the post office?
That depends almost entirely on geography. If you live in a town without a police headquarters and the provincial capital is far away, EUR 14.20 replaces at least one journey and often two, so the service pays for itself. If the headquarters is nearby and can give you an appointment within a reasonable time, the advantage shrinks to convenience of opening hours. The right comparison is not between two prices but between EUR 14.20 and the real cost of your own travel.
How much does home delivery of the passport cost?
Between EUR 9.30 and EUR 9.88 according to the two official sources we checked, paid on the doorstep directly to the postal worker. The Naples police headquarters gives EUR 9.30, Poste Italiane's own site gives EUR 9.88. It is optional but almost always sensible when you chose the post office precisely to avoid the journey: without delivery, the passport must be collected from the police office you are told to attend.
Can I pay for everything at the post office?
Not everything. The service charge and the booklet fee are paid at the counter, but the EUR 73.50 administrative contribution is an electronic duty stamp bought at a tobacconist or an authorised reseller. Get it before your appointment: turning up without it means the application cannot be completed and you have to come back, a second journey that defeats the purpose of choosing the post office.
Is the service available at every post office?
No. It sits within the Polis programme, designed to bring public administration services into offices in smaller municipalities, and coverage has widened gradually. Before relying on this route, check that your office offers it and has appointments free: in small offices the slots are few and concentrated on a handful of days each week.
Why do some pages still quote EUR 116 in state fees?
Because the booklet fee rose from EUR 42.50 to EUR 42.70 with effect from 1 December 2025, and not every page has been updated. When we checked, Poste Italiane's general passport page still showed EUR 42.50, while its Polis service page correctly showed EUR 42.70. If you find the old EUR 116 total, the source is out of date: the correct total of state fees is EUR 116.20.
Sources and methodology
How we worked it out
The EUR 14.20 charge comes from Poste Italiane's own product page for the Polis service, which is the provider's published tariff. The two state items appear on the same page but count as national charges rather than as a Poste price. For home delivery we used an independent institutional source, the Naples police headquarters, which gives EUR 9.30 paid on delivery, while Poste's own site gives EUR 9.88: we publish both as a range rather than choose arbitrarily between them. Photographs have no administered price and are given as an observed market range. We also note that on the date of checking, Poste's general passport page still showed the old EUR 42.50 booklet fee; we have used the current EUR 42.70.
Why this confidence level
High confidence on the EUR 14.20 charge, which is the provider's published tariff, and on the state fees, which are set by decree. Confidence is lower on home delivery, where two official sources give different amounts (EUR 9.30 and EUR 9.88) and we publish both, and on photographs, which are a market price. That is why the official total is marked as a fixed amount and the real cost as a range.
Post office application service priced at EUR 14.20, alongside the EUR 42.70 booklet and the EUR 73.50 duty stamp
Polis Passaporto Elettronico (opens in a new tab)
Poste Italiane · Official tariff · Verified on 22 July 2026
Poste Italiane's own product page for the Polis service. It is the source for the EUR 14.20 charge only: the other two items are state fees that Poste merely collects on the state's behalf, and should be read together with our guide to applying at a police headquarters.
Authority4/5
Home delivery of the passport at EUR 9.30, paid cash on delivery to the postal worker
Servizio passaporto a domicilio (opens in a new tab)
Polizia di Stato — Questura di Napoli · Public authority · Verified on 22 July 2026
The institutional source used for the home delivery charge, which is not part of the price of the postal application service. The same page states that Poste pays EUR 50 in compensation if the document is lost or not delivered.
Authority5/5
Insured-mail delivery listed at EUR 9.88, with the booklet fee still shown as EUR 42.50
Rilascio e rinnovo passaporto — Poste Italiane (opens in a new tab)
Poste Italiane · Official tariff · Verified on 22 July 2026
A second Poste page consulted for home delivery. It gives a different figure from the Naples police headquarters and, more importantly, still shows the old EUR 42.50 booklet fee rather than the EUR 42.70 in force since 1 December 2025. We cite it partly to document that discrepancy, not as evidence of the state fee.
Authority4/5
Revision history
Verified on 22 July 2026 against Poste Italiane's published Polis tariff and an independent institutional source for home delivery. The EUR 14.20 charge was confirmed and the discrepancy between two Poste pages on the booklet fee was recorded.
- 22 July 2026
- 22 July 2026
- 22 October 2026
What did you actually pay?
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