Italy ambulance number: 118, pronto soccorso

Emergency medicine in Italy is set up so that emergency care is provided to everyone - even to those who still have no tessera sanitaria or legal status. In a life-threatening situation people call an ambulance, in acute conditions and injuries they go to the hospital emergency department (pronto soccorso), and those who still have no residence permit have access to a temporary STP code. Below is how it works in practice based on community experience; this is not legal advice, check the details on salute.gov.it and at your local ASL.

What is the ambulance number in Italy?

You call an ambulance (ambulanza) in Italy on 118. The EU-wide 112 also works: according to the community it is answered by the carabinieri or a unified emergency call centre, which transfers you to the medics when needed. In regions where the single emergency number (NUE 112) is already live, any call - including one dialled to 118 - reportedly lands at the 112 centre, and the operator routes it to the medical services; where NUE is not yet active, 118 is still dialled directly - check for your region. The call is free and available around the clock, you can get through with a zero balance and often without a SIM card. If there is no threat to life but you need urgent help, go to the pronto soccorso of the nearest hospital.

Where do you call in an emergency?

In an emergency in Italy people dial the short emergency-service numbers. According to the community, the main ones are these:

• 118 - urgent medical care, the ambulance (ambulanza);
• 112 - the EU-wide number: in regions with NUE 112 a single emergency call centre, elsewhere the carabinieri (Carabinieri) answer it;
• 113 - state police (Polizia di Stato);
• 115 - firefighters (Vigili del Fuoco);
• 117 - financial guard (Guardia di Finanza).

All these numbers are free and work around the clock. You can reach them even with a zero or negative balance on your phone, and in some cases - with no SIM card at all. If it is about health and an ambulance is needed, according to the community people dial 118.

Besides the main ones, other useful numbers come up in everyday use: 1530 (coast guard), 114 (emergency help for children, Telefono Azzurro - reachable only from a landline), 1522 (help for women affected by violence), and 1500 (public health questions). Save the ones you need in advance: in a stressful situation there is no time to look up a number.

I was struck that the emergency numbers here really work without conditions: the balance is at zero, but you can still get through, around the clock, and even, they say, without a SIM card sometimes. After healthcare back home the difference in attitude is felt right away.

One more detail from the community for those who still speak little Italian: when calling 118 in many regions (Lazio and Genoa come up in the accounts) they may connect an English-speaking operator. Even if a crew does not ultimately come out, by phone they usually help you get your bearings and decide whether hospitalization is needed.

I called an ambulance several times, and each time for free. In one city by phone they connected an English-speaking staff member - it really helped while my language was at zero. Sometimes they came, sometimes they helped me simply wait for the family doctor.

Will you be helped without a tessera sanitaria?

Yes. According to the community, in a real emergency you will be seen at pronto soccorso even without a tessera sanitaria, and emergency care will be provided for free. Community participants confirmed this more than once: if you are truly in a bad way, they will help, for free, even if you have no card.

A permanent free tessera sanitaria cannot be obtained while you have no residence permit. But this does not mean you are left without healthcare: while you wait for it to be arranged, emergency care is available on the basis of contact, and for basic access there is a temporary document - the tesserino STP (see below).

In Italy they will not send you chasing dozens of tests for no reason, but when something is serious - they help for real and for free. This is important to understand for those who have just arrived and are afraid of being left without help because of the lack of a card.

How pronto soccorso works and how long you wait there?

Pronto soccorso (PS) is the hospital emergency department, where people go for acute conditions and injuries. Patients are sorted by urgency: the serious ones are seen out of turn, and minor cases may wait noticeably longer.

Real waiting times, according to the community, vary greatly. One participant with a finger injury in a small town waited only about 20 minutes: the wound was treated, the blood that had pooled under the nail was released, and they were sent for an X-ray. Another at an on-duty hospital was quoted a general queue of around 2-3 hours. So the online horror stories about "sitting forever" do not always match practice - but it is worth allowing for time, too.

I pinched a toe, drove to pronto soccorso in a small town - I thought, going by the reviews from the internet, I would wait forever. In fact about twenty minutes, and they did everything. Reality pleasantly did not match the horror stories.

Sorting goes not by time of arrival, but by an urgency color code. According to the community, it is usually this:

• red (codice rosso) - a real threat to life, the doctor immediately, even at the expense of others;
• yellow (codice giallo) - possible danger, as a rule within an hour;
• green (codice verde) - intervention is needed but without a threat to life, the wait can drag on for hours;
• white (codice bianco) - a case outside the scope of the emergency department, its place is at a clinic.

For a white code, according to the community, they may bill you - the quoted amount is around 25 euro (in some regions a bit more); children under 14 and exempt categories, per accounts, do not pay. In some hospitals, instead of colors, they issue wristbands of different colors with the same meaning. All amounts and thresholds are time-sensitive - verify the current details on the spot.

One practical takeaway from the community: an ambulance effectively works as a free "taxi to the emergency department" - you will still be brought to the same pronto soccorso and placed in the general queue by your code. So you go to the hospital when you cannot manage at home or through the family doctor; in non-serious cases doctors sometimes ask directly why you could not have come on your own. Before hospitalization they usually take you to a separate box, where they draw blood, take a swab, or whatever is required by protocol, and only then decide on a ward - this can take a noticeable amount of time.

My grandmother was taken by ambulance after fainting - she was given a red code, and in literally a couple of hours she was examined, set to rights, and returned home. With a serious condition, by color they take you almost without a queue, it really works.

I came to the emergency department on my own: a form at the entrance, then through the stages - oxygen, blood pressure, swab, ECG, then blood and an X-ray, and only at the end the final examination by a doctor. It took several hours, but everything was to the point, and at each step they asked again about pregnancy before the X-ray.

If you feel bad and the family doctor is not working: guardia medica

A separate important route, according to the community, is the guardia medica (also continuita assistenziale): the on-duty service that covers exactly those hours when the medico di base is unavailable - evening, night, weekends, and holidays. You go there with something that does not rise to a real emergency, but you do not want to wait until a weekday morning; they will prescribe treatment there if needed. In some cities on weekends the cure primarie outpatient clinics at the ASL also see patients (they may be called something else) - a walk-in line there, they examine and prescribe a medicine if needed. But for antibiotics or a prescription you obviously do not call an ambulance - that is not its job.

I realized that not everything is treated through the emergency department: with urgent pain - to pronto soccorso, and for something that simply will not wait until morning on a weekend, the guardia medica helps. I went there once - they examined and prescribed without a queue at the hospital.

What is the STP code and who needs it?

If you still have no residence permit - you are waiting for it to be arranged or came for a short stay - a permanent tessera sanitaria cannot be obtained, but basic access to healthcare still exists. For this a temporary document is arranged, the tesserino STP (straniero temporaneamente presente, that is "foreigner temporarily present").

The key points, according to the community:

• the STP is issued by the ASL or hospital;
• it is valid for about six months from the date of issue and is extended until you get a residence permit;
• it covers emergency and necessary care.

Earlier (the community associates this with the situation around 2019), temporary access through the STP was given mainly to pregnant women and children. Later, according to the community, it became available to foreigners who had already filed an application for a residence permit. So the STP is, as a rule, the route for those who still have no residenza or documents of legal status: for example, a person arranging a residence permit through the courts under article 31 (guardianship of a minor), who has only a codice fiscale and no residenza, asked in the community precisely how to get a Codice STP and which documents are needed for it.

The exact list of documents and the procedure for arranging an STP in your region should be checked with your local ASL - practice varies noticeably from office to office.

Alongside the STP, the same ASL documents mention the ENI code (europeo non iscritto). According to the community it is the counterpart of the STP, but for EU citizens: it gives basic access to healthcare to Europeans who live in Italy without SSN enrollment and without health insurance; non-EU citizens need the STP specifically. The procedure for issuing an ENI, like the STP, depends on the region - check with the ASL and on salute.gov.it.

From community practice: an STP is also issued to those whose visa has long expired (cases are mentioned where it is an overstay of more than six months). They come to the ASL with a passport, get an STP code, and there they also tell you where a special "medico STP" sees patients - a doctor for those who still have no regular status. The participants themselves emphasize: it is practically impossible to leave a person without necessary medical care at all, even without documents of legal residence.

My visa was expired, no tessera - I thought healthcare was closed to me. In fact at the ASL they calmly arranged an STP code with the passport and immediately told me which doctor to go to with it. Emergency care, anyway, would have been provided even without any code.

Do not agree to a six-month STP if by your status you are entitled to a full tessera sanitaria. As soon as you have the postal ricevuta confirming you filed the KIT - go straight to the ASL for a full card. An improperly arranged STP can be canceled, and you find out about it at the most inconvenient moment - when you are already lying in the hospital.

How to switch to a full tessera sanitaria?

When you have grounds, it makes sense to arrange not a temporary STP but a full tessera sanitaria. According to the community, for enrollment you usually choose a family doctor (medico di base) and present a passport together with the ricevuta. The card is given for six months and then extended for a term equal to the term of the permesso. While the plastic card has not yet arrived, you can use a paper printed version, certified at the ASL - and the doctor is chosen there on the spot too.

Community experience shows that a lot depends on the specific office:

• some people in Lazio and Liguria were issued a tessera sanitaria right away for the whole family by the paid stub of the KIT receipt;
• in Savona, per a participant's account, the ASL did not see the registration in the system, and at first the residenza issue had to be resolved through the comune;
• if one ASL refuses, the community advises simply going to another and finding a competent staff member;
• one participant got a temporary tessera by email in a single day - after several failed visits in person; for this he sent the ASL a scan of the passport, the codice fiscale, and the ricevuta.

In detail on enrollment in the system and getting the card - in the article SSN enrollment and the tessera sanitaria. And the first steps after arrival (codice fiscale and residenza) are covered in the material Codice fiscale, residenza, and the tessera sanitaria.

After several unsuccessful trips to the ASL I simply wrote to them by email and attached the passport, codice fiscale, and ricevuta. They sent the temporary tessera by reply letter literally the next day. Sometimes email saves a lot of nerves and time.

My tessera sanitaria came out with a five-year term and worked in hospitals without problems. Formally, the plastic is not issued without a permesso, but since the card was in hand and valid - no questions arose at the hospital.

Children: pronto soccorso pediatrico and weekend appointments

For children there is a separate children's emergency department - pronto soccorso pediatrico. But on weekends and holidays an appointment with a pediatrician not registered to you may turn out to be paid: one participant quoted around 170 euro for a private pediatrician visit on a Sunday.

One of the common scenarios, according to the community: you cannot reach your pediatrician (they do not pick up the phone, the door is locked), the parents are already ready to go to the children's emergency department - and then they change the pediatrician right at the ASL, to avoid problems in the future.

We could not reach the registered pediatrician: no answer to the phone, the office locked. We were already heading to the children's pronto soccorso, but in the end simply changed the pediatrician at the ASL. Better to change once than to guess each time whether they will answer you or not.

A separate practical situation from the pandemic years 2020-2021, told about in Rome (per accounts, there is no such requirement now): an ambulance came, but warned that for hospitalization a COVID test was needed, and getting one on a Saturday evening was difficult. The family in the end called a private pediatrician to the hotel the next day - he examined the child and prescribed antibiotics. It is important to remember: most medicines in Italy are dispensed on prescription, the exception being fever reducers.

In Rome, back in the COVID years, an ambulance came, but they said: for hospitalization a COVID test is needed, and on a Saturday evening you cannot get one, plus a long queue at the emergency department. In the end the next day we called a private pediatrician right to the hotel, he prescribed antibiotics. Keep in mind that almost everything here is on prescription, except fever reducers.

Pregnancy: care and the medical route

According to the community, pregnant women are not expelled and are given free medical care. Moreover, pregnancy from the third month can become grounds for a medical route to a stay of up to a year - first through the ASL, then through the questura. Verify the specific procedure and documents with the ASL and on salute.gov.it - this is not legal advice.

Related articles

• SSN enrollment and the tessera sanitaria - how to enroll in the system, choose a medico di base, and get the card.
• Medico di base: family doctor and pediatrician - prescriptions, referrals, registering a child with a pediatrician.
• Codice fiscale, residenza, and the tessera sanitaria - first steps after arrival.
• Minor children and article 31 - the route through the courts and guardianship of a minor.
• KIT-postale for the permesso - filing after arrival and the ricevuta.
• Traveling on the ricevuta - entry and exit while waiting for the permesso.

If you are still deciding on your legalization route, start with route matching:

Official sources

• Ministero della Salute - the SSN, emergency care, foreigners' rights, access to healthcare without regular status (STP)
• Polizia di Stato - emergency services and short numbers
• Ministero dell'Interno and portaleimmigrazione.it - immigration, status, residence-permit renewal
• the local ASL website - the procedure for getting and extending the STP/tessera sanitaria, documents by region

Frequently asked questions

Which numbers do you call for help in an emergency?

According to the community, the medical ambulance (ambulanza) is 118. People also dial 112 (the EU-wide number: in regions with NUE 112 a single call centre that routes you to the medics, elsewhere the carabinieri answer it), 113 (state police), 115 (firefighters), 117 (financial guard). All emergency numbers are free, work around the clock, can be reached even with a zero or negative balance, and sometimes even with no SIM card at all. Verify the current details on poliziadistato.it.

Will you be helped at pronto soccorso without a tessera sanitaria?

According to the community, in a real emergency you will be seen at pronto soccorso even without a tessera sanitaria, and emergency care will be provided for free. Participants write directly: if you are really in a bad way, they will help, for free, even without a card. This is not legal advice - verify the procedure on salute.gov.it and at your local ASL.

How do you get an STP code if you have no residenza and no legal status?

According to the community, the tesserino STP (straniero temporaneamente presente) is a temporary medical document for those who still have no residence permit. It is issued by the ASL or hospital, is valid for about six months, and is extended until you get a residence permit. For issuance and the list of documents, contact your local ASL. This is not legal advice.

How long do you wait at pronto soccorso?

According to the community, it varies greatly: one participant in a small town waited about 20 minutes, while another at an on-duty hospital was quoted a general queue of around 2-3 hours. The serious cases are seen out of turn, the minor ones wait longer. This is a guideline from accounts, verify on the spot.

And what if I was issued an STP even though I am entitled to a full tessera sanitaria?

According to the community, consultants warn: do not agree to a six-month STP if by your status you are entitled to a full tessera sanitaria. An improperly obtained STP can be canceled - and this comes to light at the worst moment, when you are already in the hospital. This is not legal advice, check with the ASL.

What do the color codes at pronto soccorso mean and why is someone billed?

According to the community, on admission a patient is assigned an urgency code by color: red (codice rosso) - a threat to life, the doctor immediately, even at the expense of others; yellow (codice giallo) - possible danger, usually within an hour; green (codice verde) - intervention is needed but without a threat to life, the wait can be from 3 to 12 hours; white (codice bianco) - a problem outside the scope of the emergency department, which should be handled at a clinic. For a white code, according to the community, they may bill around 25 euro (in some regions a bit more); children under 14 and exempt categories usually do not pay. In some places, wristbands are used instead of colors. This is a guideline from accounts, verify the exact rules and amounts on the spot and on salute.gov.it.

Where do you go if you feel bad and the medico di base is not working - evening or weekend?

According to the community, for this there is the guardia medica (continuita assistenziale) - the on-duty medical service that works during the hours when the family doctor is unavailable: in the evening, at night, on weekends and holidays. You can call it or go there with non-urgent but attention-requiring matters, and they will prescribe treatment there if needed. In some cities on weekends the cure primarie outpatient clinics at the ASL also see patients (the name may differ) - a walk-in line, they examine and prescribe a medicine if needed. But if the situation is acute - that is pronto soccorso or 118. This is not legal advice, check on the spot.

Related materials - Healthcare and the SSN

• Tessera sanitaria: how a foreigner gets one in 2026
• Medico di base in Italy: how to register
• Disability status in Italy for foreigners
• Medicine analogs in Italian pharmacies

Documents for this topic

• State-Regional Agreement on Medical Assistance to Foreigners in Italy (2012, Rep. N 255/CSR)
• Directive of the Ministry of Interior of Italy on the Rights of Foreigners During the Waiting Period for Permesso Renewal (August 2006)