Rules for Dog Owners in Italy: Microchip, Lead, Muzzle, Damage and Travel in Europe

Every dog must be identified with a microchip and entered in the pet registry (anagrafe degli animali d'affezione). The framework law 281/1991 gave the registry to the regions, and the regions set the deadlines. Legislative Decree 134/2022 then created the national identification and registration system, into which the data flow.

In Lombardy the rules are in regional regulation 2/2017:

• a dog must be identified within 30 days of birth, or within 15 days of coming into your care, and in any case before it is passed on to anyone (art. 1, para. 8);
• the microchip is implanted by vets of the local health authority (ATS) or by accredited private vets, who also register the dog (art. 1, paras. 5 and 7);
• a change of address, a new owner, loss, theft and death of the dog must be reported to the registry (art. 2).

Outside Lombardy the deadlines differ: your vet or the local health authority (ASL) can tell you the ones for your region.

The basic rules are in an order of the Italian Ministry of Health of 6 August 2013, renewed every year: the latest renewal, of 16 July 2026, keeps it in force until September 2027. The owner, and anyone looking after the dog even briefly, must:

• always use a lead no longer than 1.50 metres in towns and in places open to the public, except in the dog areas designated by the town council;
• carry a muzzle, rigid or soft, to put on the dog if people or animals are at risk or if the authorities ask;
• only leave the dog with people able to handle it;
• in towns, pick up droppings and carry the means to do so.

Anyone who agrees to look after a dog that is not theirs, such as a dog sitter or a friend, is responsible for it for that whole period. Town council regulations can add further rules, such as banning dogs from playgrounds.

Article 2052 of the Italian Civil Code makes the owner liable for damage caused by the animal, whether it was in their care or had got lost or run away. To escape liability the owner must prove an unforeseeable and unavoidable event (caso fortuito). Showing that they were careful is not enough. The Ministry order also states that the owner is liable for damage both under civil and criminal law.

Third-party liability insurance is not generally compulsory. It becomes compulsory for dogs that the veterinary service, after a bite or an attack, enters in the register of dogs at high risk of aggression. Those dogs need the policy and, in towns and in places open to the public, both a lead and a muzzle (order, art. 3). To understand what a policy covers, see the guide to dog insurance.

Non-commercial travel between EU countries is governed by EU Regulation 576/2013. The dog must have:

• a microchip (or a legible tattoo applied before 3 July 2011);
• a valid rabies vaccination: it can be given from 12 weeks of age and is valid 21 days after the first course is completed;
• a pet passport, issued by an authorised vet.

Each person can take up to five animals on a non-commercial trip. Some countries require extra treatments (for example against tapeworm, Echinococcus): check before you leave.

Building rules cannot ban keeping a dog: article 1138 of the Civil Code has said so since 2013. What the rules can do instead, what changes if you rent, and what happens when the dog barks are explained in the article on dogs in apartment buildings.