Italy Abbreviation: IT, ITA and When to Use Each

Every Italy abbreviation at a glance

This table lists the codes you are most likely to meet and where each one belongs.

IT or ITA: which abbreviation for Italy to use

Use IT when a form or system asks for a two-letter country code. Online checkouts, shipping software and international bank account numbers all rely on it; an Italian bank account number, for example, begins with IT. Use ITA when the space calls for three letters, as on a passport's nationality line or a medal table.

In ordinary sentences, just write Italy. Spelling out a country name is clearer than any code, and style guides discourage country abbreviations in running text.

Italy abbreviation in sports

At the Olympic Games, the national team is shown as ITA, and the same three letters appear for Italy in international soccer, cycling and skiing results. A scoreboard reading "ITA 2, ESP 1" means Italy beat Spain. Broadcast graphics, ticket listings and stat sheets follow the same code, so a fan reading results from any sport will meet ITA far more often than IT.

You will not usually see IT on a scoreboard, because three letters leave less room for confusion between countries that start the same way.

Phones, websites and car plates

Phone: to call Italy from the United States, dial 011, then 39, then the local number. Italian landline numbers keep their leading zero after the 39, which surprises many callers.

Web: sites based in Italy often end in .it. The domain only shows registration, not who owns the site or what language it uses.

Cars: Italian plates carry a blue band with the European stars and the letter I. Older cars driving abroad might show a white oval sticker with a black I instead.

Abbreviations people mix up with Italy

• IT also means information technology, as in "call IT about your laptop." Context makes the difference clear: on a shipping form it is Italy, in an office it is tech support.
• Ital. appears in some older reference books as a short form for Italian or italic, not as a country code.
• IE is Ireland and IL is Israel in the two-letter list, so a slip of one letter sends a package to the wrong place.
• IN is India, not Italy. It also matches the US postal code for Indiana.

For the ISO codes of nearby countries, see the France abbreviation, the Spain abbreviation and the Germany abbreviation pages.

Airport codes for major Italian cities

Travelers often need a different set of three letters: airport codes. These are not country codes, but they show up on tickets and bag tags for trips to Italy.

• FCO: Rome Fiumicino, the main airport for Rome.
• MXP: Milan Malpensa, the largest airport serving Milan.
• VCE: Venice Marco Polo.

For more country, city and airport codes, browse the country abbreviations section, or read acronym vs abbreviation for why codes like these count as abbreviations.