La Spezia

For 2025 La Spezia applies a municipal IRPEF surcharge with a single 0.8% rate and an exemption for taxable incomes up to 15,000 euros (resolution no. 36 of 16 December 2024, confirmed). Rents, house prices and the bus pass cost are in the data.

Public housing is run by ARTE La Spezia, the regional housing agency, headquartered at via XXIV Maggio 369 with a public-relations office at via Parma 13 A/B; calls are published on its website and paperwork also goes through the Housing Plus platform and a WhatsApp channel. Market rents and prices in the data.

In La Spezia a change of residence or address is registered by appointment at a registry counter, with the ministry form signed by all adults; the service is free. A free card, valid for one year, gives access to lending in all civic libraries of the urban library system.

To enter with a dog, cat or ferret you need a microchip, an EU pet passport or health certificate and a valid rabies vaccination. Mandatory registration in the regional pet register, lead at all times and a muzzle to hand. Pets allowed on trains under Trenitalia rules and in apartment buildings by law.

Rules depend on who is arriving: EU/EEA/Swiss citizens (no visa, registration with the Comune after three months), non-EU citizens for stays up to 90 days (Schengen rule, type C visa where required) and for long stays (national type D visa and a residence permit within eight working days of arrival).

City public transport is run by ATC Esercizio, with an urban network that includes the trolleybus line and routes to Lerici, Portovenere, the Cinque Terre, Sarzana and the Vara valley. Tickets also by smartphone with MyCicero; park-and-ride car parks with shuttles and the lifts of the La Spezia and Lerici castles. Pass cost in the data.

Euro, cards accepted almost everywhere, a legal cash limit. Anyone living in Italy for most of the year is tax resident and taxed on worldwide income under three IRPEF brackets; specific regimes exist for the self-employed (forfettario), inbound workers, foreign pensioners and new residents. Contributions go to INPS; annual return with the 730 or Redditi form.

The city is in socio-health district 18 "Del Golfo" of ASL 5, with Lerici and Portovenere. The city hospital is the Sant'Andrea at via Vittorio Veneto 197, one of the two acute-care hospitals together with the San Bartolomeo in Sarzana; the new Felettino hospital is under construction. Out-of-hours doctor on 0187 026198, clinic at the Casa di Comunità at via XXIV Maggio 139.

Non-EU pensioners enter with the elective residence visa, EU pensioners through free movement; public healthcare is accessible by compulsory or voluntary registration. Optional 7% regime on foreign income for those moving to small southern municipalities. Cheap houses in villages, services concentrated in cities.

The port of La Spezia is governed, together with Marina di Carrara, by the Port System Authority of the Eastern Ligurian Sea, which in 2020 handled 1,259,992 TEU of containers across the two ports. The other pillar is military and naval, born with the 1853 arsenal; the nautical university campus works with industrial partners on internships and job placements.

A VAT number (partita IVA) from the Agenzia delle Entrate for freelancers; for businesses the Comunicazione Unica to the Registro delle Imprese, which also notifies the Agenzia, INPS, INAIL and SUAP. Main forms: sole proprietorship, SNC/SAS, SRL and SRLS, SPA. Compulsory PEC, annual chamber fee, e-invoicing. Invitalia incentives; non-EU citizens need a self-employment permit or the investor visa.

The Campus Universitario della Spezia, run by the Promostudi foundation, hosts University of Genoa courses: bachelor's degrees in Nautical Engineering, Nautical Product Design, Mechanical Engineering for automation and Business Law and Economics, and master's degrees in Naval and Nautical Design and Yacht Design. Based in the former Falcomatà military hospital, with laboratories in the Arsenal.

La Spezia's identity was born with the arsenal: in 1853 Cavour moved the Sardinian navy's arsenal here from Genoa and the walled town of about 3,000 people became a naval base. The other soul are the thirteen seafaring villages of the Gulf of Poets, which race each other in the Palio del Golfo, the main event of the Festa del Mare, on the first Sunday of August.

In the Civil Protection Department's seismic classification (May 2025 update) La Spezia is in zone 3. ISPRA's IdroGEO sheet (2024 Report) counts 17,755 residents in areas at flood risk (19.2%) and 2,996 in areas at landslide risk (3.3%). Temperatures and days over the PM10 limit in the data.

Often used as a starting point for the Cinque Terre, Portovenere and Lerici, La Spezia has surprises of its own: via del Prione, the renovated piazza Verdi, the Morin promenade with views over the gulf and the Apuan Alps, the city museums and the memory of Byron and Shelley's Grand Tour. From the centre, buses and girobus to the riviera and the lift to the castle.

The city's recurring event is the Palio del Golfo: on the first Sunday of August the boats of the thirteen seafaring villages of the Gulf of Poets race by oar, the main event of the Festa del Mare. For the rest of the year: the Morin seafront promenade, the lift to the castle and the villages to explore.