Italian Passport Photo Requirements
An Italian passport photo is a printed 35 x 45 mm colour photo on a white background, with the face filling 70 to 80% of it. The Polizia di Stato's own documents disagree on how many to bring.
The Italian passport photo requirements are a recent colour photo, 35 x 45 mm, printed on high-quality photo paper, showing you alone and facing the camera on a white background, with your face filling 70 to 80% of the photo. You hand it in at the Questura (or a police Commissariato) when you apply, and your fingerprints are taken there too. The photo has to be no more than six months old.
Those rules come from the Polizia di Stato, which issues passports inside Italy, on its page Passaporto: il rilascio, read on 8 November 2026. Two other Polizia documents linked from that page give slightly different answers, and the differences are set out below so you can follow the one your office uses. For the rules most countries share, see passport photo requirements explained.
What does the Polizia di Stato ask for?
| Size | 35 x 45 mm |
| Background | White, evenly lit |
| Face | 70 to 80% of the photo, measured from the bottom of the chin to the forehead; centred, not in profile |
| Expression | Neutral, lips closed, eyes open and clearly visible, looking at the lens |
| Photo | In colour, sharp, taken in the last six months, no flash glare on the face, no red eye |
| High-quality, high-definition photo paper | |
| In the frame | You alone, with no other people or objects in the background |
On a photo 45 mm tall, the 70 to 80% face rule works out to roughly 31.5 to 36 mm of face height, measured up from the bottom of the chin. The page calls the photo ICAO-compliant (conforme alle norme ICAO) and gives no pixel size, resolution or file size; it asks for a printed photo.
Where the official documents disagree
The Polizia di Stato's web page, its application form and its photo leaflet don't say quite the same thing, so follow the web page and bring a spare.
- How many photos. The web page asks for one photo. The adult application form, Modulo 308 per maggiorenni, still lists two identical photos. If you book online, the form you receive by email is the one you hand in, so check what it asks for. If in doubt, bring two identical prints.
- Size. The page states 35 x 45 mm. The photo leaflet it links to, Fotografia passaporto, says only that the photo must be 35 to 40 mm wide and gives no height. A 35 x 45 mm photo meets both.
- Background. The page and the form say white. The leaflet says light and plain. White meets both; a pale grey or cream only meets the leaflet.
Glasses and head coverings
Glasses are allowed, with conditions. The page says the lenses must not be tinted, the frames must not be heavy, no part of the frame may cover the eyes, and there must be no flash glare on the lenses. It suggests tilting your head slightly to avoid the glare. The application form adds that you may take your glasses off for the photo to avoid reflections or shadows over the eyes, which is the simpler route if your frames are thick. Smiling and glasses in passport photos explains why these two rules trip up so many applicants.
A hat or other head covering is accepted only for religious reasons, and your face must still be visible from the bottom of the chin to the forehead, with both sides of the face showing.
Can you make an Italian passport photo at home?
Yes. Unlike Germany, where German passport photos now have to reach the office digitally, nothing on the Polizia di Stato's page requires a studio or an office camera. It asks for a printed photo that meets the rules above.
Italy is one of the countries the 35 x 45 mm passport photo maker covers. You drag and resize a crop box locked to the 35:45 shape, and it outputs a 413 x 531 pixel JPG, which prints at 35 x 45 mm at 300 DPI. It runs in your browser, so your photo is not uploaded. It won't replace your background or measure your face, so stand in front of a white wall in even light, and size the box so your face takes up 70 to 80% of the height. If your wall isn't white, how to make a photo background white covers the fix.
Then print it on photo paper at exactly 35 x 45 mm. A print scaled to fit the page can come out the wrong size; how to print passport photos shows how to keep the scale.
Questions people ask
Where do I hand in the photo?
At the passport office of the Questura or a police Commissariato where you live. The Polizia di Stato books appointments through Agenda Passaporto Online, which you sign in to with SPID (Italy's public digital identity login) or your electronic identity card. Fingerprints are taken at the same appointment for applicants aged 12 and over.
I live outside Italy. Do the same rules apply?
Abroad you apply at an Italian embassy or consulate, not a Questura, and the Polizia di Stato's page sends you to the Foreign Ministry for that. Check the passport page of the consulate that serves your area before you print.
Is this the same photo I need to visit Italy on a visa?
No. These rules are for Italian citizens' passports. A short-stay visa for Italy is a Schengen visa, covered in Schengen visa photo requirements, and you can make one with the Schengen visa photo maker.
For other countries, the passport photo maker hub lets you look up which page covers yours.