The emergency number in Italy: 112, 118 and which one to dial

This is the question almost every new arrival asks, usually because someone told them 118 was the ambulance number and someone else told them Italy had switched to 112.

Both are right, and they are not in conflict. Regione Piemonte states that "In Italia al momento restano attivi i numeri di emergenza nazionali: il 113 della Polizia di Stato, il 115 dei Vigili del Fuoco, il 118 per il Soccorso sanitario": the national emergency numbers remain active. What changed is where those calls land. Where a region operates a Centrale Unica di Risposta (CUR), the single answering centre, the old lines feed into it.

Regione Emilia-Romagna's emergency FAQ, updated June 2025, says it in a sentence a worried parent can act on: "In altri termini, chiamando 118, 115 o 112 risponderà sempre il 112." Call 118, 115 or 112, and 112 answers. The same page gives the rule for when you cannot decide: "Nel dubbio bisogna chiamare sempre il 112." When in doubt, always call 112.

At EU level the European Commission describes 112 as "the European emergency phone number, available everywhere in the EU, free of charge", notes that it became the single European emergency number in 1991, and states that it "functions alongside existing national emergency numbers". Eight member states, named on that page as Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Malta, the Netherlands, Portugal, Romania and Sweden, have made 112 their only national number. Italy is not one of them, which is exactly why 118 is still a live number and not a museum piece.

Sources: Regione Piemonte, Numero di emergenza unico europeo 112, Regione Emilia-Romagna, Emergenza urgenza, domande frequenti (updated June 2025) and European Commission, 112 (last updated 23 June 2026).

Italy did not switch on the CUR model everywhere on one date. It has been built region by region, and in some regions telephone district by telephone district, over several years.

Two official examples show the spread. Regione Piemonte records that the service was "introdotto in via sperimentale nel giugno 2017, con 2 centrali uniche di risposta a Grugliasco e a Saluzzo": introduced on a trial basis in June 2017 with two answering centres. The NUE112 service for Emilia-Romagna describes a much later and phased arrival, stating that "l'introduzione progressiva del servizio nei singoli distretti telefonici è iniziata nel dicembre 2024 e si concluderà il 1^ aprile 2025, quando il NUE sarà attivo in tutta la regione": progressive introduction from December 2024, complete across the region on 1 April 2025.

The practical consequence for a family choosing where to live is small but worth knowing. Dialling 112 gets you an emergency answer either way, because the European Commission describes it as available everywhere in the EU. What varies is whether the call is answered by a regional CUR handling police, fire, coastguard and medical calls together, or by the older separate chains. Look up the 112 or NUE112 page for your own region when you arrive and read what it says about your province (verify with your regional emergency service).

Do not carry a national claim in your head here. The sources above are evidence about Piedmont and Emilia-Romagna, not about the whole country.

Sources: Regione Piemonte and NUE112 Emilia-Romagna, read on 7 August 2026.

The call is answered by a first-level operator whose job is to work out who you need, not to treat you. The NUE112 service for Emilia-Romagna describes the centre as the place where "tutte le telefonate di emergenza, sia quelle fatte al numero 112, sia quelle fatte ai numeri storici - 113, 115, 118, 1350 - confluiranno sulle Centrali Uniche di Emergenza", from which the call is passed to "Soccorso sanitario, Vigili del Fuoco, Pubblica sicurezza, Guardia Costiera": medical rescue, fire service, public security or the coastguard.

Three details are worth knowing before you ever need them.

• The call is free and works on a phone that should not work. NUE112 Emilia-Romagna states it is "gratuito e può essere composto da rete fissa o mobile anche quando il telefono non ha SIM, è bloccato o non si ha credito telefonico": free, and dialable from a phone with no SIM, a locked screen or no credit.
• They see roughly where you are before you speak. The same page says the system "procede all'immediata localizzazione del chiamante (circa 2 secondi)", locating the caller in about two seconds. Regione Piemonte describes the same thing: the caller's number and location are displayed immediately and the call is forwarded to the operations centre competent for that type of emergency.
• Say where you are anyway. Automatic location is an aid, not a substitute. Give the comune, the street and a landmark, and stay on the line.

Sources: NUE112 Emilia-Romagna, read on 7 August 2026, and Regione Piemonte.

This is the part that frightens people most, and it deserves an honest answer rather than a reassuring one.

The European Commission states that "Operators in many countries can answer the calls not only in their national language, but also in English or French." That is a statement about many countries, not a promise about Italy, and no official page read for this guide states that an Italian 112 operator will answer you in English. Do not plan on it as a certainty.

What the Italian sources do describe is a translation route. NUE112 Emilia-Romagna states that the centre can open "una teleconferenza per la traduzione multilingue", a multilingual teleconference, so an interpreter can be brought onto the call. That is a regional service description, and whether the same arrangement exists where you live is a question for your own region's 112 page (verify with your regional emergency service).

Practical preparation beats hoping. Learn to say your address out loud in Italian, keep it written by the door and in your phone, and learn three words: ambulanza, incidente, incendio. Say the name of the comune first and slowly, then the street. If you are in a rural area, the name of the nearest town does more work than the house number.

Sources: European Commission, 112 and NUE112 Emilia-Romagna.

Most medical problems on a Sunday are not emergencies, and Italy has a separate number for them.

Regione Lombardia describes 116 117 as "Un unico numero gratuito per tutta la Lombardia" for "assistenza, prestazioni o consigli sanitari non urgenti": a single free number for non-urgent health assistance, services or advice. It gives the hours as "dal lunedì al venerdì dalle 20:00 alle 8:00 e nei giorni festivi e prefestivi 24 ore su 24", and states that the caller "viene messo in contatto con un medico o con un operatore competente" who assesses the need and either helps directly or transfers the request on. Emergencies are passed to 118 or 112. That page was last updated 15 July 2026.

Like the CUR rollout, 116117 has arrived at different times in different regions, so check whether it is answered where you live before you rely on it.

The other route people default to is the pronto soccorso, the hospital emergency department. Regione Emilia-Romagna's guidance points non-urgent cases to a CAU, a local assistance and urgency centre, rather than the pronto soccorso, and is firm about one symptom in the other direction: for the appearance of chest pain, "Per la comparsa di dolore al petto è sempre necessario chiamare il 112." Chest pain is always a 112 call, not a drive to the hospital.

Sources: Regione Lombardia, Numero europeo armonizzato 116 117 (updated 15 July 2026) and Regione Emilia-Romagna, domande frequenti (updated June 2025).

Nothing about the emergency numbers depends on paperwork. You dial 112, help comes, and the questions about entitlement happen afterwards. That afterwards is the part worth preparing for.

Registration with the Servizio Sanitario Nazionale happens at the ASL for the area where you live, and it is tied to your permesso di soggiorno, which means there is usually a stretch between landing and holding a tessera sanitaria. Checked on 7 August 2026: the regional pages read for this guide describe the emergency numbers and the CUR model, and do not set out how a person who is not yet registered with the SSN is billed for emergency care. That question belongs to your local health authority, so ask your ASL directly (verify with the ASL for your comune).

Private medical cover taken for a visa or for a first period in Italy is designed to handle medical treatment while public registration is being worked through. What it actually covers is whatever the policy wording says, so read the benefit schedule rather than a summary, and read it before an ambulance is involved rather than after.

Three questions answer most of it. Does the wording cover emergency treatment and hospital admission, and up to what limit? Does the insurer need to be notified within a set number of hours of an admission, since some contracts require that call and treat a late one as a problem? And are claims settled with the hospital directly, or reimbursed to you after you have paid? Keep the discharge summary, the itemised bill and any receipts, because a claim will ask for all three.