Gun licence for sport shooting in Italy

Licence

The licenza di porto d’arma lunga per il tiro a volo, commonly called the porto d’armi uso sportivo, may be issued by the Questore for five years and lets you carry long guns from home to the range and back.Legge 323/1969, articolo unico

Skill

A licence needs proof of technical capacity: an exam, which a handling certificate from a Tiro a Segno Nazionale (TSN) section, or service in the armed forces or an armed state corps in the ten years before your first application, replaces.Legge 110/1975, art. 8

Health

For the tiro a volo licence, a medical certificate under the health ministry’s 1998 decree: eyesight, colour vision, hearing, use of the arms and spine, no neurological or mental disorder, no drugs, no alcohol abuse. The nulla osta needs a narrower certificate.D.M. 28 aprile 1998, art. 1; d.lgs. 104/2018, art. 12, comma 3; TULPS, art. 35, comma 7

Buying

With a porto d’armi you may buy guns; without one you need the Questore’s nulla osta, which is valid for one month.TULPS, art. 35, commi 5–6

Declaring

Every gun, and your ammunition, must be declared (denuncia) within 72 hours of getting it, and again whenever you keep it at a place other than the one in the denuncia. According to the Polizia di Stato, up to 1,000 shot cartridges need no denuncia.TULPS, art. 38; Polizia di Stato

Number of guns

Three common firearms, twelve sport guns and any number of hunting guns; more needs a collection licence.Legge 110/1975, art. 10; legge 157/1992, art. 37

Medical check

A licence holder presents a new medical certificate at each renewal; someone who holds guns without any licence presents one every five years.TULPS, art. 38, commi 4–5; d.lgs. 104/2018, art. 12, comma 3; D.M. 28 aprile 1998

Italy has two licences for sport shooters, and a TSN member has a third way to take guns to the range. None of them is needed just to keep a gun at home: holding rests on the denuncia, and buying needs a licence or a nulla osta.

The law leaves the tiro a volo licence to the Questore’s discretion, for someone who has no other long-gun licence; the interior ministry allows holding it beside a hunting licence (legge 323/1969; circular of 20 May 2016). The Polizia di Stato describes it as letting you shoot both tiro a volo (clay shooting) and tiro a segno (target shooting), for which you must join a TSN section or a club in a CONI-affiliated federation, and as covering only the guns suited to that shooting. The law itself speaks of long guns. The sources do not say plainly whether it lets you buy a pistol or carry one to the range: ask your Questura.

The transport licence needs a check of idoneità psicofisica (physical and mental fitness), for which the law names no standard, and an attestation from a TSN section, or from a club in a CONI-affiliated federation, that you take part in the sport (legge 85/1986, art. 3). A gun counts as a sport gun only once the Banco nazionale di prova (the national proof house) has classified it as one, at the maker’s or importer’s request (legge 85/1986, art. 2).

The carta verde is issued by the TSN section and validated, the Polizia di Stato says, by the Questore, after the same personal checks as for a licence (legge 110/1975, art. 31; Polizia di Stato). The Polizia di Stato adds that the gun travels unloaded and in its case.

Whatever the document, guns travel unloaded, and the police may set special conditions for transport (r.d. 635/1940, art. 53). A private person who moves guns must give the police notice first (TULPS, art. 34); the interior ministry says a porto d’armi itself lets its holder transport guns with no further formality (circular of 2 July 2020). Which guns the tiro a volo licence covers is the open question above.

1. Get the handling certificate from a Tiro a Segno Nazionale section’s course, unless you served in the armed forces or an armed state corps in the ten years before your first application: either spares you the technical exam (legge 110/1975, art. 8), and the Polizia di Stato asks for one of the two. The military code makes enrolment and attendance at a TSN section compulsory for anyone applying for a hunting licence or a licence “per uso personale” who has not served, at €25 a year adjusted to the cost of living; it does not name the tiro a volo licence (d.lgs. 66/2010, art. 251, commi 2–3).
2. Get the medical certificate: first your own doctor’s certificato anamnestico (medical history), no more than three months old, then the examination at an ASL medico-legal office or by a serving military, police or fire-service doctor (D.M. 28 aprile 1998, art. 3; d.lgs. 104/2018, art. 12, comma 3). The requirements are under The medical certificate below.
3. Apply to the Questura, a police Commissariato or the Carabinieri station where you live. Bring two €16 revenue stamps (one for the application, one for the licence), the receipt for €1.27 for the booklet, two photos, the medical and handling certificates, and a declaration naming the adults you live with and stating that you are not a recognised conscientious objector, or have applied to give up that status (Polizia di Stato, Rilascio).
4. Wait for the decision. The Questura of Arezzo, for one, gives itself 90 days from a complete application.
5. Buy the gun, and declare it, with your ammunition, within 72 hours to the local police office, or the Carabinieri where there is none, or by certified e-mail (PEC). The denuncia lists every gun you hold and where it is kept, and you file it again whenever you keep a gun at a place other than the one in the denuncia (TULPS, art. 38; r.d. 635/1940, art. 58).

TULPS says that a nulla osta, or any measure that lets you acquire a gun, and a hunting or personal-defence licence must be made known to the adults you live with, with a fine of €2,000 to €10,000 (TULPS, artt. 35 and 42). The regulation that is to say who they are and how has never been adopted, and for those licences the 2010 decree keeps the earlier rules until it is (d.lgs. 204/2010, art. 6, comma 4). Today the application names them (Polizia di Stato, Rilascio).

Without a licence, the route is the nulla osta all’acquisto from the Questore. The request states why you are buying and needs a medical certificate, and the Polizia di Stato also asks for a handling certificate or military service no more than ten years old. It costs nothing, is valid for one month and is not issued under 18 (TULPS, art. 35, commi 6–7; legge 110/1975, art. 8).

Storage rules apply from the day you hold the gun. In short:

• The law sets no cabinet standard for a private holder. You must make sure the place where the guns are kept is adequately secure, and keep them with every diligence; failing to is an offence (TULPS, art. 38; legge 110/1975, art. 20).
• You must take the precautions needed so that a minor, a person lacking capacity, a drug addict or someone unskilled with guns cannot easily get hold of them; neglecting this is a crime (legge 110/1975, art. 20-bis).
• If a gun or part of one is lost or stolen, report it at once to the local police office or, where there is none, the nearest Carabinieri station; not doing so is an offence (legge 110/1975, art. 20).
• Anti-theft defences prescribed by the police are required of those who deal in arms professionally and of collectors, and the police may attach conditions to any authorisation in the public interest (legge 110/1975, art. 20; TULPS, art. 9).

A licence to carry a gun needs proof of technical capacity, tested by an exam before a technical commission appointed by the prefect. A certificato di idoneità al maneggio delle armi (handling certificate) from a TSN section replaces the exam, and so does service in the armed forces or an armed state corps in the ten years before your first application (legge 110/1975, art. 8). In practice the Polizia di Stato asks for one of these two.

The certificate, also called the diploma di idoneità al maneggio delle armi (DIMA), may be issued only by a Tiro a Segno Nazionale section, not by any other body, even one federated or affiliated to the Unione Italiana Tiro a Segno (UITS) (legge 110/1975, art. 31).

Since 26 June 2026 the military code asks UITS to train those who must enrol, in the law on arms and in handling, under protocols with days of exercises: four in the decree-law, three since its conversion in August 2026 (d.lgs. 66/2010, art. 251, comma 2-bis). UITS itself is being reorganised under the same decree: a new statute, which the extraordinary commissioner was to adapt by 24 September 2026 (90 days from 26 June) for approval by ministerial decree, and new organs by 31 December 2026 (D.L. 108/2026, art. 8, commi 1, 21 and 23). Whether the statute has been approved was not checked.

The Polizia di Stato’s application pages ask that the certificate, too, be no more than ten years old. On renewal you do not hand it in again (Polizia di Stato, Rinnovo). The certificate is a handling test, not a sport badge, and the law sets no shooting score for it.

For the tiro a volo licence, the medical certificate follows the health ministry’s decree of 28 April 1998: eyesight of at least 8/10 in the better eye, glasses or contact lenses allowed, and sufficient colour vision; hearing no worse than 30 dB in the better ear, or conversation heard at six metres, hearing aids allowed; adequate use of the arms and spine; no neurological disorder that affects alertness or movement; no mental, personality or behavioural disorder, no dependence, no drug use even occasional, and no abuse of alcohol or psychoactive medicines (D.M. 28 aprile 1998, art. 1).

You bring your own doctor’s medical history, no more than three months old, and any further tests are at your expense. You can appeal a negative result to an ASL medical board within 30 days (D.M. 28 aprile 1998, artt. 3–4). The certificate is issued by an ASL medico-legal office or health district, the military or Polizia di Stato health services, or a single Polizia di Stato, fire-service or military doctor in active service (d.lgs. 104/2018, art. 12, comma 3).

The nulla osta and the five-yearly certificate for holders attest narrower points: that you have no mental illness or condition that reduces, even temporarily, your capacity to understand and decide, and, for the nulla osta, that you take no drugs and do not abuse alcohol. For these the law names the ASL medico-legal office or a military, Polizia di Stato or fire-service doctor (TULPS, art. 35, comma 7; d.lgs. 104/2018, art. 12, comma 2), and the interior ministry accepts certificates from military doctors in the auxiliary reserve (ausiliaria) too (interior ministry circular of 19 April 2021).

Since 2018, anyone who holds common firearms without any licence must present a new medical certificate every five years; collectors of antique guns are exempt. A licence holder does this at each renewal. If you do not present the certificate, the prefect may forbid you to hold the guns (TULPS, art. 38).

Italy has no activity requirement for sport shooters. No law sets a number of sessions or a period of shooting to keep a licence or to hold guns on a denuncia, and none to get or renew the tiro a volo licence. What stands in its place:

• When you apply: proof of technical capacity, usually the TSN handling certificate (legge 110/1975, art. 8). For a hunting licence or a licence “per uso personale”, enrolment and attendance at a TSN section if you have not served; since June 2026 that enrolment comes with UITS training protocols with days of exercises, four in the June decree-law and three since its conversion in August 2026 (d.lgs. 66/2010, art. 251, commi 2 and 2-bis).
• For the annual transport licence: an attestation from a TSN section, or from a club in a CONI-affiliated federation, that you take part in the sport. The law sets no number of sessions for it (legge 85/1986, art. 3).
• For guns in EU categories A6 and A7 (automatic guns converted to semi-automatic, and semi-automatic centre-fire guns with a magazine of more than 20 rounds, short, or more than 10, long, fitted) and for magazines above 10 rounds for a long gun or 20 for a short gun: you must be a sport shooter registered with a CONI-recognised shooting federation, a TSN section, a CONI-affiliated amateur shooting club, or a federation in another EU country (d.lgs. 104/2018, art. 12, comma 4; directive (EU) 2021/555, Annex I). Guns and magazines held legally on 13 June 2017 keep the earlier rules; whoever takes them over needs the new status (d.lgs. 104/2018, art. 12, comma 5). The interior ministry leaves it to CONI to set what proves you are a sport shooter; the law sets no number of sessions.
• For everyone: a medical check every five years, at licence renewal or on its own (TULPS, art. 38).

TSN sections keep a daily attendance register with the name of each shooter, the guns used and the times of each session, and show it to the police on request (legge 110/1975, art. 31). That is the section’s record, not a requirement on you.

The tiro a volo licence lasts five years from the day it is issued and can be revoked by the Questore (legge 323/1969). It was six years until 14 September 2018; licences issued by that date kept six years, and the last of them ran out in 2024 (d.lgs. 104/2018, artt. 12 and 14). Some Polizia di Stato pages still say six years; the law says five.

Apply for renewal before the licence runs out, with the same documents as the first time but without the handling certificate, and hand in the old licence (Polizia di Stato, Rinnovo; Questura di Arezzo). The new medical certificate is the five-yearly health check (interior ministry circular of 12 September 2018).

The transport licence for sport guns is annual (legge 85/1986, art. 3). A hunting licence lasts five years (legge 157/1992, art. 22).

If you let the licence lapse, you keep the guns on your denuncia, and you need a nulla osta to buy and another document to carry or transport guns (TULPS, artt. 34 and 35). If you do not renew a licence, the duty to present a medical certificate every five years applies to you from the day it expires (TULPS, art. 38); ask your Questura when the first one is due.

You may hold three common firearms (armi comuni da sparo) and twelve sport guns (armi sportive); the twelve were six until 2018 (legge 110/1975, art. 10). There is no limit on hunting guns (legge 157/1992, art. 37). A gun counts as a sport gun only if the Banco nazionale di prova has classified it as one (legge 85/1986, art. 2).

Antique guns, meaning muzzle-loaders and guns made before 1890, do not count toward these numbers (legge 110/1975, art. 10); the Polizia di Stato says more than eight need a collection licence.

Beyond the numbers you need a collection licence from the Questore: one of each model (the limit does not apply to smooth-bore hunting guns and muzzle-loader replicas), and no ammunition for guns in a collection. A collector may take each gun to a range for a function test at most once every six months, firing no more than 62 rounds (legge 110/1975, art. 10).

Without a further licence you may keep up to 200 pistol or revolver cartridges and 1,500 loaded hunting cartridges (r.d. 635/1940, art. 97). According to the Polizia di Stato, pistol cartridges and hunting cartridges with a load other than shot must always be declared, and shot cartridges above 1,000. Your licence, or a nulla osta to buy ammunition, states the most ammunition you may buy; the limit runs for a year and can be renewed, and cartridges bought at a UITS section’s range and used there at once are not counted (D.L. 306/1992, art. 12, as replaced by d.lgs. 104/2018).

Magazines that hold more than 10 rounds for a long gun or 20 for a short gun must be declared, and only registered sport shooters may acquire them (TULPS, art. 38; d.lgs. 104/2018, art. 12, comma 4).

• Air guns: see Air rifles below.
• Hunting: the hunting licence needs the hunting exam (abilitazione all’esercizio venatorio) and lasts five years, and hunting starts at 18 (legge 157/1992, artt. 12 and 22). A hunting licence can also be used for tiro a volo, as long as that year’s government licence tax has been paid, and you may hold both licences (interior ministry circular of 20 May 2016).
• Collectors: the collection licence lets you hold guns, not carry them (Polizia di Stato); see How many guns for the limits.
• Category A8 guns, semi-automatic long guns that can be shortened below 60 cm without losing function by a folding or telescoping stock or one removable without tools, may no longer be held or carried. Guns held legally on 13 June 2017 keep the earlier rules and can pass on only by inheritance, to the state, a public body or a licensed maker, or abroad. Whoever receives one in Italy, an heir included, must declare it and apply for a collection licence, which an heir gets if the other conditions are met; otherwise the Questore issues one only in exceptional cases (d.lgs. 104/2018, art. 12, commi 6–7; interior ministry circular of 12 September 2018).

Licence-free

An air or compressed-gas gun (CO2, for example), long or short, whose pellet has no more than 7.5 joules of energy measured at the muzzle (all’origine) is an arma con modesta capacità offensiva (a gun of modest offensive power), not a common firearm. You need no licence to buy, hold or carry one, you do not declare it, and it does not count in the numbers under How many guns. A gun that fires in bursts is not covered, nor one that fires anything but inert pellets. Each gun carries a punzone (mark) that certifies its energy, applied by its maker or importer after a conformity check; if you bring one into Italy yourself, not to trade it, for example one bought abroad, you need the Questore’s import licence, and must ask the Banco nazionale di prova to apply the punzone.D.M. 362/2001, artt. 1, 4, 5 and 7–9; TULPS, art. 31; legge 526/1999, art. 11; legge 110/1975, art. 2

Age

From 18, you buy one with a valid identity document, and the dealer records the sale. A private sale, gift or loan must be between adults and made by a written agreement. A loan of up to 48 hours needs no writing, but must still be between adults.D.M. 362/2001, art. 7; legge 526/1999, art. 11, comma 5; codice civile, art. 2

Younger shooters

An air gun up to 7.5 joules may not be entrusted to a minor, but a minor may shoot one with an adult assisting, in the places under Where you may shoot. The law sets no minimum age for this, and the adult need not be a parent, though a parent may not lend or give the gun to the child (see Age). The law keeps an exception for the Tiro a Segno Nazionale without saying what it is: ask your section.D.M. 362/2001, artt. 7 and 9; legge 526/1999, art. 11, comma 5

Above the limit

Above 7.5 joules, an air gun is an arma comune da sparo (common firearm), with the ordinary rules on buying, declaring, keeping and numbers: you buy it with a porto d’armi or the Questore’s nulla osta, which is not issued under 18, declare it within 72 hours, keep it with every diligence, and count it in the numbers under How many guns. If you hold it without a licence, you present a medical certificate every five years.Legge 110/1975, artt. 2, 10 and 20; TULPS, artt. 35 and 38

Carrying and transport

You may not carry (porto) an air gun up to 7.5 joules outside your home and its grounds (appartenenze) without a giustificato motivo (justified reason), nor to a public meeting. In transport, for example to a range, it must be unloaded and in a case (custodia), and moved with the greatest diligence.D.M. 362/2001, artt. 9–10

Where you may shoot

An air gun up to 7.5 joules may be used only at a poligono (range) or in a private place not open to the public. The rule is for adults too, not only for minors. You may not hunt with one: the hunting law bans every weapon and means it does not list, and air guns are not among them.D.M. 362/2001, art. 9, comma 3; legge 526/1999, art. 11, comma 5; legge 157/1992, art. 13

Fines

Breaking the decree’s rules on minors, on where you shoot or on transport, such as entrusting one to a minor, shooting it outside a range or a private place not open to the public, or transporting it loaded, carries an administrative fine of €516 to €3,098.D.M. 362/2001, art. 16, comma 1 (L. 1,000,000 to 6,000,000; in euros under d.lgs. 213/1998, art. 51); interior ministry circular of 28 July 2014, which converts the same lire range

The decree is in force as issued in 2001. The law behind it last changed in 2018, when the conformity check passed from the interior ministry’s arms commission to the Banco nazionale di prova (legge 526/1999, art. 11, as amended by d.lgs. 104/2018, art. 9).

More on air rifles on the Shooter blog →

No licence is issued to a minor who is not emancipated, and no nulla osta under 18 (TULPS, artt. 35 and 44). Handing a minor without a licence a firearm named in the first two paragraphs of legge 110/1975, art. 2, is a crime (art. 20-bis).

From 14, a young shooter may use firearms at a Tiro a Segno Nazionale range, as long as a federal instructor trained for junior shooters follows them on the firing line throughout. The models, calibres and training must be approved by the interior ministry (interior ministry circular of 16 April 2008).

Air guns under 18: see Air rifles above.

A police authorisation must be revoked when its conditions are no longer met, and may be revoked when circumstances arise that would have justified refusing it, or for abuse (TULPS, artt. 10–11). Convictions for violent crimes, theft, robbery and similar offences bar a licence, and the Questore may refuse anyone who does not give assurance of not misusing guns (TULPS, art. 43).

The prefect may forbid anyone thought capable of misusing them to hold guns; in urgent cases the police withdraw them at once. The ban gives you 150 days to transfer the guns to someone else and tell the prefect; otherwise they are confiscated (TULPS, art. 39).

If you do not present the five-yearly medical certificate, the prefect may forbid you to hold the guns (TULPS, art. 38). When the duty began, holders had until 14 September 2019 for the first certificate, and after that could still present it within 60 days of a formal warning (diffida) from the police (d.lgs. 104/2018, art. 14, comma 3; interior ministry circular of 12 September 2018). The sources do not say whether a warning comes first in later cycles.

A licence that runs out is different: the guns stay yours on the denuncia. If you do not renew a licence, the duty to present a medical certificate every five years applies to you from the day it expires (TULPS, art. 38); ask your Questura when the first one is due.

Italy sets no activity requirement, and the Shooter app has no Italian defaults, so it counts nothing unless you ask it to. It keeps your record: every session you log, with its date and the gun you shot, and a PDF logbook of your sessions that you can show your section or club.

If you want a target of your own, such as shooting each gun a number of times before your licence comes up for renewal, enter that date as the gun’s next activity deadline, and under Requirements and reminders set the shots for an approved session, the sessions per gun and the activity window in months. Outside Sweden the shots start unset and the sessions at zero, so nothing is counted until you set them; the three are one setting for all your guns. For each gun with a deadline, the app then counts the days on which you fired at least that many shots with it, in the window before the deadline, against the sessions you set.

Shooter is not affiliated with the Polizia di Stato or with any shooting association. The handling certificate is your TSN section’s, and the licence is the Questore’s decision.

Is there an activity requirement for sport shooters in Italy?

No. Italy has no activity requirement for sport shooters. No law sets a number of sessions or a period of shooting to keep a licence or to hold guns on a denuncia, and none to get or renew the tiro a volo licence. In its place come proof of handling skill when you apply, a medical certificate every five years, and, for category A6 and A7 guns and large magazines, registration as a sport shooter (legge 110/1975, art. 8; TULPS, art. 38; d.lgs. 104/2018, art. 12).

How long is the porto d’armi uso sportivo valid?

Five years from the day it is issued (legge 323/1969, as changed in 2018). Renew before it runs out, with a new medical certificate.

How many guns can I own with a sport licence?

Three common firearms, twelve sport guns and any number of hunting guns. The limits are on holding guns, whatever licence you have; beyond them you need a collection licence (legge 110/1975, art. 10; legge 157/1992, art. 37).

Do I need a licence to keep a gun at home?

No. To buy a gun you need a licence or the Questore’s nulla osta; to hold it, you declare it within 72 hours (TULPS, artt. 35 and 38). Without a licence, you present a medical certificate every five years.

Where do I get the certificato di idoneità al maneggio delle armi?

Only at a Tiro a Segno Nazionale section (legge 110/1975, art. 31). It spares you the technical exam for a licence, and so does service in the armed forces or an armed state corps in the ten years before your first application (legge 110/1975, art. 8).

Can I take my pistol to the range?

With the annual transport licence, yes, if the pistol is classified as a sport gun (legge 85/1986, art. 3). A TSN member can also take guns between home and the section on the section’s carta verde, which the Polizia di Stato says the Questore validates, on the days the section has set for its exercises (r.d. 635/1940, art. 76). Guns always travel unloaded (r.d. 635/1940, art. 53); the Polizia di Stato asks for a case too.

Do I need a licence for an air rifle in Italy?

An air rifle or air pistol up to 7.5 joules, measured at the muzzle, needs none: from 18 you buy one with an identity document, you do not declare it, and you may shoot it only at a range or in a private place not open to the public (D.M. 362/2001, artt. 1 and 7–9). Under 18, you may shoot one with an adult assisting. Above 7.5 joules it is a common firearm, bought with a licence or the Questore’s nulla osta and declared within 72 hours (legge 110/1975, art. 2; TULPS, artt. 35 and 38).

Can under-18s shoot firearms in Italy?

Yes, from 14 at a Tiro a Segno Nazionale range, with a federal instructor beside them on the firing line (interior ministry circular of 16 April 2008). No licence is issued to a minor who is not emancipated, and no nulla osta under 18 (TULPS, artt. 35 and 44).

What does the sport licence cost?

The Polizia di Stato lists two €16 revenue stamps and €1.27 for the booklet. On top come the medical certificate, whose tests are at your expense, and the TSN section’s fees; compulsory enrolment, where it applies, is €25 a year (d.lgs. 66/2010, art. 251). The nulla osta is free (TULPS, art. 35).