Is a driving license issued by a European country valid as ID in Italy?
<p>I'm an Italian citizen resident in Hungary, both are part of EU.</p>
<p>I'm trying to understand if a driving license issued by Hungary would be accepted as a valid ID in Italy. I searched online and I found this information (emphasis mine):</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Secondo la legge italiana, per documento di identità si intende ogni documento emesso da una Pubblica Amministrazione italiana (<strong>o di un altro Paese</strong>) che abbia la finalità di identificare la persona che ne è il titolare.</p>
<p>Source | <a href="https://www.money.it/Documenti-di-identita-quali-sono-quando-scadono" rel="nofollow noreferrer">https://www.money.it/Documenti-di-identita-quali-sono-quando-scadono</a></p>
</blockquote>
<p>Translates approximately to:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>According to the italian law, an identity document means any document issued by an Italian public administration (<strong>or from another country</strong>) that has the purpose of identifying the person who is the owner.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>If the above is correct, I seem to understand that a Hungarian driving license would be considered valid.</p>
<p>I'm looking for some authoritative source to confirm the above statement.</p>

<p>The <strong>prevailing purpose</strong> of a driver's licence is to document which types of motor vehicles you are allowed to drive.</p>
<p>It is not an identification document (no citizenship entry for one thing).</p>
<p>It can sometimes be accepted as such, depending on the situation, but do not assume that will always be the case.</p>
<p>For the crossing of internal Schengen borders, a driver's licence is not accepted.</p>
<hr />
<blockquote>
<p><a href="http://www.parlamento.it/parlam/leggi/deleghe/00443dla.htm" rel="nofollow noreferrer">DPR 445/2000</a><br />
(Legislative provisions on administrative documentation)<br />
Article 1 (R)<br />
Definitions</p>
<ol>
<li>For the purposes of this consolidated act, the following definitions apply:<br />
...<br />
d) IDENTITY DOCUMENT the identity card and any other document with a photograph issued, on paper, magnetic or computer support, by the competent administration of the Italian State or of other States, <strong>with the <em>prevailing purpose</em> of proving the personal identity</strong> of its owner;<br />
...</li>
</ol>
</blockquote>
<hr />
<p><strong>Sources</strong>:</p>
<ul>
<li><a href="https://www.esteri.it/mae/en/servizi/italiani-all-estero/documenti_di_viaggio" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Carta d'identità</a>
<ul>
<li><a href="http://www.parlamento.it/parlam/leggi/deleghe/00443dla.htm" rel="nofollow noreferrer">DPR 445/2000</a></li>
<li><a href="https://it.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Documento_di_riconoscimento_in_Italia" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Identification document in Italy - Wikipedia</a></li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>

<h1>No.</h1>
<p>Italy has an official ID. ID is Identity Document. The <em>Carta d’identità</em>. While generally a driver's license contains most information of an ID and does qualify to prove who you are (<em>can serve to identify</em>), it <em>is not an ID</em>, neither in Italy (as <a href="https://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carta_d%27identit%C3%A0#In_Italia" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Italian Wikipedia</a> tells me), nor in the EU. It does lack <em>some</em> information required to make it a proper ID.</p>
<p>A valid EU-ID follows <a href="https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=celex%3A32004L0038" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Directive 2004/38/EC</a>. It needs to contains your residence address and statehood as well as some other extra information, which simply are not on a driver's license. This is an Italian ID:</p>
<p><a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/XjME7.png" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/XjME7.png" alt="enter image description here" /></a></p>

european-union identification italy