Website requirements for Italian innovative startups: a guide for foreign founders
If you are setting up a startup in Italy, one line of Italian law reaches all the way to your homepage.
- Startup innovativa
- An Italian legal status for young, unlisted companies whose main business is innovative, technology-based products or services; the Ministry of Enterprises (MIMIT) summarises the requirements. Qualifying companies register in a special section of the Registro delle imprese (the Italian Companies Register) and gain specific benefits and duties, including the website disclosure described here.
What does Italian law require on an innovative startup's website?
It requires the startup's registered information to be reachable from the homepage of its website. Paragraph 11 of Article 25 of Decree-Law 179/2012 says the information must be made available with maximum transparency, in a tabular format that search engines can process and third parties can reuse for free. Its second sentence then brings the duty onto the company's own site.
Innovative start-ups and certified incubators shall ensure electronic access to the said information from the home page of their own website.
The information is the list in paragraph 12, the same data you enter when you register the company in the special section. If you are still checking whether your company qualifies at all, start with our guide to Italian innovative startup requirements.
| Letter | Information | In practice |
|---|---|---|
| a | Date and place of incorporation, name and address of the notary | From the deed of incorporation |
| b | Registered office and any branch offices | Must match the Companies Register extract |
| c | Corporate purpose | As stated in the articles of association |
| d | Short description of the business, including R&D activity and spending | The one part you write yourself: keep it plain |
| e | List of shareholders, with transparency on trustees and holding companies | Update after every funding round or share transfer |
| f | List of companies the startup holds stakes in | State it even if the list is empty |
| g | Qualifications and professional experience of shareholders and staff, excluding sensitive data | Publish only what is required and tell the people concerned |
| h | Relationships with certified incubators, investors, universities and research centres | Only real, documentable relationships |
| i | Latest filed financial statements, in XBRL format | Refresh after each approval |
| l | Industrial and intellectual property rights | Patents, registered software, trademarks |
How do you comply in practice?
By making the information one click away from the homepage and keeping it in line with the Register. The law sets no visual format; it asks for accessibility, a tabular format and updates. The steps below are the route we suggest, to be confirmed with whoever handles your company's filings.
From the Register to your homepage
Complete the public profile
Paragraph 17-bis requires you to enter the information on the startup.registroimprese.it platform when you register. The resulting public profile is already a page anyone can consult.
Link it from the homepage
Add a stable, visible link from the homepage (the footer is the natural spot) to a dedicated page or to the public profile, with a clear label such as “Innovative startup information”.
Build a proper table if you host it yourself
If you publish a page on your own site, put the paragraph 12 items in a real HTML table, not an image or a scanned PDF: the law asks for a tabular format search engines can read.
Square it with privacy
Shareholder lists and team backgrounds are personal data. Publish only what is required, inform the people concerned and reference the page in your privacy notice.
Tie updates to the annual filing
Schedule the page update together with the yearly declaration that you still meet the requirements, so it never slips.
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The portal works as a public showcase that investors, partners and journalists browse. A well-kept profile and a website consistent with it are a small competitive edge as well as a legal duty, especially for a foreign team that Italian partners do not yet know.
How often must the information be updated?
At least once a year, alongside the declaration that the company still meets the requirements. Paragraph 15 sets that declaration within 30 days of approving the accounts and in any case within six months of the financial year end (seven where the Civil Code allows the longer term); paragraph 17-bis ties the portal update to the same deadline.
The deadline has teeth. Under paragraph 16 a startup is removed from the special section within sixty days of losing the requirements, and failing to file the annual declaration counts as losing them. Updating the portal and the website on the same day is the simplest way to stay safe on both.
What else must any Italian company show on its website?
On top of the startup-specific rule, the duties of every Italian company with a website apply. The main ones, with the source to start from:
- VAT number on the homepage: Article 35 of Presidential Decree 633/1972 requires the partita IVA to appear on the homepage of any company website.
- Company details: under Article 2250 of the Civil Code, limited companies with a website show their registered office, Companies Register office and number, paid-up share capital, any liquidation and whether there is a sole shareholder.
- Privacy notice covering forms, newsletters and the product itself.
- Cookies: banner and preferences following the Italian data protection authority's cookie guidelines; non-technical trackers such as profiling cookies need prior consent.
- Accessibility: Legislative Decree 82/2022, Italy's transposition of the European Accessibility Act, covers certain consumer services such as e-commerce and exempts micro-enterprises providing services (fewer than 10 people and turnover or balance sheet up to 2 million euros).
Fitting all this in without cluttering the site is a structural question: company details in the footer, separate legal pages, a link to the startup section. We cover it in startup website structure.
How do you keep it maintained without effort?
If you are budgeting the website alongside incorporation, the cost drivers are in startup website cost. If what you need first is a page to test demand, start with a landing page to validate a startup idea.
Frequently asked questions
Must an Italian innovative startup have a website?
The law requires access to the information from the homepage of the company's own website, so it presumes a website exists. Whether and how the rule applies to a company without one is a question for your accountant or the Chamber of Commerce. In practice, customers and investors will expect one anyway.
Is a link to the startup.registroimprese.it profile enough?
The public profile holds the paragraph 12 information and is designed for anyone to consult. A visible homepage link is the simplest option, but whether it is enough in your case should be confirmed with an adviser. A table on your own site is an alternative or an addition.
Can the page be in English only?
Article 25 does not mention language. If your customers and investors are international, an English page helps them, but ask your Italian adviser whether an English-only version satisfies the rule. Keeping the official data identical to the Register is what matters most.
What happens if we forget to update it?
The information must be updated or confirmed at least once a year with the declaration of requirements. Not filing that declaration counts as losing the requirements, which leads to removal from the special section. Update the portal and the website together.
Do these rules apply to foreign companies operating in Italy?
The startup innovativa status, and with it this duty, concerns companies registered in the special section of the Italian Companies Register. Eligibility rules for foreign-owned or EU-based companies are covered in our requirements guide. Check your specific structure with an Italian adviser.
Sources
- Normattiva, DL 18 ottobre 2012 n. 179, art. 25 (testo in vigore dal 18 dicembre 2024) (19 October 2026)
- Registro Imprese / InfoCamere, portale startup.registroimprese.it (19 October 2026)
- MIMIT, Start-up innovative (pagina aggiornata il 18 aprile 2025) (19 October 2026)
- Normattiva, DPR 26 ottobre 1972 n. 633, art. 35 (partita IVA nella home page) (19 October 2026)
- Normattiva, Codice civile, art. 2250 (indicazioni negli atti e sul sito) (19 October 2026)
- Garante per la protezione dei dati personali, Linee guida cookie e altri strumenti di tracciamento (10 giugno 2021) (19 October 2026)
- Normattiva, D.Lgs. 27 maggio 2022 n. 82, art. 3 (accessibilità, esenzione microimprese) (19 October 2026)
Figures and definitions checked on the dates shown.
