Across Europe, digital identity ecosystems are changing, as the European Digital Identity (EUDI) Wallet program rolls out in EU member states. There has been no lack of friction around the EUDI Wallet, as nations haggle over technical specifications and privacy concerns. Meanwhile, some nations have parallel digital wallet schemes on the go. In Italy, commentators are trying to untangle the acronyms and give a clear picture of what Italians can expect from digital identity in the near future.
If you SPID CIE in a wallet or three, that’s confusion
Italy has a public digital identity system: Sistema Pubblico di Identità Digitale, or SPID. It also issues a biometric ID card, the Carta di identità elettronica (CIE) or electronic identity card. In 2023, it introduced It Wallet, a national wallet scheme that is (for now) separate from the EUDI Wallet program, to enable access to SPID.
In an online interview, Matteo Panfilo, chief solution officer for digital ID firm Intesa, says It Wallet “anticipates” the EUDI Wallet in that it “envisages the possibility of having one’s identity and attributes (starting with driving license and disability certifications) within, presumably, the PagoPA IO app.” However, there is no clarity on how the two wallets will relate – whether, for instance, “It Wallet will automatically become one of the EUDI Wallets that can be used by citizens in 2026.”
Meanwhile, Panfilo says, neither SPID or CIE are likely to go away soon. “They have different characteristics and in the perspective of the new European Wallet they could be PID (Person Identification Data) Providers, i.e. federated schemes to share a set of personal identity data. The PID providers will serve as a one-off service to initialize the wallets, which for subsequent use will have their own strong authentication mechanisms that will add other attributes to the mere personal data and other functionalities.”
For now both digital ID systems remain widely used, despite suffering from some weaknesses. “The number of CIEs in circulation has exceeded that of SPID,” Panfilo says, but “it is still SPID that counts the greatest number of uses.” CIE, meanwhile, has relatively few users who know how to use it, but “the national governmental indication, reinforced by Europe’s positioning, is clearly oriented towards CIE as the identity manager and the only future Italian PID provider.”
In Panfilo’s view, for Italians who already use digital IDs, “the real news of the new wallets will be European interoperability, greater control over privacy, but above all the possibility of also using the so-called ‘attributes’ linked to identity. In other words, thanks to the wallet, we will always be able to prove that we have professional titles such as university degree or membership of professional associations, representation of legal entities, ISEE, driving licence, disability certification or other attributes and certifications.”
The overall message is that companies like Intesa have invested in SPID and CIE and hope the introduction of new digital wallet systems doesn’t make existing solutions obsolete without factoring in the impact on service providers.
If you want eID cards, you needn’t look far: they’re in preview
There is limited time to manage the transition. The revised eIDAS regulation requires EU member states to offer a digital wallet by 2026, and the It Wallet is already launching in preview. Il Mattino reports that “a new service will be available on the IO App of the Ministry of the Interior, offering digital versions of the driving license, health card, and European Disability Card” that will be accepted as valid ID by law enforcement and government agencies.
The service is a “preview of the digital wallet that will be available in Italy from 2025” – i.e. the It Wallet. The 50,000 users who can currently access it, selected by the Department of Digital Transformation, will “serve as a gauge for the usefulness and usage of this type of product.” The next phase will see the service roll out through November and go nationwide in December.
It Wallet has faced its own set of questions about security compliance with EU standards, while EUDI Wallet continues to work through concerns about interoperability, privacy, security and a potential postponement of the scheduled launch.
Article Topics
biometrics | digital ID | digital identity | digital wallets | eID | eIDAS | EU Digital Identity Wallet | Italy | SPID