Road accident injury compensation in Italy: what can be claimed?
The hospital gives you a diagnosis. The insurer asks for a figure. Between the two sit your recovery, the bills you have paid and the work you have missed. Each needs its own explanation.
Avv. Luca Valente · 14 October 2026
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Separate the injury from the financial consequences
This guide concerns injuries from road accidents in Italy and explains the categories to examine where Italian compensation rules apply. In a cross-border case, the applicable law must be checked; your nationality or return home does not by itself answer that question.
The injury
Recovery time, lasting impairment and the consequences for daily life.
The costs
Treatment, assistance and other supported expenses caused by the accident.
The earnings
Income actually lost, and any properly assessed effect on future earning capacity.
If you are still identifying the company to contact, use the guide to who should receive an Italian accident claim. The right recipient and the correct valuation are separate parts of the process.
Injury, recovery and lasting effects
Italian law uses danno biologico for medically assessable harm to physical or psychological integrity, including its effect on ordinary activities and relationships. It can be temporary during recovery or permanent if lasting impairment remains. It is distinct from loss of earnings. Article 139 of the Insurance Code describes this distinction and the rules for minor injuries.
Pain and inner suffering also require attention within the applicable non-financial damage framework. Describe concrete effects: disturbed sleep, difficulty with personal care, or activities you could no longer perform. A dated account can help explain what changed, but does not replace medical evidence or justify adding the same consequence under several different labels. The Ministry’s explanation of biological and moral damage sets out the distinction.
Build a record for each claimed loss
Use the following as a working file, not a list of guaranteed payments. For each entry, record the date, amount where relevant, supporting document and connection with the accident.
- Injury and recovery
- Clinical records, follow-up reports and treatment history. What impairment is medically supported, for which periods, and with what lasting effects?
- Treatment and assistance
- Prescriptions, itemised invoices, payment evidence and care records. Why was the expense needed because of the accident, and who paid it?
- Lost earnings
- Employer statements, payslips, tax records and evidence of interrupted work. What income was actually lost or is likely to be affected?
- Travel and other costs
- Original bookings, replacement tickets, receipts and refund records. What additional cost arose from the accident rather than the journey as originally planned?
For the collection checklist and missing records, see which documents and evidence to keep after an accident. Retain originals and keep any translation alongside its source.
Medical bills and extra expenses need an explanation
Identify treatment, rehabilitation, medication, travel for care and any assistance required. A receipt shows an expenditure; also retain material explaining its purpose and connection to the injury. Separate costs already paid from estimates of future care. For a future item, obtain the supporting recommendation and the basis of the estimate.
If you continued treatment outside Italy, keep the provider’s details, dates, currency and payment evidence. Record any refunds or payments by a travel insurer, health insurer or public system. Their treatment in the claim needs assessment; do not present the same bill as wholly unpaid if somebody has already met it.
An extra flight home: which documents explain the cost?
Keep the original booking, the replacement ticket and any refund confirmation together. Add the medical or other record explaining why the change was needed. Claiming the replacement ticket’s full price without showing the refund can overstate the loss.
This is a way to document additional expenditure, not a promise that every travel cost will be reimbursed.
Time off work and loss of income are different facts
Document the period you could not work, the duties affected and the financial result. An employee can obtain confirmation of absence, pay received and any reduction. A self-employed person should preserve tax records, accounts and evidence of work cancelled or postponed. Turnover is not the same as personal lost income, and work rescheduled later should be identified.
Article 137 of the Insurance Code provides specific rules for determining employment and self-employment income when injury affects earnings. Foreign employment or tax documents therefore need to be understood in their own context, rather than converted into a figure without explanation.
A lasting impairment percentage is not automatically the percentage by which your earnings fall. The work you do and the effect on your ability to do it matter. Future earning loss requires its own assessment; it should not be inferred solely from a short absence certificate.
Which table is behind the figure?
Before using an online calculator, establish the accident date, the medical assessment and the legal framework that applies. A table cannot decide those questions for you.
Minor injuries, the national table and the Milan tables
The applicable framework depends on the injury, the accident date and the legal rules governing the case. Article 139 addresses minor permanent injuries up to nine points. The national table introduced by Presidential Decree 12/2025 concerns non-minor injuries in its scope, with permanent impairment from ten to one hundred points. Its temporal application must be checked for the particular accident.
The statutory amounts are updated. At this article’s date, the Ministry has published the July 2026 minor-injury update and the September 2026 non-minor-injury update, both effective from April 2026. Copying an old online calculator can therefore give a misleading result.
You may also encounter the Milan judicial tables. These are not interchangeable with every statutory table. Ask which framework and edition have been used, why they apply, and which components the figure includes. Medical expenses and earnings losses must still be examined separately.
Check what an offer actually covers
For a step-by-step reading of the offer and release, see what to check before signing a settlement.
- The medical assessmentWhich temporary periods and permanent effects have been allowed?
- The financial itemsWhich expenses and earnings losses are included or rejected?
- The deductionsIs there a reduction for responsibility or for earlier payments?
- The releaseExactly which claims would acceptance settle?
Keep the offer’s breakdown alongside the proposed release. For the timing of the response, see the guide to claims deadlines.
If treatment is continuing or future consequences remain uncertain, make that clear before agreeing to a final settlement. Preserve the offer and every proposed release. Do not assume that payment for vehicle repairs also resolves, or leaves open, the injury claim: read the wording.
To ask about a claim, briefly describe the accident, your country of residence, whether treatment is continuing and any offer or deadline. Use the contact form; wait for instructions before sending medical records or identity documents.
General information, not an individual valuation or a guarantee of compensation. An enquiry does not create a professional engagement or constitute acceptance of a deadline.