The Craft Business Section

Italian

All craft businesses must be registered with the dedicated section of the Business Register.

Craft business

As provided for in art. 3 of Law 443/1985, a craft business produces goods, even semi-finished ones, or provides services, excluding agricultural and commercial activities, food and drink provision, and brokerage services.
A craft business can take on the legal form either of a company, or of a sole proprietorship.

Craft company

If a craft company is established, the majority of its partners must manually work for the company. If its partners are only two, the manual work of one of them is sufficient.

Company requirements

  • Autonomy, namely owning appropriate tools and facilities in order to run the business;
  • Goods (or semi-finished goods) production and/or service provision;
  • Workforce size, namely abiding by the number limits established by law.

Artisan entrepreneur

As provided for in art. 2 of Law 443/1985, the artisan entrepreneur is one who personally and professionally owns and runs a craft business, and is fully responsible for its management. The artisan entrepreneur’s work must be a prevalent part of the productive process.

The artisan entrepreneur can own only one craft business and must meet the personal and technical requirements established by law. 

Personal and technical requirements

  • Italian citizenship, or at least EU citizenship. Non-Eu citizens should visit the dedicated webpage;
  • Taking personally and manually part in goods production;
  • Being neither a full-time employee nor a part-time one (no more than 20 hours per week);
  • Meeting the technical and professional requirements for the relevant business, as established by law; e.g. for hairdressing, running a beauty salon, installing, repairing, pest controlling, or sanitizing.