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La piazza degli studenti di Padova

Everything nobodytells you aboutstudying here.

The students' square in Padova: a verified handbook and a meeting place for everyone who studies here, from another continent, another region or the next town. The paperwork, the deadlines, the money, and the traps that cost people a year, written by students who have already stood at every one of these counters.

Start from the beginningHow we verify this
16
guides
112
official sources
80
Italian words explained

Padova in numbers

Start here

What do you need right now?

  1. The residence permitApply within 8 working days of arriving. The only legal countdown of the year.
  2. Your checklist, with datesEvery step in order, worked out from the day you landed.
  3. An Italian numberA SIM on day two: what to bring and which operator.
Loggia Amulea across the water at Prato della Valle, Padova

Loggia AmuleaOn the edge of Prato della Valle. The square everyone ends up at on a warm evening, whether they meant to or not.

Find five more like it

Your first week

Seven days, one street at a time

Keep scrolling: the week rides past.

Swipe through the week, one day at a time.

  1. Day 1

    Land, and sleep

    Find the train or bus into Padova, drop your bags, eat something. Nothing official is due today, but the permit clock has started.

    Getting here

  2. Day 2

    A number and a code

    An Italian SIM first: every form wants an Italian phone number. Then ask for your codice fiscale, through the university if you can.

    The codice fiscale

  3. Day 3

    The yellow kit

    Pick up the residence permit kit at a Sportello Amico post office and the revenue stamp at a tabaccheria. You have 8 working days from arrival to hand it in.

    The residence permit

  4. Day 4

    Hand it in, keep the receipts

    Submit the sealed kit at the post office and photograph all three receipts. Until your card arrives, that receipt is your legal status.

    What the receipts are for

  5. Day 5

    Switch on the mensa

    Log in to ESU with your name exactly as it is on Uniweb. The canteen switches on 48 to 72 hours after your first esu login, so do it before you are hungry.

    The mensa

  6. Day 6

    A bus pass and a desk

    Install the bus app, pick the pass that fits your week, and find the study room nearest your department, with its hours.

    Buses and study rooms

  7. Day 7

    Walk under the porticoes

    Go to Prato della Valle for no reason at all. Then read what the students before you wish they had known.

    Words from seniors

The journey

Five stages, in the order they actually happen to you

  1. 01

    Still at home

    Before you fly

    Attestation, visa, pre-enrolment and a room, the stage where mistakes are cheapest to fix and most expensive to make.

    4 guides →

  2. 02

    First eight days

    The legal clock

    The residence permit deadline runs from your first full day here. This is the only part of the year with a legal countdown attached.

    2 guides →

  3. 03

    First month

    Getting functional

    Health cover, a bank account, a SIM, and the decisions that quietly cost money later.

    3 guides →

  4. 04

    First three months

    Getting settled

    Residenza, the health service, and the scholarship paperwork that is worth the most money.

    2 guides →

  5. 05

    After that

    Staying here

    Renewals, taxes if you worked, family visits, graduating, and leaving Italy properly: the second half of a degree.

    5 guides →

Why you can trust this

Every student guide rots. This one is built to admit it.

Offices move, fees change, deadlines shift. A guide that cannot tell you how old it is becomes actively dangerous. You trust it precisely because it looks confident. So the machinery that keeps this honest is visible, on every page.

Every page states its own age

Each guide carries the date it was last checked against official sources. Past its review date, the badge turns amber by itself and asks you for help. Nobody has to remember.

The law and the rumour look different

Anything an official body states is labelled and linked to its source. Anything students merely report is labelled as exactly that. You always know which one you are reading.

Every correction is public

When something changes or we got it wrong, the fix is checked against the official source and logged on the What changed page, with what the page used to say.

Labels you will see:OfficialStudent-reportedOpinion

Money on the table

Three facts worth more than the rest of this website combined

Regional scholarship deadline

30 September 2026

Closed for this year. The next call comes out each July, and the deadline is again at the end of September: put it in your calendar now.

How the scholarship works

Lower tuition: apply by

30 November 2026

Your fees are reduced, or waived entirely, according to your family's income. Before this date, confirm the Application for Benefits on Uniweb and have your ISEE made: the ISEE parificato at the university's CAF if your family's income is abroad. Uniweb collects the ISEE by itself.

The university's ISEE page ↗

Missed 30 November?

€109 to €327 late fee

  1. €0until 30 Nov
  2. €109to 15 Feb
  3. €218to 15 May
  4. €327to 30 Sep

You can still ask for lower fees, but late: €109 until 15 February, €218 until 15 May, €327 until 30 September 2027. After that, the reduction for this year is lost.

Every date, in the university's guide (PDF) ↗
Read the money guide

Found something out of date? That is the most useful thing you can give us.

Every correction is checked against the official source before it is published. One person’s wasted morning at a counter becomes something nobody else has to repeat.

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