Official guidelines on internships and apprenticeships

The Ministry of Labour and Social Policies defines the regulatory and legal framework for career guidance and training.

An internship is a period of career guidance and training carried out in a work environment, aimed at facilitating young people’s entry into the labour market. It does not constitute an employment relationship. There are two types of internships:

• Curricular internship, designed for young people enrolled in an educational or training program and intended to integrate learning with work experience. This type of internship is regulated by the rules of the educational institution or university and is promoted by schools, universities, or accredited training bodies, in accordance with national legislation (Law 196/97 and Interministerial Decree 142/98).

• Extracurricular internship, which provides a training period in a real work environment, offering direct insight into the world of work. This type is regulated by Regions and Autonomous Provinces, although minimum national standards have been defined. These standards include key features of the internship, conditions under which the intern carries out their activity and the minimum allowance. The standards are outlined in the "Guidelines on training and orientation internships" (State-Regions Agreement 86/2017). 

It is also worth noting that the 2022 Budget Law introduced measures to counter abuses in extracurricular internships.

An apprenticeship is a permanent employment contract aimed at training and youth employment, regulated by Legislative Decree 81/2015 and structured into three types:

• Apprenticeship for qualification and professional diploma, upper secondary education diploma and higher technical specialization certificate, targeted to young people aged 15 to 25, with the goal of obtaining one of the above qualifications within a work context.

• Professional apprenticeship or trade contract, intended for young people aged 18 to 29, aimed at learning a trade or obtaining a professional qualification.

• Higher education and research apprenticeship, open to young people aged 18 and above, aimed at obtaining university and higher education degrees, including PhDs, Higher Technical Institute (ITS) diplomas, conducting research activities, and accessing regulated professions.

Promoting traineeships and apprenticeships

The Youth Portal is a project of Eurodesk Italy, the Italian coordinating office of the European information network dedicated to providing information, promotion, and guidance on programs for young people promoted by the European Union and the Council of Europe. In the “Work” section, information on internships abroad is available. In addition, the Italian Eurodesk Network publishes and promotes similar opportunities for young people through the podcast Eurodesk OnAir.

The Giovani2030 portal, managed by the Department for Youth Policies and the Universal Civic Service, advertises various internship opportunities. Among these, the Rete Project, through the initiative Uno Stage per te ("An Internship for You"), in collaboration with Invitalia, promotes paid internships in Italy and abroad, lasting six months, for young people aged between 18 and 30.

Many Italian regions promote internship and apprenticeship offers through their institutional websites or portals dedicated to employment and training. Some examples include:

• Lazio Region, on its website in the Job Offers section;

• Toscana Region, through the Giovanisì website, an initiative supporting young people’s autonomy;

• Emilia-Romagna Region, through the website of the Regional Employment Agency;

• Piemonte Region, on the Piemonte Giovani website.

Recognition of learning outcomes

In Italy, the recognition of skills acquired through apprenticeships and internships is designed to align with European credit systems such as ECVET (European Credit System for Vocational Education and Training) and ECTS (European Credit Transfer and Accumulation System). Apprenticeships make use of these frameworks to ensure that learning outcomes are clearly defined, transferable, and recognized at the European level. These outcomes are expressed in units with associated credits, facilitating mobility and the accumulation of qualifications. This approach enables the recognition of informal and non-formal learning, in addition to formal education.

Article 8 of Legislative Decree 13/2013 established the National Repertoire of Education and Training Qualifications and Professional Qualifications, which serves as the reference framework for the certification of competences in Italy. The Atlas of Work and Qualifications further organizes this information, involving various stakeholders such as employers, trade unions and sector experts.

The Decree 184/2024 issued by the Minister of Labour and Social Policies regulates the functions and defines the areas of responsibility of the Ministry within the national competence certification system. The decree also addresses the recognition of skills acquired in non-formal learning contexts, such as the Universal Civic Service, apprenticeship contracts or internships promoted by the Ministry, as well as pathways supporting entrepreneurship and self-employment, volunteering and community-benefit projects.

The Citizen’s Training Record Book (Libretto Formativo del Cittadino) logs the skills acquired outside of formal education. Further information is available in the European inventory on the validation of non-formal and informal learning, published by CEDEFOP, the European Centre for the Development of Vocational Training.

Funding

The main sources of public funding for internships and apprenticeships are:

• Regional and national funds (through development programs and active labour market policies);

• The European Social Fund Plus (ESF+) 2021–2027: used in numerous regional initiatives to support internships, training and apprenticeships.  

• The National Programme “Youth, Women, and Work” 2021–2027: offers internship and apprenticeship opportunities to young people as key tools to facilitate their entry into the labour market. These measures are part of personalized pathways aimed at improving the employability of young people aged 15 to 34, particularly NEETs (Not in Education, Employment or Training).

Quality assurance

The National Institute for Public Policy Analysis (INAPP) publishes an annual Monitoring Report on the Dual System and on Vocational Education and Training (IeFP), which provides an overview of employment in apprenticeships and of public training programs for apprentices, planned by the Regions and Autonomous Provinces. The latest edition was published in October 2024, in collaboration with INPS (National Institute of Social Security).

The 2022 Budget Law introduced measures to prevent abuse in non-curricular internships, including:

• Identification of qualifying elements, such as the recognition of an adequate participation allowance, the establishment of a maximum duration (including any extensions), and numerical limits on the number of internships that can be activated based on company size;

• Definition of essential training standards, including a skills assessment at the beginning of the internship and skills certification at the end;

• Establishment of mechanisms for internship quota restrictions, linking the activation of new internships to the hiring of a minimum proportion of interns at the end of the program;

• Provision of actions and measures to prevent and counter the misuse of internships, including a clear definition of how the intern carries out their activities;

• Sanctions in case of non-compliance with the established requirements.