Italian passport photo: 35 × 45 mm and the Questura's automatic check

What should you check before your passport appointment?

Use these published requirements to review your image before printing, then inspect the print itself. The dimensions and face coverage below follow national MAECI guidance from the Ministero degli Affari Esteri e della Cooperazione Internazionale. The Questura sheet gives the recency, image-quality and printing requirements.

Size and face coverage: 35 × 45 mm, with 70–80% face coverage. Measure face coverage from the base of your chin to your forehead. Check this separately from the photo's outer dimensions.

Age: no more than 6 months old. Use a recent photograph within the Questura's stated limit.

Background: white, evenly lit and empty. You must be alone, with no other people or objects in the background. Inspect the space behind your head as well as the area around your shoulders. Uniform light is required, not merely a background that is white.

Lighting and image quality: sharp, natural and free of shadows. The photograph must be in focus and high quality, with optimal brightness and contrast. There must be no shadows or reflections on your face or behind your head. Your skin tone must look natural, with no red-eye.

Position: face the camera with your head straight. Both sides of your face must be visible. Do not tilt or turn your head, and keep the top of your head inside the frame. Look at the lens.

Expression: eyes open, mouth closed. Keep a neutral expression. Your eyes must be clearly visible and must not be covered by hair.

Print: high resolution on quality photo paper. Inspect the finished photograph for ink stains and creases. Check that the printed result still has clear detail, natural skin tone and suitable brightness and contrast.

What is known about the Questura's automatic checks?

The Questura sheet states that the passport office's digitalisation software checks every photograph against European parameters. It automatically flags non-conforming images. Those images cannot be used, and operator intervention is not possible.

That is the known software behaviour.

The distinction matters when you use a separate photo-checking service.

Prepare for the stated requirements rather than expecting an officer to make an exception. The sheet's no-intervention warning leaves no basis for relying on an operator to accept an image that the software has flagged.

Can you use a photo taken with a digital camera?

Yes. The Questura expressly permits digital-camera photographs if they are high quality, in colour and printed on quality photo paper. Its printing requirements also call for high resolution.

Start with the image checks above. A digital-camera photo still needs the white background, correct face coverage and straight-on pose. It must also meet the lighting and expression requirements.

Then review the finished print. The permission to use a digital camera does not remove the requirement for quality photo paper.

For preparation, pixtidy checks your photo in your browser without uploading it and crops it to 35 × 45 mm. An Italian version is also available.

Which details are easy to miss?

Glasses can obscure your eyes even when the lenses are clear. You do not have to wear glasses. If you do, the lenses must be clear, not tinted, and the frames must not cover any part of your eyes. Avoid heavy frames. Check for reflections or flash, including partial reflections, and for shadows cast by the glasses.

Religious head coverings still have visibility requirements. Hats and head coverings are not allowed except for religious reasons. With a permitted covering, your face must remain visible from chin to forehead, with both sides visible. Check the covering together with the framing, rather than treating the exception as permission to obscure part of your face.

A child's photograph must contain only the child. Chair backs, toys, other objects and other people must be out of the image. The child must face the camera, look at the lens and have a neutral expression with the mouth closed.

Common questions

Is the required size 35 × 45 mm or 35 × 40 mm? Use the national MAECI figures followed here: 35 × 45 mm, with 70–80% face coverage from chin to forehead. An older embassy sheet gives 35 × 40 mm and 65–70%.

Can an officer override an automatic rejection? No. The Questura sheet says automatically flagged non-conforming photographs cannot be used, with no possibility of operator intervention.

Is a colour digital-camera photo enough? No. It must also be high quality, meet the other photo requirements and be printed at high resolution on quality photo paper.

Does passing a browser check guarantee acceptance? No. pixtidy checks the photo in your browser (it is not uploaded) and crops it to 35 × 45 mm; the Questura's own software still makes the decision.

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