Debt Collection Agency Italy: Decreto Ingiuntivo in 15 Days
Debt Collection in Italy: The Country That Rewards Patience (But Punishes Delay)
Italy has a reputation. Slow courts, long lunches, bureaucratic labyrinths. If you're owed money by an Italian company, you've probably heard the horror stories — 18-month court proceedings, judges who reschedule four times, debtors who treat your invoice like a suggestion.
Here's the frame shift: Italy's commercial debt recovery system isn't broken. It's just designed for people who understand the procedural shortcuts.
The creditors who fail in Italy are almost always the ones who skip the amicable phase and go straight to litigation. That's like bypassing the appetiser in a country that invented the seven-course meal. The system has a logic. You just need to work with it, not against it.
The Number That Changes Everything
Italy's amicable recovery rate for commercial debts under 12 months old sits at approximately 62%. Not bad. Not Germany (78%), but substantially better than the 30-35% most foreign creditors assume.
The catch? That rate drops to roughly 28% once the debt crosses the 12-month threshold. The decay is steeper in Italy than in almost any other Western European jurisdiction. The reason is structural: Italian companies experiencing cash flow issues tend to prioritise domestic creditors — the ones who speak Italian, who have local legal representation, and who can escalate quickly.
Foreign creditors without local presence go to the back of the queue. Not because of bias, but because of physics. A debtor with limited cash pays the creditor most likely to cause immediate consequences first.
How the Italian System Actually Works
Forget the stereotypes. Here's the mechanism:
Phase 1 — Amicable Collection (Target: 30-60 days)
A native Italian-speaking collector contacts the debtor by phone and registered letter (raccomandata con ricevuta di ritorno). This isn't a courtesy — it's a legal requirement that creates evidence for later proceedings. The letter must reference the original contract, state the exact amount owed including interest under Legislative Decree 231/2002 (Italy's implementation of the EU Late Payment Directive), and set a clear deadline.
About 55-60% of commercial claims resolve during this phase. The key is speed and local credibility. A letter from a Milan-based collector lands differently than one from abroad.
Phase 2 — Decreto Ingiuntivo (Injunctive Decree)
This is Italy's secret weapon, and it's the detail most foreign creditors don't know about. The decreto ingiuntivo is an ex parte order — meaning the judge issues it based solely on the creditor's documentation, without hearing the debtor first. If your paperwork is solid (signed contract, delivery confirmation, unpaid invoices), a competent lawyer can obtain this in 15-40 days.
The debtor then has 40 days to oppose. Most don't. When a debtor receives an enforceable court order they didn't see coming, the negotiating dynamic shifts entirely. Roughly 70% of decreto ingiuntivo cases result in payment or a payment plan without further litigation.
Phase 3 — Full Litigation (Last Resort)
If the debtor opposes the decree, you're in the Tribunale. This is where Italy's reputation comes from — proceedings can stretch 12-24 months in major courts like Milan or Rome. But the reality is more nuanced than the reputation. Many Italian courts now have dedicated commercial sections, and the Cartabia reform introduced mandatory mediation and stricter timeline management. Average commercial case duration is trending downward.
The Cross-Border Advantage
Something counterintuitive: foreign creditors who use local Italian agents sometimes recover more than domestic creditors acting alone.
Why? An Italian company ignoring a local supplier risks a phone call, maybe a lawyer's letter. An Italian company ignoring an international agency with local partners risks something more complex — coordinated pressure across jurisdictions, potential impact on international credit ratings, and the uncomfortable possibility that their other foreign creditors might hear about it.
We've seen this pattern repeatedly across 25+ years operating in Italy. The debtor who stonewalls a single creditor often folds when the collection effort signals institutional capability.
What Foreign Creditors Get Wrong
Three mistakes account for most failed collections in Italy:
Waiting too long. The 12-month cliff is real. Every month past 90 days, your recovery probability drops measurably. Acting within 60 days of the due date gives you the best statistical outcome.
Sending English-only correspondence. Italian business culture is proud and particular. A formal demand letter in English isn't just less effective — it can actually antagonise a debtor who might otherwise negotiate. All communications should be in Italian, referencing Italian legal codes.
Skipping straight to litigation. The decreto ingiuntivo shortcut exists for a reason. It's faster, cheaper, and more effective than full proceedings in the vast majority of commercial cases.
The Real Cost of Not Acting
A €100,000 invoice at 90 days past due in Italy is worth roughly €100,000. That same invoice at 18 months is worth somewhere between €25,000 and €40,000 — and that's assuming you collect at all. The erosion isn't just inflation and opportunity cost. It's the increasing probability that the debtor's financial position deteriorates, that witnesses become unavailable, and that documentation gets lost.
Professional collection fees in Italy typically run 10-25% on a contingency basis. Even in a worst-case fee scenario, you're recovering 75-90% of money you'd otherwise write off.
The CFOs who treat Italian receivables as a strategic priority recover more than those who treat them as an administrative headache. Italy rewards action and punishes procrastination — which, come to think of it, might be the most Italian thing about the whole system.
