Italy's decreto ingiuntivo payment order and Article 642 fast-track provisional enforcement give creditors a genuinely quick route, backed by a generous ten-year limitation period.
For documented, undisputed debt, the decreto ingiuntivo procedure produces a court order without a full hearing, making it the standard first move for foreign creditors with clear commercial claims against Italian debtors.
Where the claim is backed by strong documentary evidence, Article 642 allows the creditor to enforce the decreto ingiuntivo provisionally even before the debtor's opposition period expires, a meaningful acceleration most creditors don't realize is available.
Italy's ten-year limitation period for most commercial claims is generous by European standards, though claims placed and pursued earlier still recover at meaningfully better rates.
Everything covered in this video, in full written form, in the complete article.
Read the full guideCreditor's guide to debt collection in Italy: decreto ingiuntivo, Article 642 fast-track enforcement, ten-year limitation, and pignoramento procedures.