Technological transformations

Digital identity, the EU accelerates on the wallet. Spid and CieID grow in Italy

According to the Digital Identity Observatory of the Politecnico di Milano, 49% of Italians would like the Eudi wallet to be provided by the government

by Camilla Colombo

11 November 2025

2' min read

Translated by AI

Versione italiana

2' min read

Translated by AI

Versione italiana

If 2025 is the year of fine-tuning for the Eudi Wallet in Europe, "2026 will be the year when the European digital identity will move from experimentation to concrete reality, even if full adoption will still take time". Giorgia Dragoni, director of the Digital Identity Observatory of the Politecnico di Milano, thus photographs the trend of digital wallets, on the eve of theconference "Identity wallet: near future or distant vision?", to be held today in Milan, and of which Il Lunedì del Sole 24 Ore is able to anticipate the data.

The European context

In the European Union, 22 digital identity wallet projects have been surveyed, 11 of which are already operational, but none are yet certified as Eudi Wallet compliant with eIDAS2, the regulation defining a common framework for digital identity and authentication. The UK and Switzerland have also chosen to align with EU standards to ensure interoperability.

Some states, such as Japan, are entering into partnerships with Big Tech, while projects outside the governmental sphere are gaining ground: there are 110 digital identity wallets developed by private companies, often created to manage tickets or payment cards and now allowing for the storage of identity documents, albeit without full legal validity.

"There are many work sites still open," explains Dragoni, "from the identification of value-added credentials to be stored in the wallet to the creation of an ecosystem of digital and physical services where these can actually be used, involving private companies and users.

In Europe, Italy stands out for its positive approach to the Eudi Wallet. According to the Observatory, 56% of users say they are very interested, 26% neutral and 18% against. Nearly one in two (49%) would prefer the wallet, in which to insert identity documents, to be granted by the government or a public body.

Portafoglio digitale, cosa serve sapere dell'app IO

The Italian situation

In this context, the development of the It Wallet, which will be integrated into the IO app, continues. Currently active is the "Documents on IO" functionality, which at the end of October had 6.8 million users and 11.4 million documents stored. In parallel, the growth of existing systems continues: as of today, 48.4 million citizens possess a valid electronic identity card (Cie), of which nine million have also activated digital credentials through the CieID app (+48% over 2024). Digital usage is growing: at the end of August there were 73.7 million accesses, already higher than the 71.4 million for the whole of 2024.

On the Spid front, at the end of October, there were 41.5 million active identities for citizens over 18 years of age, 82% of the population. They continue to increase in absolute terms (+1.7 million in the first nine months of 2025), but average usage per user is stabilising. According to the Observatory's estimate, the system as a whole will exceed 1.3 billion accesses in 2025.