9/26/2016
Business in Italy
Doing business in foreign countries can vary in so many ways, from office politics and
work ethic to the kind of currency within each country. This paper will present details on doing
business in Italy. Italy is culturally divided into two halves, Northern Italy and Southern Italy. It
is known that in Southern Italy it has higher poverty and unemployment levels as well as higher
mafia influence, so to keep things simple this paper will be focused on Northern Italy.
Work hours in Italy are slightly different than work hours in the US, private work sectors
work for 8 hours similar to the US however these hour are divided differently. The typical work
hours are 9am-1pm then 2:30am-6pm (Monday-Friday) leaving one and a half hours for lunch.
This is believed to help the Italian worker maintain the balance work life, social life, and at home
life. The public work sectors of Italy only work 8am-2pm but this sector works from Monday-
Saturday. These workers do not receive a break as they only work for six hours and get out of
work just in time for lunch (Work-life balance).
National holidays in Italy are more focused on Catholic holidays such as All Saint’s day
and the Immaculate Conception, these days are considered national holidays therefore all
businesses are closed. All Italian cities celebrate their respective patron saint as a holiday. For
example St. Peter is the patron saint of Rome, therefore all businesses in Rome would be closed
on June 29th which is St. Peter’s day. Most large industries are closed during the month of
August likewise employees tend to take summer holidays in August.
The currency of Italy is the Euro which has an exchange rate of .89 Euros per 1 US
dollar. This is something that should be kept in mind when setting up a business operation or
transferring one to Italy.
Northern Italy is considered a developed industrial economy “The Italian economy is
driven in large part by the manufacture of high-quality consumer goods produced by small and
medium-sized enterprises, many of them family owned.” (Italian Economy | Economy of Italy |
Italy’s Economy). The primary exports of Italy are precision machinery (18% of total exports),
metals and metal products (13%), and to a lesser extent clothing and motor vehicles. The primary
imports of Italy are Fuels (17% of total imports), motor vehicles (10%), raw minerals (10%),
