Prior to 1994 and resuming in 1999, Italian automobile license plates bear an alphabetic code which tells in which region the automobile was registered.

Recent Italian plates have black characters on a rectangular white background, with small blue side-fields on the right and left. The region designator may be found in the right side-field.

Region designators:

• AG - Province of Agrigento
• AL - Province of Alessandria
• AN - Province of Ancona
• AO - Province of Aosta
• AP - Province of Ascoli Piceno
• BG - Province of Bergamo
• BS - Province of Brescia
• BZ - Province of Bolzano
• CE - Province of Caserta
• CL - Province of Caltanissetta
• CN - Province of Cuneo
• CS - Province of Cosenza
• EN - Province of Enna
• FC - Province of Forli-Cesena
• FO - Forlimpopoli, older form
• FR - Frosinone
• GE - Province of Genoa
• KR - Province of Crotone
• MC - Province of Macerata
• MI - Province of Milano
• NA - Province of Naples
• PA - Province of Palermo
• PR - Province of Parma
• RA - Province of Ravenna
• RE - Province of Reggio Emilia
• RM - Province of Rome
• SA - Province of Salerno
• SP - Province of La Spezia
• TO - Province of Turin
• VE - Province of Venice
• VR - Province of Verona