Digitalizzati is a new project from our member Altroconsumo. It aims to bridge the digital divide in Italy and empower consumers to navigate the online world with confidence.

Italy is the EU’s third largest economy and boasts strong digital infrastructure, and significant progress in public digital services. However it continues to face a notable digital skills gap. 

The EU Digital Decade 2025 country report revealed that just under 46% of Italians possess basic digital skills, and the nation ranks among the most vulnerable in Europe to online scams, phishing, and identity theft.

Digital skills gap is holding back confidence and usage

The digital skills shortfall is already limiting the usage of online consumer services such as banking, healthcare and retail, with levels of take-up falling below the European average. 

The digital skills gap poses a particular challenge for vulnerable groups, who are more likely to lack the knowledge and safeguards they need to navigate and protect themselves as they embark into the digital world for the first time.

With more innovations like the European Digital Identity Wallet (EUDIW) and the digital euro due to roll out soon, it’s time to raise the knowledge, confidence and autonomy of all Italians online. 

Digitalizzati: celebrating digital benefits and minimizing risks

This is where Digitalizzi steps in. The project aims to give everyone the opportunity to benefit from easier access to finance, services, information and communication online and crucially, to spot and address risks like online fraud. 

Working alongside established social and educational organisations like Fondazione Articolo 49, Fondazione Triulza, Cocooners, AUSERS, FEDUF  and the think tank I-COM, we want Digitalizzati to increase digital awareness, reduce vulnerability to online fraud and support people to make the most of digital opportunities. 

Over the next months, the Digitalizzati project will take a proactive approach to promote safe use of digital tools by delivering:

Dedicated scam reporting centre

We hope these activities will enable more people to enjoy life online, confident they can  identify fraud attempts but of course, this can never be 100% effective.

The project will also create a dedicated ‘report a scam’ contact point on the Altroconsumo website for those who fall victim to fraud. This will get people the right help when they need it most, followed up by legal advice and support throughout the reporting and recovery process.

Collecting details of scammers’ tactics can also serve the whole community by informing policy and action and helping other people avoid them. We want  to reduce the isolation and trauma that fraud can bring, and improve the chances of recovering any lost money.  

AI-powered legal advice

Altroconsumo will also practically demonstrate the positive power of new technologies by developing an AI-powered conversational chatbot for its website that will complement and support their current consumer legal advice service.  

With 24/7 availability, this will open up access to legal advice and deal with first level or common enquiries, freeing up time for the legal team to work on more complex cases. 

The chatbot will also grow a valuable data set of case reports which shows how people frame and interpret consumer legal issues, and be a great way to test how to build effective, reliable and consumer-centered AI services. 

Digitalizzati: building Italy’s digital strength  

The future competitiveness of Italy and Europe will increasingly depend on digitalisation and new, advanced technologies to generate value and growth. 

This project empowers consumers to play a central role in that transformation by fostering trust and uptake in both public and private digital services. 

It aims to cultivate responsible, resilient, and collaborative digital citizens who can confidently and safely access a broad range of goods and services. Engaging more people in the digital ecosystem will accelerate the success of the digital transition and strengthen its positive impact across the country.

www.altroconsumo.it/info/progetti-finanziati/digitalizzati