Truck driver salary in Italy 2026: CCNL levels, trasferta and what international drivers really earn

A truck driver in Italy earns between roughly EUR 1,649 and EUR 2,575 gross per month in contractual minimum pay in 2026, with the driver reference level near EUR 2,010, and international work adds a further EUR 500 to EUR 1,000 net through daily allowances. Those minimums rise again on 2027-06-01, the last of four wage steps in the current national contract. The pressure behind them is structural: Il Sole 24 Ore reports that Italian road transport faces the exit of 86,000 drivers over five years through retirement, against a shortage already put at 17,000 to 25,000 unfilled positions. This guide sets out the pay levels, how the daily allowance works, what reaches a driver's account, and what that means for freight capacity and rates.

How much does a truck driver earn in Italy in 2026?

Italian driver pay is not set by the employer alone. It is set by a CCNL, the Contratto Collettivo Nazionale di Lavoro, a national collective agreement between employer associations and unions fixing minimum pay, hours, allowances and conditions for a whole sector. The one covering road freight is the CCNL Logistica, Trasporto Merci e Spedizione, signed on 2024-12-06 and valid from 2024-04-01 to 2027-12-31. Worker assemblies approved the renewal , and several trade sources call the resulting increase the largest single-contract wage rise the sector has seen.

Two structural points shape every figure below. The contract sets a working week of roughly 39 hours and pays 13 monthly instalments per year rather than 12, the extra one being the tredicesima. Annual gross is therefore the monthly minimum multiplied by 13, before allowances.

The number a job advert quotes is almost never the contractual minimum. It is usually the minimum plus allowances and overtime, presented as one headline. Published tabelle retributive, the pay tables attached to the contract, put the 2026 monthly minimo tabellare (base salary before allowances) at roughly EUR 1,648.74 at the lowest grade and EUR 2,574.98 at the top supervisory grade, with the driver reference grade around EUR 2,010.37. Payroll references such as Coverflex and BustaIA publish slightly different bands depending on the sub-level and date in 2026 cited, because figures move with each tranche. Treat any single number as a snapshot and check the tabella in force on the date you need. Our freight cost and pricing guides apply the same principle to other cost lines.

What are the CCNL livelli and what do they mean for driver pay?

A livello is the contractual grade assigned to a role. It determines the minimo tabellare and moves with licence class, responsibility and seniority rather than kilometres driven. The scale runs from Livello 6, covering base duties, up to Quadro, a supervisory grade. Driver roles usually sit between Livello 4 and Livello 3S or B3, the reference grade for personale viaggiante, meaning traveling personnel.

Three notes on reading that table. Only the Livello 6, B3 and Quadro figures are published anchors; the Livello 5 and Livello 4 cells are bounded between them rather than stated precisely, because published sources do not break those grades out consistently. The trasferta columns repeat across driver rows because the allowance is set by hours away from base, not by grade. And Quadro is shown for contrast: a supervisory grade accumulates no road allowance, which is why a B3 driver on international work can out-earn one in take-home terms. Drivers weighing a move between grades can review current Logifie driver and logistics roles against these bands.

What is trasferta and how much can it add to a driver's month?

Trasferta is the daily allowance paid to a worker sent to work away from the contractual place of work. For a driver it is the most important pay component after base salary, and on international work it frequently exceeds the base.

Domestic rates commonly fall in the EUR 30 to EUR 45 per day range, scaled by hours away from base. International trasferta is tiered in the contract: from January 2025, EUR 31.94 for 6 to 12 hours away, EUR 45.05 for 12 to 18 hours, and EUR 62.49 for 18 to 24 hours. Trade coverage of the CCNL allowance updates tracks how these entered the pay slip alongside the wage tranches. Driver-facing sources cite a wider EUR 45 to EUR 80 range, because many operators pay above the contractual floor to crew hard corridors.

Why the tax-exempt threshold decides the real value

The allowance is valuable because a large part of it is exempt from income tax. Under Art. 51 co.5 of the TUIR, the Italian consolidated income tax code, trasferta for travel outside the municipality is exempt up to EUR 46.48 per day domestically and EUR 77.47 for foreign travel. Those ceilings drop to EUR 30.99 and EUR 51.65 if the employer also provides meals or lodging, and to EUR 15.49 and EUR 25.82 if both are provided. Agenzia delle Entrate, the Italian revenue agency, has issued clarifications on how these thresholds apply .

One figure is routinely misread. Art. 95 co.4 TUIR allows transport companies a deduction of EUR 59.65 per day domestic and EUR 95.80 foreign. That is a company-side deduction, not a driver's personal exemption, and quoting EUR 95.80 as a tax-free allowance overstates net pay substantially.

Because the exempt amount depends on hours away and on whether meals and lodging were provided, accurate time records are a pay issue and not only a compliance one. Fleets logging driving, rest and away-from-base hours through the Logifie Driver Assistant app avoid the month-end disputes that follow when entitlement is reconstructed from memory.

How much more do international drivers earn than domestic drivers?

Drivers on domestic Italian routes commonly take home EUR 1,700 to EUR 2,200 net per month. International routes reach EUR 2,500 to EUR 3,000 or more net once trasferta is included, an uplift of roughly EUR 500 to EUR 1,000.

The mechanism matters more than the range. That gap is not produced by a higher grade: an international and a domestic driver can sit on the same livello with the same minimo tabellare. The difference is accumulation. Nights away convert into partly tax-exempt allowances, so each extra night abroad adds more to net pay than an hour of taxed overtime. A driver spending 18 nights abroad at the upper tier adds a four-figure sum, most of it untaxed within the threshold.

What erodes the international premium

Three things reduce it in practice. Slow months cut allowance days without cutting the base, so income varies more than a domestic driver's does. Weekly rest abroad costs personal time the allowance compensates but does not replace. And route economics shift with conditions: cross-border fuel spreads, checked against the Italian fuel price map , change which corridors an operator runs, while rules such as the Italian HGV speed limits shape daily distance and therefore how many trips fit into a month.

Gross vs net: what does an Italian truck driver actually take home?

Two deductions do most of the work. INPS, the Istituto Nazionale della Previdenza Sociale, is the national social security institute, and the employee contribution is roughly 9.19 percent. IRPEF, the Imposta sul Reddito delle Persone Fisiche, is the progressive personal income tax on what remains.

An illustrative example, on a gross of about EUR 1,750 for a mid-band grade: after INPS, IRPEF and the 2026 cuneo fiscale relief, net pay lands at roughly EUR 1,420 to EUR 1,455 per month. The cuneo fiscale is the measure narrowing the gap between employer cost and employee take-home. In its 2026 form it exempts between 7.1 and 4.8 percent of income on a sliding scale up to EUR 20,000 per year, plus a credit of up to EUR 1,000 tapering to zero at EUR 40,000.

Treat that as an order of magnitude, not a calculation. Actual net pay depends on family status, on detrazioni (the personal and dependant deductions claimed), and on regional and municipal surcharges. Trasferta sits outside this arithmetic where it falls under the exempt thresholds, which is why a contractual gross understates an international driver's real income.

What changes with the CCNL wage step on 2027-06-01?

The renewal delivers its increases in four tranches: January 2025, January 2026, January 2027 and 2027-06-01. For personale viaggiante at B3, the total is EUR 260 gross per month, from two components.

The first is EUR 140 in minimo tabellare increases: EUR 90 from January 2025, EUR 40 from January 2026 and EUR 10 from 2027-06-01. The second is a new element worth EUR 120, the EPA or Elemento Professionale d'Area, paid in three equal steps of EUR 40 from January 2025, January 2027 and 2027-06-01. Non-traveling personnel at 3S receive EUR 230 rather than EUR 260, so the contract deliberately weights the increase towards drivers on the road.

Two planning implications follow. Most of the increase has already landed, so a 2026 pay table reflects the bulk of it. And the contract expires on 2027-12-31, six months after the final step, so renewal talks open almost immediately. Operators budgeting driver cost into 2028 should assume a further negotiated increase, not a flat continuation.

How does Italy compare with other EU countries on driver pay?

Italy sits mid-range in Europe: above the Central and Eastern European states supplying much of the continent's international haulage capacity, below the Nordic and northwestern markets. Eurostat's hourly labour cost statistics show the scale of that spread across transport and storage, and analyses such as Eurowag's overview of truck driver compensation across Europe reach the same structural conclusion.

The comparison is more misleading than it looks. Headline gross salaries are not like-for-like across member states, because the share of income arriving as a partly tax-exempt per-diem rather than taxable salary differs sharply by country. An Italian B3 driver's gross can look modest next to a northern European figure while the take-home gap is far narrower once trasferta is counted. Benchmark net monthly income for a comparable pattern of nights away, not gross contractual pay.

What does driver pay mean for Italian freight capacity and rates?

This is where driver economics stops being an HR question. Italy is short of roughly 17,000 to 25,000 drivers depending on source and horizon, and the Il Sole 24 Ore projection puts 86,000 retirement exits within five years. A shortage of that size does not resolve through recruitment alone, and the CCNL renewal is in part a market response to it.

Three consequences follow for shippers and carriers. Driver cost is a contractually scheduled rising line item rather than a negotiable variable, so rate quotes assuming flat driver cost into 2027 and beyond are structurally optimistic. Capacity on international lanes goes to whoever can attract drivers, which makes allowance policy, not just base pay, the deciding factor in crewing a corridor at peak. And operators who hold capacity tend to be those evidencing hours, allowances and rest accurately, because drivers move towards predictable pay slips.

Frequently asked questions

How much does a truck driver earn per month in Italy in 2026?

Contractual minimum pay runs from roughly EUR 1,649 gross per month at Livello 6 to EUR 2,575 at Quadro, with the B3 driver grade around EUR 2,010. Net pay on a mid-band gross of about EUR 1,750 lands near EUR 1,420 to EUR 1,455. International drivers typically take home EUR 2,500 to EUR 3,000 or more once trasferta is added.

Is the trasferta allowance taxed in Italy?

Partly. Under Art. 51 co.5 TUIR it is exempt up to EUR 46.48 per day for domestic travel outside the municipality and EUR 77.47 for foreign travel. Those ceilings fall to EUR 30.99 and EUR 51.65 if meals or lodging are provided, and to EUR 15.49 and EUR 25.82 if both are. Anything above the applicable ceiling is taxed as ordinary income.

Which CCNL livello does a truck driver belong to?

Driver roles usually sit between Livello 4 and Livello 3S or B3. B3 is the reference grade for personale viaggiante, meaning traveling personnel. Licence class, route type and seniority determine placement, not distance driven.

How much more does an international driver earn than a domestic driver?

Roughly EUR 500 to EUR 1,000 net per month. The difference comes almost entirely from accumulated daily allowances rather than a higher contractual grade, since international tiers pay EUR 31.94, EUR 45.05 or EUR 62.49 per day by hours away from base.

When does Italian truck driver pay increase next?

The final scheduled step falls on 2027-06-01, worth EUR 10 in minimo tabellare plus EUR 40 of EPA at B3. The contract then expires on 2027-12-31, so renewal negotiation follows immediately and further increases should be expected.

Does Italian truck driver pay include a thirteenth month?

Yes. The CCNL provides 13 monthly instalments per year, the extra one being the tredicesima. Annual gross is the monthly figure multiplied by 13 before allowances, which is why Italian monthly figures look low against annualised comparisons.

Is EUR 95.80 per day a tax-free allowance for Italian drivers?

No. EUR 95.80 foreign and EUR 59.65 domestic are deduction limits available to transport companies under Art. 95 co.4 TUIR. They are company-side figures and do not raise the driver's personal exemption, which remains EUR 77.47 and EUR 46.48.

Driver pay in Italy is no longer a soft cost that absorbs pressure quietly. It is contractually scheduled, rising through 2027, and increasingly the variable that decides whether a lane can be crewed at all. If you are pricing Italian road freight for the year ahead and want that reflected honestly rather than discovered later, request a freight rate quote from Logifie .