What's Free ItaliaWiFi

"Free ItaliaWiFi", a project started by the Province of Rome, the Autonomous Region of Sardinia and the City of Venice, is geared to public administrations and seeks to create the first national federal network of free wireless internet access.

The “Free ItaliaWiFi” project makes it possible to navigate for free not only in the public WiFi areas within one’s city, but also using the WiFi networks of the other administrations that adhere to the national network.

The general goal of “Free Italia WiFi” is to promote collaboration between public administrations in order to not only plan and develop free wireless networks within the areas covered by individual administrations, but also to federalize the area networks within a single national WiFi infrastructure.

The objectives of the “FIW” project

·         to spread the use of free public WiFi, supporting the development of new networks while promoting a digital culture and the right to access through Italian public administrations;

·         to facilitate and offer advantages to citizens who use the public WiFi networks (e.g., every user can access the federated network using the same access code);

·         to give life to a community of use that shares and constantly improves the open source software and architecture used;

·         to develop and create innovative applications for citizens that can be used via the federated networks;

·         to promote integrated communication initiatives through an adequate level of dissemination via the administrations’ communication channels; and

·         to launch common actions that simplify applicable national laws.

History

On November 30th, 2010 Nicola Zingaretti, President of the Province of Rome, Mario Floris, Deputy Governor of General Affairs of the Autonomous Region of Sardinia, and Gianfranco Bettin, Deputy Mayor of Computerization and “Digital Citizenship” of the City of Venice, presented the “Free Italia WiFi” project, signing a “Collaboration Agreement for Digital Citizenship” at the seat of the Province of Rome. This led to the first national WiFi network of public administrations.

The “Free Italia WiFi” project stems from the experience of the promoting administrations that, aware of the importance of providing open and free internet access in public places, have created a network for citizens within their respective areas. The Province of Rome launched the “ProvinciaWiFi” network in 2008, creating more than 650 WiFi areas throughout Rome and the Province of Rome; the Autonomous Region of Sardinia is working on the“SurfinSardinia” project, based on the Province of Rome’s open source model and architecture, which provides WiFi access in ports, airports and cities with a focus on tourism; the City of Venice, in 2009, launched the “Cittadinanza Digitale” network, based on fibre optics and wireless connections.

The “Free Italia WiFi” project led to the creation of the first federalized national WiFi network in which the networks dialogue with each other; the interconnection point is managed by Caspur. The principles that have inspired “Free Italia WiFi”, proposed by the promoters and shared by all of the administrations that adhere to the project, are: the sharing and exchange of experience and knowhow; the centrality of the citizens’ needs and the public value of free internet access; the possibility to share and improve technological solutions together.  

 How to contact us

The public administrations interested in the “Free Italia WiFi” project can write to  info@freeitaliawifi.it