Why pass rates differ between provinces

How wide are the differences between provinces?

There are 19.72 percentage points between the first and last province. The table shows the five offices with the highest rate and the five with the lowest, with the number of test sittings behind each rate.

The figures are published by Motorizzazione office: 102 offices for 107 provinces. Monza e della Brianza, Prato, Fermo, Barletta-Andria-Trani and Sud Sardegna have no row of their own.

Why do pass rates change from province to province?

There is no single cause. The rate is tests passed divided by tests sat, and anything that moves either number moves the result: candidates' age, the share preparing at a driving school, the number of resits, the size of the office. The Ministry's data measures the outcome. It does not say which of these factors produced it.

Does the pass rate count people or test sittings?

Sittings. A candidate who fails and resits appears twice in the denominator. A made up example, only to show the mechanism: 1,000 people sit theory and 600 pass first time. The other 400 resit and 240 pass. There are 1,400 sittings and 840 passes: the rate per sitting is 60 per cent, while 84 per cent of the people pass within two attempts. An office with more resits therefore shows a lower rate even if, in the end, it passes the same people.

If a candidate in Livorno fails theory in March and resits in April, the Ministry report counts two sittings. He must wait at least one month before resitting (article 121, paragraph 10, of the Codice della Strada), and if the second attempt also fails he must apply again, because two attempts are allowed within six months (article 122, paragraph 1).

Are examiners stricter in some provinces?

For theory this explanation does not hold. The sheet is generated by the system, answers are true or false and marking is automatic. The practical test does involve an examiner, and its national pass rate is different: 83.82% in 2025 across 734,553 sittings, against 84.40% in 2024. Public data contains nothing about examiners, though, so any judgement on strictness would remain an opinion.

If a candidate in Cagliari fails the practical test three times, he appears three times in his office's figure and the foglio rosa allows no fourth test (article 121, paragraph 11, of the Codice della Strada): he has to apply for a new authorisation.

Are small provinces more volatile?

Yes, and the data shows it. Comparing 2024 and 2025, the quarter of offices with the fewest sittings (up to 3,626 in 2025) changed rate by 1.18 points on average. The quarter with the most sittings (9,886 and above) moved by 0.80 points on average. With few candidates, a few dozen results are enough to shift the figure.

That does not mean the extremes are the smallest offices. In 2025 the top and bottom five offices had between 2,711 and 13,360 sittings, while the median office had 5,548. Volatility concerns year to year changes, not a single year's ranking.

Does the driving school share affect results?

It is a plausible hypothesis, to be treated with caution. Driving school students arrive with organised lessons and repeated simulations; independent candidates study alone. If the weight of the two groups differs between provinces, the overall rate differs too. The Esiti Esami report does not separate the two routes, so the link cannot be proven with public data. The differences between the routes are in the guide on how to book the test.

Does language affect theory test results?

It is reasonable to think so. The questions use technical vocabulary and many negatives, and anyone not confident reading Italian takes longer and risks more mistakes in 20 minutes. The office level data does not record a candidate's language or citizenship, so the effect cannot be quantified. Candidates with a certified specific learning disorder can ask for extra time and audio files, as the Portale dell'Automobilista states.

What happens when the numbers are misread?

A candidate in Grosseto believes she faces the hardest test in Italy. Her office has the lowest rate in 2025, but the sheet is the same one used in Messina: 30 questions, 20 minutes, 3 mistakes. The figure describes who sat the test in Grosseto, not the test she will take. If she is put off and does not sit within six months of her application, she loses the two attempts allowed (article 122, paragraph 1, of the Codice della Strada) and must apply again.

A local paper in Trieste headlines a collapse in pass rates. The office moved from 60.97% to 57.25% with 3,284 sittings. In Isernia, with 1,349 sittings, the rate went from 57.11% to 54.11%. In Rome, with 77,822 sittings, it went from 56.78% to 56.17%. A three point move at a small office needs several years of data before it counts as a trend.

A young man in Bologna wants to sit the test in an "easier" province. The data does not justify it, because the test is identical at every office. Practising the real format in the practice test does more good.

How should comparisons between provinces be read?

• Always look at the number of sittings next to the rate.
• Compare several years: the national average went from 60.23% in 2024 to 60.27% in 2025.
• Remember that the data counts sittings, not people.
• Do not attribute a difficulty to an office that a computer marked test cannot have.

Full figures, province by province, are on the pass rates page.

What are the most common questions about pass rates?

Data as of 2026-09-07. Source: Ministero delle Infrastrutture e dei Trasporti, Centro Elaborazione Dati, Esiti Esami 2025 (licence CC BY 3.0 IT).