Open Government, Italy API

Free to Use
35 F
Measured Score 0 50 100 Speed 5/30 Consistency 8/20 Security 18/20 Browser access 0/15 Transparency 4/15 TESTED 2026-08-10

Overview

The Open Government Italy API (dati.gov.it) offers free access to Italian government open data published across national and regional agencies, including datasets on public administration, environment, and transportation. No API key is needed — the platform uses a CKAN-compatible API that accepts plain HTTP requests. It is a solid resource for exploring Italian civic data or building public-interest applications.

Beginner Tip

Query the CKAN API at https://www.dati.gov.it/opendata/api/3/action/package_search to search for datasets. Add ?q=your_keyword&rows=10 to the URL to retrieve up to 10 matching datasets in a single call.

Measurement Record

What actually happened when we called this API from our own infrastructure. Every value below was recorded by the request, not copied from the provider's documentation.

Request
GET https://www.dati.gov.it/opendata/api/3/action/package_search?q=trasporti&rows=5
Result
HTTP 200 · application/json · 55,009 bytes
Response time
576 ms (median of 3) · fastest 408 ms
Transport
TLSv1.2 · ECDHE-RSA-AES128-GCM-SHA256 · certificate issued by Amazon
Browser CORS
No Access-Control-Allow-Origin header — call it from a server, not the browser
Served by
nginx
Recorded
2026-08-10

Fields Returned

Top-level fields present in the response we captured, with the type and value we actually received.

Field Type Value received
count integer 2568
facets object {0 fields}
results array [1 item]
sort string score desc, metadata_modified desc
search_facets object {0 fields}

Captured Response

Captured from a real request to https://www.dati.gov.it/opendata/api/3/action/package_search?q=trasporti&rows=5 on 2026-08-10. Long arrays and nested objects are truncated to keep the shape readable.

JSON Response · Captured
{
  "help": "https://www.dati.gov.it/opendata/api/3/action/help_show?name=package_search",
  "success": true,
  "result": {
    "count": 2568,
    "facets": {},
    "results": [
      {
        "…": "(33 more fields)"
      }
    ],
    "sort": "score desc, metadata_modified desc",
    "search_facets": {}
  }
}

Field Reference

success Indicates whether the API action was executed without errors

Implementation Example

Calls a real endpoint of this API. Replace any placeholder credentials with your own key.

Request
const url = "https://www.dati.gov.it/opendata/api/3/action/package_search?q=trasporti&rows=5";
const response = await fetch(url);
if (!response.ok) throw new Error(`Request failed: ${response.status}`);
const data = await response.json();
console.log(data);

What Can You Build?

Note: These code examples are AI-generated and unverified. Always refer to the official API documentation for accurate usage.

How This API Fails

We deliberately sent this API a broken request and recorded exactly what came back on 2026-08-10. Knowing the shape of an error before you hit it makes error handling much easier to write.

HTTP 404 Requesting a path that does not exist text/html

Returned an HTML error page rather than JSON — worth knowing if your client assumes every response can be parsed as JSON.

Common Errors & Troubleshooting

Generated guidance based on this API's documentation, not observed by us. Treat it as a starting point and check against the provider's own error reference.

Response contains Italian error messages The API returns localized error text when a parameter is invalid
Validate your parameter names against the CKAN API documentation — common valid actions are package_search, package_show, and datastore_search
result.results is empty despite high count The start offset parameter is set beyond the available records
Reset start=0 and use rows to control page size; iterate with start increments equal to rows for pagination
SSL certificate error The server certificate may be outdated or use an intermediate CA not trusted by your system
Update your system CA certificates or pass the --cacert flag in curl with a current CA bundle

Measured Score Breakdown

Live HTTP request to the API endpoint

Speed 5/30
Consistency 8/20
Security 18/20
Browser access 0/15
Transparency 4/15
Endpoint Response Time 576ms

Fully tested on Aug 10, 2026

Technical Specifications

Auth No Auth
HTTPS REQUIRED
CORS UNKNOWN
Category Government
Difficulty Beginner
Endpoint last called: 2026-08-10

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