No need to visit town hall offices under Italy's new online Anagrafe system.

Italy has made a range of bureaucratic documents available online, from residency papers to marriage certificates, cutting out the need to visit comune offices in person.

From 15 November the new Anagrafe website allows people living in Italy to download various official documents for free, without having to pay for the marca da bollo tax stamp.

Thanks to the new online platform, it is possible to access essential paperwork from home, with access granted via your SPID credentials (Italy's digital identity system for public administration) or your electronic identity card (Carta d’Identità Elettronica).

• Italy's digital identity system: What is SPID and how do I get it?

There are a total of 14 certificates available to download, either for yourself or a family member, including birth, marriage, residence and citizenship.

Other papers include family status documents, the Esistenza in vita cert, cohabitation agreements and civil union registry certificates, all of which are available in multilingual versions.

The first person to use the new online system, which is accessible to both citizens living in Italy and those residing abroad, was the Italian president Sergio Mattarella.

Italy's minister for technological innovation and digital transition, Vittorio Colao, hailed the Anagrafe portal as "the first of a series of technological innovations that the public administration will implement to improve everyone's lives."