dati.gov.it API

Free Italian open data API with no key: 65,000+ datasets, heavily municipal, on a CKAN mounted under /opendata. CORS is off, so call it server-side. Tested example included.

No API key requiredHTTPSFree tier

Endpoint tested and returned HTTP 200 on 21 Aug 2026

What is the dati.gov.it API?

dati.gov.it is Italy's national open data catalogue, exposing a free, key-free CKAN API with more than 65,000 datasets. Its API lives under an `/opendata` path prefix rather than at the site root, and it sends no CORS headers, so browser JavaScript cannot call it directly.

Two practical facts shape how you use this one. First, the API is mounted at `/opendata/api/3/action/...`; drop the `opendata` segment and you get the portal's HTML shell with a 404, which is the most common reason people conclude the API does not exist. Second, no `Access-Control-Allow-Origin` header comes back at all, so a `fetch()` from a browser will be blocked. Proxy it through your own backend.

The catalogue's centre of gravity is local rather than national. A plain search surfaces records from bodies like the Comune di Mandello del Lario long before it surfaces a ministry, because thousands of Italian municipalities publish demographic, budget and planning extracts through the regional aggregators that dati.gov.it harvests. Dataset `name` slugs are frequently 64-character SHA-256 hashes generated by that harvest chain, so use `id` or the human `title` for anything user-facing, and expect `license_id` to be null on a large share of records.

Quick facts

Base URL: https://www.dati.gov.it/opendata/api/3/action
Authentication: No API key for reads. Publishing is done through the regional catalogues that dati.gov.it harvests, not through this endpoint.
Rate limit: No published limit. Keep page sizes modest.
Pricing: Free. Licences are often null on harvested records; check the source catalogue before reuse.
CORS: Not enabled — call it from your server
Official docs: Read the docs

How to use the dati.gov.it API

Every request below was executed against the live API on 21 Aug 2026, and the response shown is the real body it returned — not an illustration.

1. Search Italian government datasets

GET https://www.dati.gov.it/opendata/api/3/action/package_search?rows=1

curl

curl 'https://www.dati.gov.it/opendata/api/3/action/package_search?rows=1'

JavaScript (fetch)

const res = await fetch("https://www.dati.gov.it/opendata/api/3/action/package_search?rows=1");
if (!res.ok) throw new Error(`Request failed: ${res.status}`);
const data = await res.json();
console.log(data);

Python (requests)

import requests

res = requests.get("https://www.dati.gov.it/opendata/api/3/action/package_search?rows=1", timeout=20)
res.raise_for_status()
print(res.json())

Response — HTTP 200 (truncated)

{
  "help": "https://www.dati.gov.it/opendata/api/3/action/help_show?name=package_search",
  "success": true,
  "result": {
    "count": 65865,
    "facets": {},
    "results": [
      {
        "author": null,
        "author_email": null,
        "creator_user_id": "d44c17b1-5c95-4403-ae56-a01a72c3b89f",
        "id": "6cc08414-75cd-42e8-9ee9-996ab87892f2",
        "isopen": false,
        "license_id": null,
        "license_title": null,
        "maintainer": null,
        "maintainer_email": null,
        "metadata_created": "2026-08-19T08:42:10.169423",
        "metadata_modified": "2026-08-20T06:40:21.380058",
        "name": "1d11c91ef3d9a3a727d3b61d7ec0e799d3cdca6fc0ee41053f8d9c4b1f6a3ff9",
        "notes": "Composizione della popolazione residente per fasce di eta' e sesso",
        "num_resources": 1,
        "num_tags": 3,
        "organization": {
          "id": "42c175f4-59d4-4f23-85f6-e9d6e8c9f920",
          "name": "comune-di-mandello-del-lario",
          "title": "Comune di Mandello del Lario",
          "type": "organization",
          "description": "",
          "image_url": "",
          "created": "2025-04-14T10:43:04.033479",
          "is_organization": true,
          "approval_status": "approved",
          "state": "active"
        },
        "owner_org": "42c175f4-59d4-4f23-85f6-e9d6e8c9f920",
        "private": false,
        "state": "active",
        "title": "Analisi demografica - Popolazione residente",
        "type": "dataset",
        "url": "https://www.comune.mandello.lc.it/it-it/amministrazione-trasparente/altri-contenuti/accessibi

Parameters

Parameter	Type	Required	Description
`q`	query	Optional	Free-text Solr query in Italian across titles, notes and tags. `popolazione`
`rows`	query	Optional	Datasets per page. Defaults to 20. `1`
`start`	query	Optional	Pagination offset. `0`
`fq`	query	Optional	Filter query, typically by the publishing body. `organization:comune-di-milano`
`sort`	query	Optional	Sort order, such as most recently modified. `metadata_modified desc`

Response fields

successboolean: CKAN's success flag. HTTP 200 does not imply it is true.
result.countinteger: Total matching datasets — 65,865 unfiltered when tested.
results[].namestring: URL slug, very often a 64-character hash rather than readable text. Prefer `id` or `title`.
results[].title / notesstring: Italian-language title and description. No English fields.
results[].organizationobject: Publishing body, frequently a `comune-di-*` municipality rather than a ministry.
results[].license_id / license_titlenull or string: Null on many harvested records. Absence of a licence is not a grant of one.
results[].num_resourcesinteger: Count of attached files or services; many municipal records carry exactly one CSV.

What you can build with the dati.gov.it API

Search Italian municipal budget and demographic releases programmatically
Build a regional dataset monitor for a specific comune or region
Harvest Italian metadata into a multi-country catalogue
Find direct CSV download URLs for local statistics

Common errors and how to fix them

404 on /api/3/action/...

The `/opendata` path segment is missing.

Fix: The correct base is `https://www.dati.gov.it/opendata/api/3/action/`. This is the single most common mistake with this portal.

CORS error in the browser

dati.gov.it sends no Access-Control-Allow-Origin header.

Fix: Call it from a server or serverless function and pass the result to your front end.

HTTP 200 with success false

CKAN rejected your parameters.

Fix: Read `error.message` in the response body.

Unreadable dataset slugs

Harvested records get hash-based `name` values.

Fix: Display `title` and link by `id`; never assume `name` is human-readable.

dati.gov.it API — frequently asked questions

Why does the dati.gov.it API return 404?

Almost always because the `/opendata` prefix was left out. The endpoint is `https://www.dati.gov.it/opendata/api/3/action/package_search`, not `https://www.dati.gov.it/api/3/action/package_search`.

Can I call dati.gov.it from browser JavaScript?

No. It returns no CORS headers, so the browser will block the response. Route the call through your own server, which also lets you cache it.

Why are most results from small towns rather than ministries?

The portal harvests from regional aggregators into which thousands of comuni publish. Municipal demographic and budget extracts vastly outnumber national datasets, so filter by `organization` if you want ministry-level data.

Is Italian open data free to reuse commercially?

Usually, under CC BY or IODL, but `license_id` is null on many harvested records. Follow the resource back to the publishing comune or region and check there before commercial reuse.

Tools that pair with this API

CSV to JSON Converter

Convert CSV to a JSON array of objects online. Header-row detection, comma/semicolon/tab delimiters and pretty-printed output — 100% in your browser.

CSV Viewer & Table

View CSV as a clean HTML table online. Live search filter, row and column counts, delimiter and header options — all processed locally in your browser.

JSON Formatter

Format, beautify and minify JSON online with 2-space, 4-space or tab indentation. Sort keys alphabetically and catch syntax errors instantly — free and private.

Alternatives to dati.gov.it API

If dati.gov.it does not fit, these government & open data apis cover similar ground. Every one was called before publishing, and each links to its own reference page with a working curl command and the response it returned.

API	What it does	Auth	CORS	Last verified
Federal Register	Free US Federal Register API with no key: executive orders, rules, notices and proposed regulations with full text search back to 1994. Tested curl example.	No key	Yes	19 Aug 2026
USAspending	Free US federal spending API with no key: agency budgets, contracts, grants and award data covering trillions in government spending. Tested curl example.	No key	No	19 Aug 2026
UK Parliament Members	Free UK Parliament Members API with no key: MPs and Lords, constituencies, party affiliation, contact details and voting records. Tested curl example.	No key	No	19 Aug 2026
UK Police Data	Free UK Police API with no key: street-level crime data, police forces, neighbourhood teams and stop-and-search records by location and month. Tested example.	No key	Yes	19 Aug 2026
data.public.lu	Free Luxembourg open data API with no key: national datasets on the uData platform, with descriptions in French, German and English and rich per-dataset quality metrics. Tested example.	No key	Yes	21 Aug 2026
data.gov.my	Free Malaysian government data API with no key: weekly fuel prices, CPI, trade and dozens of national indicators as flat JSON arrays. Tested curl example and live response.	No key	Yes	21 Aug 2026

All Government & Open Data APIs

dati.gov.it is an independent third-party service and is not affiliated with ByteTools or ByteVancer. Details on this page were verified on 21 Aug 2026; always check the official documentation before relying on this API in production, as terms and limits can change.