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Time limits prescrizione in Italy

Avv. Massimo Romano · updated 18/08/2026

Time limits prescrizione in Italy is decided by the provision below, by how the facts are qualified, and by what is done in the first weeks. Sentence, criminal record and right of residence follow from that. We answer on your own facts, at any hour, and you need not be in Italy.

Provision: Art. 157 c.p.; improcedibilita art. 344-bis c.p.p.
Checked 18/08/2026.

What this page covers

Whether Time limits prescrizione in Italy ends in a conviction, and with what sentence, depends on how the facts are qualified and on decisions taken in the first weeks — long before any trial.

Governing provision: Art. 157 c.p.; improcedibilita art. 344-bis c.p.p.

The questions that decide the outcome

  • What is actually happening
  • What to do now
  • During the investigation
  • How this differs from the US and the UK
  • Instructing a lawyer

What people ask us about this

  • Is my Italian case time-barred?
  • How does prescrizione work after the Cartabia reform?

Avv. Massimo Romano — Italian criminal defence lawyer, Naples Bar no. 14553, admitted to plead before the Court of Cassation since 23 October 2015.

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