Special allowance for partially blind civilian blind persons ("ventesimisti")

What is it?

The special allowance is a financial benefit, payable upon claim, for partially blind civilian blind persons.

Who is it aimed at?

The special allowance is granted to partially blind persons solely on the basis of the impairment, i.e. regardless of the economic circumstances and age of the person concerned. It is reduced by €93 per month during the period in which the beneficiary uses the accompaniment service provided by a volunteer from the civil service.

How does it work?

START DATE AND DURATION

The allowance is paid for 12 monthly instalments starting from the first day of the month following submission of the claim or, exceptionally, from the date indicated by the medical boards in the report recognising civilian invalidity sent by the Institute.

WHAT AM I ENTITLED TO?

For the 2026 the amount of the allowance is 237,14 euro and it is paid for 12 monthly instalments.

Claim

REQUIREMENTS

The following health and administrative requirements must be met in order to be entitled to the special allowance:

• recognition of partial blindness, with residual sight more than one twentieth in both eyes;
• have Italian citizenship;
• for foreign EU citizens: listed at the registry office of their municipality of residence;
• for non-EU foreign citizens: residence permit of at least one year (Article 41 of the Consolidated Immigration Act);
• permanent and regular residence within the national territory.

No income or age requirement is required.

The allowance may be combined with pensions for civilian blind persons and is payable in full even to those admitted to a public institution.

Partial blindness may be taken into account, together with other impairments, in the assessment of total incapacity, also for the purposes of any entitlement to the attendance allowance.

The Constitutional Court (judgment no. 346/1989) has in fact clarified that partial blindness may constitute a contributing factor, together with other impairments, to meet the condition of total incapacity which, if the other requirements are met (inability to walk without the permanent help of an accompanying person, or inability to carry out the ordinary acts of daily life with the consequent need for continuous assistance), gives entitlement to the bridging allowance.

The principle applies only to determine whether the health requirement is met. It does not apply for the purposes of recognition of the right to incapacity pensions, because this is subject to the requirement of total incapacity assessed exclusively in relation to the impairments in the relevant category.

What is provided for by the Constitutional Court, and adopted by INPS, is the only case in which the attendance allowance, recognised with the contribution of impairments of the visual system (partial blindness), may coexist and, therefore, may be combined with the financial benefits specifically provided for by law for the latter impairment (pensions and special allowance).

HOW CAN I CLAIM?

To obtain the benefit, it is first necessary that the impairment has been recognised in the report issued by the relevant medical-legal board at the end of the health assessment.

From 1 January 2025, as established by Legislative Decree no. 62 of 3 May 2024, subjects domiciled or resident in one of the following nine provinces:

• Catanzaro;
• Frosinone;
• Salerno;
• Brescia;
• Florence;
• Forlì-Cesena;
• Perugia;
• Sassari;
• Trieste.

From 30 September 2025, also in the 11 provinces of:

• Alessandria;
• Lecce;
• Genoa;
• Isernia;
• Macerata;
• Matera;
• Palermo;
• Teramo;
• Vicenza;
• Trento;
• Aosta.

From 1 March 2026, in the provinces of:

• Arezzo;
• Ascoli Piceno;
• Asti;
• Bergamo;
• Bologna;
• Bolzano;
• Brindisi;
• Cagliari;
• Caltanissetta;
• Campobasso;
• Caserta;
• Catania;
• Chieti;
• Como;
• Cosenza;
• Crotone;
• Cuneo;
• La Spezia;
• Mantua;
• Massa Carrara;
• Messina;
• Milan;
• Pavia;
• Piacenza;
• Pordenone;
• Potenza;
• Ravenna;
• Reggio Calabria;
• Rimini;
• Rome;
• Savona;
• Sondrio;
• Terni;
• Turin;
• Treviso;
• Udine;
• Venice;
• Verona;
• Vibo Valentia.

To establish their disability status, they must go to a certifying doctor, who completes and sends the introductory medical certificate electronically to INPS. This is followed by the medical assessment, without the citizen needing to submit an administrative Claim.

For all residents outside the pilot provinces, the previous procedure will remain unchanged until 31 December 2026. In these cases, until that date, it remains mandatory to submit to INPS the administrative Claim for civil invalidity, which must be accompanied by the introductory medical certificate previously sent by the certifying doctor.

The procedure initiation Claim must also include socioeconomic information: any hospital admissions, performance of work activities, income details, indication of the payment method and authorisation for collection by a third party or in favour of associations.

The Claim may be submitted directly online on the INPS website, with access via SPID/CIE/ENS, or through a patronage institute or a trade association (ANMIC, ENS, UIC, ANFASS).

With the exception of Claims for worsening, it is not possible to submit a new Claim for the same benefit until the process for the current one has been completed or, in the event of a legal appeal, until a final, unappealable judgment has been issued.

Processing times of the measure

The time limit within which the settlement procedure for the financial benefit must be completed is 45 days from the date of submission of the payment Claim, complete with all mandatory data.