Italy · anonymous SMS
Send an anonymous text to an Italian mobile
Ghost delivers your text to any mobile in Italy without showing your number. A standard text costs 1 credit ($0.20), there is no subscription, and you can send it from a browser on any phone or computer. Italian accents are almost all free to send, with one surprise: the capital È.
What a text to Italy costs
One SMS segment to an Italian mobile costs 1 credit ($0.20). A segment holds 160 characters of plain text, and texts to Italy start with “GHOST:”, which counts toward that. The accented letters Italian uses every day, à, è, é, ì, ò and ù, are all in the basic SMS alphabet, and so is the € sign, which counts as two characters. The capital È is not, so a text that contains “È” switches to 70-character segments. So does a curly apostrophe ’ in un’ora or l’ho, which phone keyboards often insert.
| Text | Characters | Encoding | Segments | Cost |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| A short message | 89 characters | GSM-7 | 1 segment | 1 credit ($0.20) |
| A longer message | 282 characters | GSM-7 | 2 segments | 2 credits ($0.40) |
| Italian, everyday accents | 106 characters | GSM-7 | 1 segment | 1 credit ($0.20) |
| Italian, starting with È | 80 characters | UCS-2 | 2 segments | 2 credits ($0.40) |
| Italian, with curly apostrophes | 65 characters | UCS-2 | 1 segment | 1 credit ($0.20) |
Counts include the “GHOST: ” prefix these texts start with. Rates checked October 22, 2026. Rates for every country
How to type an Italian mobile number
Written locally
3xx xxx xxxx
Type in Ghost
+39 3xx xxx xxxx
- Open Ghost in your browser or the Android app.
- Choose Italy (+39) in the country list and type the mobile number.
- Write your text, check the credits shown under it, and send.
Choose Italy and type the number as it is written: Italian mobiles start with 3 and have no 0 to drop. New mobile numbers have 10 digits, but some older ones have 9. A number that starts with 0 is a landline, and in Italy that 0 is kept even after +39.
What the person in Italy sees
- The text arrives as an ordinary SMS from a Ghost mobile number. Your own number is not shown anywhere in it.
- It starts with “GHOST:”, so they can tell it came through Ghost. Nothing in it says who you are unless you write it.
- Replying from their messages app does not reach you. If you want an answer, switch on a Reply Link: they open it in a browser and send you one reply, still without seeing your number.
- Italy’s opt-out register, the Registro pubblico delle opposizioni, covers marketing calls and post, not SMS. Anyone who would rather not get Ghost texts can block them on the stop page, and Ghost will not send to a number on that list.
Writing a text in Italian
Italian is written with a handful of accented vowels, and nearly all of them are in the basic SMS alphabet. Capitals and apostrophes are where a text can get more expensive.
Italian, everyday accents
Ciao, la bici è ancora disponibile? Posso passare sabato mattina e pagare 80 € in contanti. Grazie!GSM-7, 106 characters, 1 segment: 1 credit ($0.20)
è is in the basic SMS alphabet, as are à, é, ì, ò and ù, so this text stays at 160 characters a segment. The € sign counts as two characters.
Italian, starting with È
È ancora libera la stanza in via Roma? Vorrei vederla giovedì dopo le 18.UCS-2, 80 characters, 2 segments: 2 credits ($0.40)
Switched to UCS-2 by: È
The capital È is outside the basic alphabet, even though the lowercase è is in it, so this text is sent in 70-character segments and needs two. Reworded as “La stanza in via Roma è ancora libera?”, the same message fits in one.
Italian, with curly apostrophes
Ci vediamo tra un’ora davanti all’ingresso della stazione.UCS-2, 65 characters, 1 segment: 1 credit ($0.20)
Switched to UCS-2 by: ’
The curly ’ switches this text to 70-character segments. It still fits in one because it is short, but a longer text with ’ needs more segments than the same text typed with straight apostrophes (un'ora).
When people in Italy keep their number private
Buying and selling on Subito
Subito is Italy’s leading classifieds site, with more than 16 million people buying and selling on it each month, so a deal there usually means contacting a stranger. Text the seller through Ghost to agree the price and a meeting point, and give your own number only once you are happy to.
Renting a room or a flat
Immobiliare.it and Idealista are Italy’s leading property sites, and asking about a room or a viewing means writing to landlords and agents you don’t know. Ghost lets you ask about the rent, the bills or a viewing time first, without handing out your mobile number.
A note to a neighbour
Letting a neighbour know their car is blocking the gate is easier without starting a thread on your own phone. Keep it polite: Italian law cares about harassing or threatening messages, not about the number being hidden.
Italian law on anonymous texts
Sending a text without showing your number is not an offence in itself. What you write matters: harassing or disturbing someone by telephone is an offence under article 660 of the Codice penale, threats fall under article 612, and repeated threats or harassment that cause serious anxiety or force someone to change their habits are stalking (atti persecutori) under article 612-bis, with a heavier penalty when done by electronic means. Insulting someone directly is no longer a crime but a civil wrong with a fine, under Legislative Decree 7/2016. Marketing texts need the recipient’s consent under article 130 of the Privacy Code.
Got a text you did not want?
If a text looks like a scam, report it to the Polizia Postale through the “Segnala online” form on its website, which has a phishing category. A formal complaint (denuncia) goes through a police office, and in an emergency call 112 or 113. To stop texts sent through Ghost, add your number on the stop page.
Questions and answers
A text of up to 160 plain characters costs 1 credit ($0.20), including the “GHOST:” at the start. Longer texts are charged per segment, and a capital È, a curly apostrophe or an emoji shortens each segment to 70 characters. Ghost shows the cost before you send.
The basic SMS alphabet has the lowercase è but not the capital È, so one È switches the whole text to 70-character segments. Rewording so the text has no capital È, for example “La stanza è libera?” instead of “È libera la stanza?”, keeps the full 160.
Not by replying in their messages app. Add a Reply Link when you send, and they can open it in a browser and send you one reply without seeing your number.
Hiding your number is not an offence in itself. Harassing someone by phone, threatening them or stalking them with repeated messages is, under the Codice penale, whether or not your number shows.
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