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Introduced | 23 December 1987 (in root zone) 1 January 1988 (fully active) |
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TLD type | Country code top-level domain |
Status | Active |
Registry | IT-NIC |
Sponsor | IIT-CNR |
Intended use | Entities connected with Italy |
Actual use |
|
Registered domains | 3,472,839 (2022-01-31) [1] |
Registration restrictions | The individual/organisation must be a citizen or resident of/headquartered in the countries of the European Economic Area (EEA), the Vatican State, the Republic of San Marino, the Swiss Confederation or the United Kingdom. |
Structure | Registration is permitted at second level; there are some third-level names beneath second-level labels, but these are not much used |
Documents | How to register .it domain. |
Dispute policies | Dispute procedure |
Registry website | Italy NIC |
.it is the national top-level domain (ccTLD) assigned to Italy.
Registration is open to organisations and individuals of legal age who are citizens or residents of/headquartered in the countries of the European Economic Area (EEA), the Vatican State, the Republic of San Marino and the Swiss Confederation.
Since 11 July 2012, .it has also supported internationalised domain names.
The first .it domain requested was that of the CNR (National Research Council: cnuce.cnr.it); the request was sent on 23 December 1987, and the domain became active on 1 January 1988. On 23 December 1987, IANA assigned the .it ccTLD to CNUCE, an institute of the CNR in Pisa, and the first name registered was that of the CNR's CNUCE. In 1997, the task was passed on to the Institute for Telematic Applications (Istituto per le Applicazioni Telematiche, IAT), also at the CNR in Pisa, which was born out of the necessary expansion of the 'Research Network Infrastructure Department' (Reparto Infrastrutture Reti per la Ricerca, RIRR) of the CNUCE. Policies and rules were agreed with operators in the sector using a variety of forms. After the setting-up of the initial group, called MAIL-ITA, followed by ITA-PE 162 (which held its meetings at the CSELT) in 1994, 1998 saw the establishment of the Italian Naming Authority, which was responsible for drafting the rules for assigning '.it' domains until 2005. This structure differed from the Italian Registration Authority, which was responsible for keeping the Registry of names and made available the technical infrastructure needed to maintain it, thereby also including the management of authoritative DNS delegations. In 1999, the Naming Authority carried out a 'liberalisation' of the ccTLD by removing the limit on the number of domain names that could be registered for organisations of any kind. In the same year, management of the Registry passed to the Institute's Director Franco Denoth. In 2001, a merger of several institutes of the CNR gave rise to the Institute of Informatics and Telematics, which consequently took over responsibility. In 2004, the limit on the number of registrations was also removed for natural persons. As of 2005, the Registry took over both regulatory and implementation functions with the establishment of an internal committee (the Steering Committee) that included representatives of the sector's operators. In 2009, the '.it' ccTLD Registry changed its name to Registro .it, the registry of Italian domains. Following Denoth's death in April 2006, the direction of the Institute (and thus of Registro) was temporarily taken over by Enrico Gregori on 17 May 2006, followed by Domenico Laforenza in 2008. Currently, the Institute is directed by Marco Conti. Since 11 July 2012, it has also been possible to register .it domains with non-ASCII characters (IDN), i.e., special characters, accented letters, etc.
Second-level domains are the ones 'before' the .it, and can be of different types:
A domain name registry is a database of all domain names and the associated registrant information in the top level domains of the Domain Name System (DNS) of the Internet that enables third party entities to request administrative control of a domain name. Most registries operate on the top-level and second-level of the DNS.
.ca is the Internet country code top-level domain (ccTLD) for Canada. The domain name registry that operates it is the Canadian Internet Registration Authority (CIRA).
.uk is the Internet country code top-level domain (ccTLD) for the United Kingdom. It was first registered in July 1985, seven months after the original generic top-level domains such as .com and the first country code after .us.
.ie is the country code top-level domain (ccTLD) which corresponds with the ISO 3166-1 alpha-2 code for Ireland. The Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA) list the Computing Services Computer Centre of University College Dublin as its sponsoring organisation for the .ie domain. Since 2000 the business of administrating the domain registry has been handled by IE Domain Registry Limited. Domain name registration is open to individuals located in, or with a significant connection with, any part of the island of Ireland.
A country code top-level domain (ccTLD) is an Internet top-level domain generally used or reserved for a country, sovereign state, or dependent territory identified with a country code. All ASCII ccTLD identifiers are two letters long, and all two-letter top-level domains are ccTLDs.
.ae is the country code top-level domain (ccTLD) in the Domain Name System of the Internet for the United Arab Emirates. It is administered by .aeDA which is part of the Telecommunications and Digital Government Regulatory Authority of UAE (TDRA).
.br is the Internet country code top-level domain (ccTLD) for Brazil. It was administered by the Brazilian Internet Steering Committee until 2005 when it started being administered by Brazilian Network Information Center. A local contact is required for any registration. Registrations of domain names with Portuguese characters are also accepted.
The Canadian Internet Registration Authority (CIRA) is the organization that manages the .ca country code top-level domain (ccTLD) for Canada. Its offices are located at 979 Bank Street in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. CIRA sets the policies and agendas that support Canada's internet community and Canada's involvement in international internet governance. It is a member-driven organization with membership open to all that hold a .ca domain. As of March 2023, there were more than 3.3 million active .ca domains.
.co is the Internet country code top-level domain (ccTLD) assigned to Colombia.
A sponsored top-level domain (sTLD) is one of the categories of top-level domains (TLDs) maintained by the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA) for use in the Domain Name System of the Internet, alongside country-code top-level domains (ccTLD) and generic top-level domains (gTLD).
.zm is the Internet country code top-level domain (ccTLD) for Zambia. Registrants of .zm domains must "have a presence in Zambia".
.vc is the Internet country code top-level domain (ccTLD) for Saint Vincent and the Grenadines.
.vg is the Internet country code top-level domain (ccTLD) for the British Virgin Islands. Because it allows registration at the second level, and does not require the registrant to be associated with the British Virgin Islands, it has also been used by piracy related websites such as The Pirate Bay, and video gaming related blogs and websites.
.uz is the Internet country code top-level domain (ccTLD) for Uzbekistan. Registry services were formerly operated by Euracom GmBH, but were later redelegated to UZINFOCOM. Registrations are taken directly at the second level, but the former registry also advertised the availability of registrations at the third level beneath co.uz and com.uz, and some domain names under other second-level names such as org.uz also exist.
.lc is the Internet country code top-level domain (ccTLD) for Saint Lucia, sponsored by the University of Puerto Rico and created on September 3, 1991. The registry is operated by Afilias and markets towards companies structured as LCs, LLCs or PLCs due to the possibility of a domain hack, such as CompanyName.L.LC and supposedly better names.
.ma is the Internet country code top-level domain (ccTLD) for Morocco. A local registrar with a local Moroccan company as administrative contact is needed to register a .ma or .co.ma domain name. Further restrictions are imposed on the registering of other second-level domains.
.na is the Internet country code top-level domain (ccTLD) for Namibia corresponding to the two letter code from the ISO-3166 standard.
.nr is the Internet country code top-level domain (ccTLD) for Nauru. Domains must be paid, and can be ordered from CenpacNet, Nauru's Internet service provider.
.rs is the Internet country code top-level domain (ccTLD) for Serbia. The domain name registry that operates it is the Serbian National Internet Domain Registry (RNIDS). The letters rs stand for Republika Srbija/Република Србија.