Hotel, Kitchen and Cleaning Jobs in Italy for Foreign Workers: Pay and How to Apply (2026)

Hotels, restaurants and cleaning companies hire many workers without a degree. In Italy you can find work as a room attendant, kitchen helper, cook or cleaner. Many people start here because the work is easy to learn. This guide shows the jobs, the pay in Italy, the papers you need and the safe way to apply.

Read this first: you cannot ask for an Italian work visa alone. An employer in Italy must ask for a place for you in the yearly quota, and the places are limited. This guide shows how it really works.

Legal minimum pay	None by law; set by the tourism agreement
Education	No degree for helpers; training for cooks
Visa	Seasonal work in tourism, up to nine months
Language	Italian, and English for work with guests
Hours	Shifts, weekends and holidays

See how to apply

The main jobs

Room attendant or housekeeper. You clean hotel rooms, change the beds, clean the bathroom and bring fresh towels. You work fast, because each room has a time limit.
Kitchen helper or dishwasher. You wash dishes and pots, clean the kitchen and help the cooks to prepare food.
Cook. You prepare meals. This job needs kitchen experience and often training, and it pays more.
Cleaner. You clean offices, shops, hospitals, schools or buildings. The work is often early in the morning or in the evening.
Waiter or service staff. You serve guests. For this you must speak the local language or English well.

The work is on your feet all day. Hotels and restaurants are busiest on weekends, in the evening and on holidays, so that is when you work.

Who can do this job

You are fit, quick and careful with details.
You are polite with guests and work well in a team.
You accept shifts, weekends and holidays.
You can speak and understand basic words in the local language or in English.

Past work in a hotel, a restaurant, a hospital or a private home helps. For cooks, proof of training and letters from past kitchens are very important. Men and women both do these jobs.

How much you can earn in Italy

Italy has no legal minimum wage. Pay is set for each sector by a national collective agreement between employers and unions, and your contract must follow it. Most workers get 13 payments a year, and some sectors pay 14. Room attendants, kitchen helpers and cleaners in hotels are paid by the national agreement for tourism. Seasonal hotels on the coast, at the lakes and in the mountains often offer a staff room and meals, with a small amount taken from the pay.

The visa reality: tourism is one of the two sectors for seasonal work, and the click day for the 2027 season is 9 February 2027. A seasonal permit lasts up to nine months. Workers who go home on time can be asked for again the next year.

Hours and extras

Full-time work is about 40 hours a week, but the days change from week to week. Some hotels give staff a meal on each shift. Some resorts and hotels far from the city offer a room for staff. Always ask what the room and the meals cost, and get the answer in writing. Tips are possible in service jobs, but do not count on them.

See how to apply

What you need before you can work in Italy

Italy lets in a fixed number of workers from outside Europe each year. The law that sets the number is called the Decreto Flussi. For the three years 2026 to 2028 it opens about 497,550 places. For 2027 there are 165,850 places: 89,000 for seasonal work and 76,200 for other work. The steps are:

A job offer from an employer in Italy, in a sector that the quota covers.
The work authorisation (“nulla osta”). The employer asks for it online, on the portal of the Ministry of the Interior. First the employer must check with the public job centre that no worker in Italy is free for the job.
The click day. Requests are sent on fixed days, at 9:00 in the morning. Places are given in the order the requests arrive, so many places are gone in a short time.
The visa. When the authorisation is ready, you ask for the work visa at the Italian embassy or consulate in your country.
After you arrive. You sign the contract of stay within 15 days and ask for your residence permit.

Many places are kept for citizens of countries that have a migration agreement with Italy. The list is published by the Italian ministries, and Kenya was added for the 2027 places. Check the list first. Nobody can promise you a place: it depends on the employer, the sector and the order of the requests.

Costs to plan for

Rent is the biggest cost. It is highest in Milan, Rome, Bologna and Florence, and lower in small towns and in the south. A landlord usually asks for a deposit of two or three months of rent. From your pay, about one tenth goes to social insurance, and income tax comes on top. Seasonal employers in farming and tourism sometimes offer a room, so ask about the price in writing. You pay the visa fee and usually your travel. Learning Italian costs time, but it helps you more than anything else at work.

These are guides, not live vacancies. We are not an employer.

How to apply safely

Read about the yearly quota on Integrazione Migranti, the Italian government’s portal, and check if your country is on the list.
Look for an employer in a sector the quota covers, such as farming, tourism, building, transport or factories.
Ask the employer to prepare the request before the click day. For the 2027 places, employers could fill in requests from 23 October to 7 December 2026.
Wait for the work authorisation. Do not travel before you have it and the visa.
Ask for the visa at the Italian embassy yourself. After you arrive, sign the contract of stay within 15 days.

Mistakes to avoid

Accepting a job where the room and food are taken from your pay, without knowing the amount.
Working extra hours without a record. Write down your hours every day.
Believing an advert that promises a hotel job with “no interview”. Real hotels always speak to you first.
Paying for a uniform, a “training” or a job offer in advance.

See how to apply

Your rights as a worker in Italy

You must get a written contract that follows the national collective agreement of your sector.
The normal working week is 40 hours. Extra hours must be paid at a higher rate.
You have at least four weeks of paid holiday a year.
With a contract and a residence permit you can join the public health service.
Work without a contract is common in farming and is against the law. Unions and their help offices, called “patronati”, give free advice to foreign workers.

Protect yourself from fake job offers

Never pay for a work authorisation. Selling a “nulla osta” or a place in the quota is a crime, and many people have lost their money this way.
An agent cannot get a place for you alone. Only a real employer in Italy can send the request.
Be careful with offers that come after the click days and still promise “a sure visa”. Most places are gone fast.
Check that the company exists and that the contract names a real address in Italy.

Questions people ask

Can I get a hotel or cleaning job in Italy without experience?

For starting jobs such as dishwasher, kitchen helper, room attendant or cleaner, often yes. Experience helps you get hired and is needed for cook jobs.

Do hotels give a room to staff?

Some do, mostly resorts and hotels in remote places. It is not a rule. Ask about the price and the conditions before you accept.

Can I enter Italy as a tourist and then get a work permit?

No. The quota places are for workers who are still in their own country. You wait for the work authorisation and the visa before you travel.

Do I need to speak Italian?

For most factory, building, hotel and driving jobs, yes, at least a basic level. Teams and safety rules are in Italian. Start learning before you apply.

More guides for Italy

Last checked: November 2026. This guide is general information, not legal advice. Rules and pay change, so always confirm on the official websites before you decide. We are not a recruiter and we never ask for money.

See how to apply

These are guides, not live vacancies. We are not an employer.