In Manduria the hospital is three minutes from the piazza. Once you are resident, you are treated by Italy’s national health service on the same terms as an Italian.
The fear behind every search on this subject is simple: being ill far from home, and far from a hospital. In Manduria that distance is measured in minutes.
The Giannuzzi hospital stands 800 metres from Piazza Garibaldi: eleven minutes on foot, three by car. It is run directly by ASL Taranto, the public health authority of the province, as the Presidio Ospedaliero Orientale.
We do not judge the quality of care: that is not ours to say. What we can say is where things are, and that they are close.
Italy’s national health service (Servizio Sanitario Nazionale, SSN) is run region by region through local health authorities, the ASL. Once you are resident in Manduria you register with ASL Taranto. On registration you choose a family doctor (medico di base), and you receive a health card.
Everything starts with residency, and residency starts with an address. Registration at the comune needs a home where you actually live: in practice, a registered lease or a house of your own. Long leases are scarce in Manduria; finding one is the first thing we work on with anyone who arrives.
EU pensioners. If your state pension is paid by another EU country, that country can issue you an S1 form. You register the S1 with the health authority where you live, and it gives you full healthcare coverage there, paid for by your pension country. In Italy the ASL registers you with the SSN and you choose a family doctor at the same time.
UK State Pension holders. The UK government says that if you are resident in Italy and receive a UK State Pension, you may be entitled to state healthcare paid for by the UK. You register your S1 with your local health authority and receive a health card valid throughout Italy, with care “on the same basis as an Italian citizen”. The NHS says you can apply for an S1 up to 90 days before your move, and that you cannot get one if you also receive a pension from the country where you live. Check the current rules with the NHS Business Services Authority before you move.
If you are a non-EU citizen living in Italy and do not fall into the categories that are registered by right (for example, people who live in Italy on their own income), the law gives you two choices: a private insurance policy, or voluntary registration with the SSN (Legislative Decree 286 of 1998, article 34).
The contribution is paid to the Region with an F24 form. Ask ASL Taranto for the current procedure, or let us come with you the first time.
Visiting from the EU: your European Health Insurance Card gives you the same rights to care as people insured in Italy during a temporary stay. It does not cover planned treatment, rescue or repatriation.
Visiting from the UK: a UK Global Health Insurance Card (GHIC) or a valid UK EHIC covers medically necessary state healthcare in Italy. It is not an alternative to travel insurance.
Elective residence visa: consulates ask for health insurance in different ways. The Italian consulate in Chicago, for example, asks for proof of overseas health insurance covering all medical expenses. Check the list of your own consulate.
Yes. The Giannuzzi hospital, run by ASL Taranto, is 800 metres from Piazza Garibaldi, three minutes by car. It has an emergency department, which had 20,067 visits in 2024, and wards of intensive care, general surgery, general medicine, nephrology and orthopaedics, with dialysis. A cardiology ward with cardiac intensive care beds was presented in October 2025.
Residents registered with the national health service are treated on the same terms as Italians. EU pensioners and UK State Pension holders with an S1 have their care paid for by their pension country. Non-EU residents without an S1 join voluntarily, with a yearly contribution of at least 2,000 euros, or take out private insurance.
Become resident first: registration at the comune needs a home where you actually live, in practice a registered lease or a house you own. Then register with the local health authority, ASL Taranto for Manduria, where you choose a family doctor and receive your health card.
The UK government says that UK State Pension holders resident in Italy may be entitled to state healthcare paid for by the UK, through an S1 registered with the local health authority. You cannot get an S1 if you also receive a pension from the country where you live. Check your case with the NHS before you move.
It depends on the consulate: Chicago, for example, asks for overseas health insurance covering all medical expenses. Once you live in Italy, the law asks non-EU residents without an S1 to hold private insurance or join the national health service voluntarily.
The week’s good news from Manduria and the towns around it, every Thursday.
We use your email only to send Good News from Manduria. How we handle it.
The Facebook group where the people who arrived before you answer the questions you are about to ask.
This page is information, not medical or legal advice. Last checked: 30 October 2026.