What are we looking for here?
This is the category no one tells stories about, and it holds up all the others. A restaurant works if the wiring holds on a Friday night. A hotel, if the boiler starts in November. A workshop, if someone fitted its shop window. The work of those who provide services is noticed only when it is missing.
Here the word excellence must be used with care, because the sector is full of formalities that look like titles. An installer without a licence is not less able: he is unlawful. An estate agency without entry in the register cannot operate. These requirements say who is inside the rules, and that is worth knowing precisely because it cannot be taken for granted. They are not a merit and we shall not recount them as one.
Merit here is measured on three things that customers know very well. Whether the quotation resembles the invoice. Whether whoever did the work answers when something goes wrong. Whether after five years that work is still standing. All three can be checked, and they are harder to fake than any certificate.
Which businesses fall into this category?
Services covers the businesses that provide a professional or technical service rather than making a good: electrical, plumbing and heating installers, building and refurbishment firms, cleaning and sanitation firms, garages and body shops, funeral directors, professional practices, estate agencies, insurance and credit intermediaries, removals, grounds maintenance, computing and digital services, event organisation, professional photography, printers and print shops, hire, security, training.
The doubtful cases, and how we settle them
- Catering, banqueting, weddings
- Services. The place is not their own and the work is done to commission: the indicators of the dining room and of continued custom do not apply.
- Design or architecture studio
- Services if the work stops at the design. Style and Craft if it reaches the finished object, made in house or in a supply chain the studio governs and declares.
- Business that makes what it installs
- It is assessed by the prevailing criterion: if the value lies in the making it goes to Style and Craft, if it lies in the installation and the after-care it stays here.
- Printer and print shop
- Services when it works to someone else's commission. Style and Craft when the printing is fine or authorial and the workshop has a recognisable hand of its own.
- Regulated profession
- Inside the perimeter, with the caveat that entry in the professional register is a condition for practising and not a distinguishing feature: for a lawyer or an accountant we look at other things.
What do we look at?
Who awarded it before we did
Here the difference between requirement and merit is sharper than anywhere else. The licences for installations, vehicle repair, cleaning, waste management, agency and intermediation are conditions for working, they are read in the chamber of commerce extract and they say that a business is inside the rules. What really sets businesses apart are the voluntary certifications, the legality rating, the attestation for public works in the higher categories, entry in the prefectural lists: none of them is compulsory, and whoever holds them chose to be inspected.
What its customers say
These are the most informative reviews in the whole network, because customers write about concrete things: deadlines kept, quotations honoured, conduct when something goes wrong. We look at constancy, at the recurrence of themes and at how the business answers negative reviews, which here is almost a check in itself.
What it works with, and how
The raw material is competence. We look at the qualification of whoever answers technically, whether the quotation matches the final invoice, what guarantee is offered and whether it is honoured, whether the business can be reached after the job, whether it keeps up with rules and technologies that in these trades change quickly, and which materials it chooses when it can choose them.
How long it has been there, and how it stands with its own place
How many years the business has been working and whether the trade has changed hands. Whether the people stay: in services that is the first sign of how they are treated. Whether there are apprentices. How many customers come back after years, which remains the best way to understand how deeply rooted it is in a place.
We look at a business when the evidence gathered covers at least two of the four axes, and at least one piece of that evidence comes from a source outside the business's own account of itself: an outside body, the public of its customers, one of our scouts on the ground, our editors. Evidence is a necessary condition and not a sufficient one: the assessment remains an editorial one.
Which recognitions do we take into account?
None of these titles is required to join the network. They are the places where we go and look, not a list of requirements.
Voluntary certifications and recognitions
None of these is compulsory: whoever holds them chose to be checked by a third party. In this family they are the pieces of evidence that really set businesses apart.
| Title | Who awards it | Where it can be checked |
|---|---|---|
| Legality ratingreassigned every year | Autorità Garante della Concorrenza e del Mercato | Public list of the businesses holding a rating, consultable on the Authority's website. Voluntary, with requirements on lawfulness, transparency and social responsibility. |
| Entry in the prefectural anti-mafia listsreassigned every year | Prefectures | Provincial lists of suppliers not exposed to attempted mafia infiltration. Voluntary, with a serious examination and periodic renewal. |
| Attestation for public worksreassigned every year | Authorised attestation bodies | Portal of the national anti-corruption authority, with open data on attestations and technical directors. The higher categories and classes require documented structure and track record. |
| Certified management systemsreassigned every year | Accredited certification bodies | Accredia database, searchable by company name. Quality, environment, safety at work, information security: they are verified with a name. |
| Certification for gender equalityreassigned every year | Accredited certification bodies, under the national practice | Accredia database. Voluntary, with measured indicators and periodic audits. |
| Service certification under a technical standardreassigned every year | Accredited certification bodies | Accredia database. There are dedicated standards for funeral services, private security and cleaning: they set apart those who submit to an audit of their own process. |
| Impresa Storica d'Italia | Unioncamere | Public, searchable national register. A hundred years of continuity in the same trade. |
Compulsory licences and registers
They are conditions for operating, not merits. We list them because checking them has a precise and negative value: it says who does not have them. In a sector where unlicensed work is widespread, that is not little.
| Title | Who awards it | Where it can be checked |
|---|---|---|
| Licence to install building services | Chambers of Commerce, under national legislation | Note in the chamber of commerce extract, with the letters of the licence. Whoever installs without it is unlawful, and the declarations of conformity he issues are worthless. |
| Entry in the register of vehicle repair businesses | Chambers of Commerce | Note in the chamber of commerce extract, with the sections of activity. Compulsory for mechanics, body work, auto electrics and tyres. |
| Entry for cleaning and sanitation activities, with the classification band | Chambers of Commerce | Chamber of commerce extract. The band depends on turnover and headcount: it describes the size, not the quality. |
| Entry in the national register of waste managersreassigned every year | National register of waste managers, held at the Chambers of Commerce | Public register, consultable by business and category. Compulsory for whoever transports or manages waste. |
| Company certificate for fluorinated gasesreassigned every year | Certification bodies, with a national database | Consultable national register. Compulsory for whoever works on air-conditioning and refrigeration systems. |
| Section for agents in property mediation | Chambers of Commerce | Note in the extract and chamber of commerce search. Compulsory for estate agencies: without it the activity is irregular and the commission is not owed. |
| Single register of insurance intermediaries | Istituto per la vigilanza sulle assicurazioni | Public register, consultable by name and section. Compulsory in order to operate. |
| Lists of credit brokers and financial agents | Body that manages the lists | Consultable public lists. Compulsory in order to operate. |
| Licence for grounds maintenance | Regions, with a note in the chamber of commerce extract | Regional certificate and note in the extract. Compulsory under the national framework for whoever carries on the activity. |
| Authorisation to carry on funeral services | Regions and municipalities | Authorisation with requirements on premises, vehicles and minimum staff. A regional matter: the requirements vary considerably. |
| Regional accreditation of training bodiesreassigned every year | Regions | Public regional lists of accredited bodies. Accreditation is granted for each training site. |
Professional registers and licences
They concern people. For the regulated professions, entry in the register is a condition for practising: it sets apart only in the negative. What does count are the specialisations and the further titles.
| Title | Who awards it | Where it can be checked |
|---|---|---|
| Entry in a regulated professional register | Professional associations and colleges | Public registers, consultable by name. Lawyers, accountants, engineers, architects, surveyors, technicians, labour consultants, notaries. |
| Licensed technical manager | Chambers of Commerce, under sector legislation | Note in the chamber of commerce extract with the person's name. It is the technical and professional requirement that allows the business to operate. |
| Certificate of professional quality issued by a listed associationreassigned every year | Associations of unregulated professions, entered in the ministerial list | Ministerial list of the associations and the associations' own registers. It is not a professional register and it does not license: it certifies adherence to the association's standards. |
| Certification of professional conformity under the UNI standardreassigned every year | Accredited bodies for the certification of persons | Registers of the accredited bodies. It exists for many unregulated professions and it is the most verifiable form of voluntary qualification. |
| Honours of the Republic and Cavaliere del Lavoro | President of the Italian Republic | Public database of the Quirinale, the seat of the Italian head of state, searchable by name. |
Qualifications of the single service
They concern one specific service or product provided by the business, not the business as a whole.
| Title | Who awards it | Where it can be checked |
|---|---|---|
| Qualification of cloud services for public administrationreassigned every year | Agenzia per la Cybersicurezza Nazionale | Public catalogue of qualified services. The title belongs to the single service, not to the supplier as such. |
And if it holds no recognition at all?
Many businesses that deserve a place in the network have never asked anyone for an award. For them we look at these things, and each one says where we know it from.
| What | What it shows | How we check it | Who tells us |
|---|---|---|---|
| A quotation that holds | The final invoice matches what was quoted | Documented comparison on completed jobs, recurrence of the theme in the reviews | The public of its customers; editors |
| Guarantee declared and honoured | The business answers for its own work beyond the legal obligation | Written terms and documented cases of work done under guarantee | Editors; the public of its customers |
| Reachable after the job | Whoever did the work answers when something goes wrong | Direct evidence and recurrence of the theme in the reviews | Scout; the public of its customers |
| Answers to negative reviews | The business stands in the public exchange instead of suffering it | Presence of signed, non-standardised answers to critical reviews | The public of its customers |
| Work still visible years later | What was done holds up over time | Visit to jobs at least five years old, with the client who commissioned them | Scout; editors |
| Qualification of the technical manager | Whoever answers technically holds the title to do so | Note in the chamber of commerce extract, verification of the name | Outside body |
| Stability of the workforce | The people stay, in a sector where turnover is high | Staffing two years apart, recurrence of names | Editors |
| Training of apprentices | The trade is being taught to someone | Apprenticeship contracts, work with training bodies | Outside body; editors |
| Customers who come back | The relationship lasts beyond the single job | Documented references and recurrence of long-standing customers in the reviews | The public of its customers; editors |
| Year of foundation | Historical continuity of the business | Date of entry in the business register | Outside body |
What is not enough?
These things, on their own, bring nobody in. Some of them are respectable and stay respectable: they simply do not tell us what we are looking for.
- The compulsory licences. The licence for building services, entry in the register of vehicle repairers, the register of mediation agents are conditions for operating. Having them does not set anyone apart: not having them makes the business irregular.
- Entry in a professional register. For the regulated professions it is the precondition of practice. A lawyer entered in the register is a lawyer, not a better lawyer.
- The VAT number and how long ago it was opened. They say how long the business has existed, not how it worked in that time.
- Membership of a trade association. It is representation by subscription, with no requirement of merit on entry.
- Paid-for seals and awards. Several «recognitions of excellence» are licences to use a logo, sold by the publisher that awards them. If the logo is paid for, it is not evidence.
- Turnover growth rankings. They measure how much a business has grown, not how it works. A business can grow a great deal and be in dispute with its own customers.
- The number of employees. It describes the size. In services quality depends on who is sent to the site, not on how many people are on the payroll.
- The lowest quotation. It is not an indicator of quality and it is often the first sign of a different final invoice.
- The website and the communication. They are respectable work and they are another trade. In this family the distance between how one tells one's story and how one works is the widest in the network.
- An expired certification. System certifications have a period of validity and must be renewed with periodic audits. Producing an expired certificate is worse than having none.
How does a business get into the network?
Businesses reach us in three ways. Our scouts point them out to us, and here the scout is often a customer who has seen a job well done. We find them ourselves, starting from the public registers, which in this sector are many and open to consultation. Or they put themselves forward.
The first check is compliance: we verify that the business holds the licences its trade requires. It rewards no one, but it keeps out those who should not be working. Then we look at what sets businesses apart: the voluntary certifications, the conduct with customers, the jobs that hold up over the years.
We reread this document once a year. We check that the licences and registers we name still exist in the same form and that no new ones have appeared.
The Italian version of this document is the authoritative one. Where a translation and the Italian text differ, the Italian text prevails.