Cookies are small text files that the sites visited by the User send and record on the Users’ computer or mobile device, to be then retransmitted to the same sites on the next visit. Thanks to cookies a site remembers the actions and preferences of the User (for example, the login data, the language chosen, the size of the characters, etc.) so that the same should not be indicated again when the User returns to visit that site or browse from one page to another of it. Cookies, therefore, are used to perform computer authentication, monitoring sessions and storing information regarding the activities of Users who access a site. They may also contain a unique identification code that allows you to keep track of your navigation within the site for statistical or advertising purposes.

During navigation on a site, the User can receive on his computer cookies c.d. of “first part” – where installed directly by the operator of the site -, but also cookies of sites or web servers other than the one he is visiting (cookies c.d. of “third parties”) installed on the terminal by someone other than the site operator.

Some operations cannot be performed without the use of cookies, which in certain cases are therefore technically necessary for the operation of the site.

There are various types of cookies, depending on their characteristics and functions, which can remain in the User’s computer for different periods of time. In this sense, we distinguish: the c.d. session cookies, which are automatically deleted when the browser is closed and the c.d. persistent cookies, which remain on the User’s equipment until a predetermined deadline.

According to the legislation in force in Italy, the use of cookies does not always require the User’s express consent. In particular, do not require such consent c.d. “technical cookies”, i.e., those used solely for the purpose of transmitting a communication on an electronic communications network, or to the extent strictly necessary to provide a service explicitly requested by the User. In other words, these cookies are essential for the operation of the site or necessary to perform activities requested by the User.

Among the technical cookies, which do not require express consent for their use, the Data Protection Authority (cf. Measure “Identification of simplified procedures for the information and the acquisition of consent for the use of cookies of 8 May 2014″ and ” Guidelines for cookie and other tracking tools – 10 June 2021″ ) also includes first-party analytical cookies and anonymous third-party analytical cookies;

Conversely, for profiling cookies, those aimed at creating profiles related to the User and used in order to send advertising messages in line with the preferences expressed by the same in the context of web browsing, prior consent of the User is required.