Among the measures approved by the Italian government in support of culture among young people it certainly stands out 18app, which allows all adults to access a cultural bonus of € 500, to be spent in physical stores and online stores to buy books, e-books, DVD or Blu-ray movies, music CDs and discs, devices for educational training, theater or cinema performances, cultural events and museums.If we are born in 2002 and we want to get the € 500 culture bonus, you are in the right guide: here we will show you in detail how to use 18app and obtain the cultural bonus provided by the Italian state and payable in the form of a virtual prepaid card or in the form of a ticket to be redeemed in the store or online on accredited sites (among which certainly stands out Amazon). The bonus does not interfere with other types of measures and economic aid already active in one’s family unit, it is enough to be born in 2002 in order to access the bonus.
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How to get an 18app culture bonus
To get the bonus you must have the SPID to access the dedicated page of the 18app service and thus redeem the € 500 bonus. In the following chapters, we will show you how to obtain and activate the SPID for all those born in 2002, how to use the SPID access data for registration on 18app and finally where we can spend the sodas of the culture bonus, so as to be able to make the most of the money provided by the state to feed culture in young Italians.
Activate the SPID
The € 500 culture bonus can be redeemed by all young Italians through lo SPID, i.e. the digital identity provided by the Italian state and useful for quickly accessing public administration services, the INPS website, and accessing the sites of local and national authorities. If we have not yet activated the SPID we can activate it quickly using the procedure offered by Poste Italiane on the dedicated page.
As soon as the page indicated above opens, press the button Sign in and, in the new screen, we choose the method with which we want to authenticate, so as to be able to activate the SPID. The vast majority of the methods offered can be made directly from home, without having to go to a post office; to speed up the practice as much as possible, we advise you to focus on Recognition in person (a webcam and microphone will be required) or SMS on Certified Mobile, so you can get the SPID in about 15-20 minutes. Before pressing the button Continue let’s make sure we have a working email address at hand (no temporary email, we use Gmail or Outlook), a mobile number, health care, and a valid identification document (driving license or identity card) since we will have to fill in the fields of the SPID in detail, without errors.
To learn more or to use other SPID services, we recommend that you read our guides How to activate SPID: complete guide e How to request and obtain the SPID.
Register on 18app
Once we have obtained the SPID we can get the culture bonus by accessing 18app, the institutional page created for the purpose.
Once the page is open, press the button at the top right Entra con SPID, and in the list that will appear we select the provider with which we have activated the SPID (if we have followed the previous chapter we have to click on the icon PosteID). Once the provider has been chosen, enter the SPID login credentials, perform two-factor authentication as required and, in the confirmation window, make sure that the site is able to access all personal data, so as to unlock the culture bonus. We do not recommend that you log in with the SPID of users who were not born in 2002: the site will give an error since only children born in that specific year can apply for the culture bonus (therefore no SPID of parents or grandparents).
How and where to spend the culture bonus money
After logging in, the 18app page for the ticket creation and management, as well as being able to control how much money we have left to use for the coupon.
To redeem a part of the voucher we will have to create one or more tickets of the desired value (for example € 10 or € 20): these tickets will be associated with an alphanumeric code from communicating as a discount coupon at the time of purchase in the physical or online store.
If we do not know where to spend the vouchers created with 18app, we can rely on the site dedicated to authorized merchants; among those available online there is also Amazon Italia, which created a page dedicated to the conversion of culture bonus vouchers into Amazon gift vouchers and purchase books or other educational or cultural material. To convert the voucher, simply copy the code and enter your email address. Of course, it is also necessary to have a free Amazon or Prime account.
Once the voucher has been redeemed on Amazon, we use the same page of the site to find the products compatible with the voucher; alternatively, we can always start any search on Amazon and buy with the voucher all the products that have the “18app” sticker (which are listed in this page). Keep in mind that the voucher, once converted to be used on Amazon, can no longer be canceled, but it remains available for future purchases, obviously valid only for products that enter the bonus. To learn more about Amazon coupons, we recommend reading our guide How to give an Amazon voucher.
Conclusions
We remind you that with the culture bonus it is possible to buy from Amazon and other authorized merchants books (paper and digital), DVD and Blu-ray movies, music CDs, and vinyl. You cannot use the 18app bonus to buy a new computer or a smartphone or tablet (although it may be accepted for an ebook reader or some types of tablets). This bonus is designed precisely to promote culture in young people, who can thus access books, music, films and anything else practically for free (spending the € 500 provided). Currently, you can register to forget the 500 Culture Bonus from 1st April to 31st August 2021and we can spend the contribution by February 28, 2022.
Still, on the subject of vouchers and tax breaks, we suggest you read our guides Conditions for spending 500 Euros for PC and internet e How to access the INPS site via SPID.