Thousands of Italians queued at post offices and tax offices to sign up for the payment scheme, which was a key campaign promise of the Five Star Movement (M5S) that rules the coalition government with the far-right League.
The M5S argues the initiative will boost the country’s economy and bring millions out of poverty.
According to reports, more than 5 million people live below the poverty line Italy.
Payments of €780 will be available to low earners and jobseekers with a household income below €9,360 per year who sign a form declaring themselves immediately available for work.
The scheme is only available to Italian citizens who have been in Italy for at least two years and foreign nationals who have been in Italy for 10 years.
On average, low-income families will end up receiving around €5000 more per year.
The money will be paid into bank accounts which can be accessed using a special debit card, which at the moment can be used only to buy food in certain shops.
In future, the cards can be used to pay for clothes or other necessities, the government said.
Any money left on applicants’ debit cards at the end of the month goes back to the state.
The scheme’s official website was launched last month, but was not fully operational until this week.
The first payments will be distributed around the end of April or early May, a few weeks before European parliamentary elections.
The program is expected to cost €7.1 billion this year, €7.8 billion in 2020 and €8 billion in 2021.
The initiative caused tension between Italy and the European Union last year and led to heated budget negotiations between Rome and Brussels.
The EU expressed concerns that high public spending will increase Italy’s public debt — currently around 133 per cent of GDP, the second-highest in Europe after Greece.
The eurozone’s third-largest economy, Italy currently has the third-highest unemployment rate in the EU, reaching 10.5 per cent in January, according to EU statistics.
