Regulation (EU) 2018/1806 of the European Parliament and of the Council establishes (Article 3) the list of third countries whose nationals must hold a visa when crossing the external borders of the Member States, and (Article 4) the list of those exempt from this requirement, limited to short stays (90 days within a 180‑day period). This list can be consulted here.
Article 6, however, provides that each Member State may introduce its own optional derogations, meaning that nationals of countries normally subject to a visa requirement may be exempted if they fall within specific categories, such as holders of diplomatic passports, crew members, minors included in a parent’s passport, or other particular situations provided for by the legislation.
Currently, for Italy, the holders of Burkinabé and Nigerien diplomatic and service passports are exempt from the visa requirement for short stays (90 days every 180 days) pursuant to Article 6, paragraph 1, among the countries falling within the consular district of this Embassy. For the complete list, click here.
PLEASE NOTE: To benefit from this exemption, entry into Italian territory must take place exclusively through an Italian external border, without transiting through other Schengen States. For example, a Burkinabé diplomatic passport holder travelling on an itinerary Ouagadougou–Brussels/Paris–Rome would still need to obtain a Schengen visa; however, if the itinerary were Ouagadougou–Istanbul–Rome, no entry visa would be required.