It must be a happy day for Italian Android users today. Google Home and Home Mini showed up on the Google Store just this morning and now Samsung is officially announcing the launch of Samsung Pay in the country. The news doesn't come as a surprise since rumors had pegged a Samsung Pay launch in Italy for the beginning of 2018.

And right on cue, Samsung has now expanded its mobile payment service to its 21st market worldwide. Seven Italian banks appear to be launch partners: Banca Mediolanum, BNL, CheBanca!, Hello Bank!, Banca Intesa Sanpaolo, Nexi, and UniCredit. Some retailers are also on board with their loyalty programs and up to 20% exclusive discounts: Bennet, Day Break Hotels, EF Education, Esselunga, Ikea, Leroy Merlin, Moleskine, Penny Market, and Prenatal.

If you live in Italy and want to get started with Samsung Pay, you need to have a supported phone. The list includes most mid to high-end devices from Samsung in the past 2-3 years: Galaxy S7/S7 Edge/S8/S8+/S9/S9+, Galaxy Note8, Galaxy A5(2016, 2017), Galaxy A8, Gear S3, and Gear Sport. By signing up and adding your cards, you'll be able to use Samsung Pay to make payments at most card terminals around the country, thanks to the magic of NFC and Samsung's MST.

Source: Samsung Newsroom, Samsung Pay (Italy)