Cookie definition. These are small text strings that sites visited by the user send to his terminal (usually to the browser), where they are stored and then transmitted back to the same sites the next time the same user visits. In the course of browsing on a site, the user may also receive on his terminal also cookies that are sent from different sites or web servers (so-called "third parties"), on which may reside some elements (such as, for example, images, maps, sounds, specific links to pages of other domains) present on the site that the same is visiting.

"Session" and "persistent" cookies then are distinguished into "session" and "persistent," the former once downloaded are then deleted when the Browser is closed, while the latter are stored on the user/visitor's hard drive until they expire.

Persistent cookies are mainly used to facilitate site navigation, to understand which sections of the site have generated a certain number of pages and users, and also for the delivery of advertising formats.

The session cookies used are intended to speed up the analysis of Internet traffic and facilitate users to access the services offered by the site, with their use no personal data is transmitted or acquired and no user tracking systems are used. Session cookies are mainly used during authentication, authorization and navigation in services accessed through a registration."

First-party Cookies readable only to the domain, which created them;

Third-party Cookies: created by domains external to this site, for example through Google Analytics. The software, used for site and platform, creates one cookie per user in order to generate usage statistics.

The data generated by this cookie is stored at Google Inc.

For how cookies work in Google Analytics, see the official documentation provided by Google at the url: http://code.google.com/apis/analytics/docs/concepts/gaConceptsCookies.html

In any case, you also have other options to browse without cookies

Disabling cookies

Cookies are linked to the browser used and can be disabled directly from the browser, thus rejecting/revoking consent to the use of cookies. It should be kept in mind that disabling cookies may prevent the proper use of some functions of the site itself.

Instructions for disabling cookies for the main browsers can be found at the following web pages:

Mozilla Firefox - MicrosoftInternet Explorer - Microsoft Edge - Google Chrome - Opera - Apple Safari

Block third-party cookies

Third-party cookies are generally not essential for browsing, so you can reject them by default, through special functions of your browser according to the instructions at the links above.

Enable the Do Not Track option

The Do Not Track option is present in most of the latest generation of browsers. Websites designed to comply with this option, when activated, should automatically stop collecting some of your browsing data. As mentioned, however, not all websites are set up to respect this (discretionary) option.

Enable "anonymous browsing" mode

Through this feature you can browse without leaving a trace of your browsing data in the browser. The sites will not remember you, the pages you visit will not be stored in the history and new cookies will be deleted.

However, the anonymous browsing feature does not guarantee anonymity on the Internet, because it only serves the purpose of not keeping your browsing data in the browser, while instead your browsing data will continue to remain available to website operators and connectivity providers.

Delete cookies directly

There are special functions to do this in all browsers. Remember, however, that new cookies are downloaded each time you connect to the Internet, so the deletion operation should be performed periodically. If desired, some browsers offer automated systems for periodic deletion of cookies.