Land Registry and Cadastral System

In Italy, apart from South Tyrol and a few smaller areas, there is no land register system (sistema tavolare) as found in some other European countries. Consequently, the transfer of property ownership does not require an entry in the land register.

However, since property transactions must still be made public, registration of the purchase deed in the Land Registry (Conservatoria dei Registri Immobiliari) is mandatory. Without this registration, the contract has no legal effect towards third parties.

Entries in the Land Registry serve to clearly document the ownership structure of a property. For this reason, all transfers of ownership — whether through sale or inheritance — are recorded in the Land Registry, together with the corresponding notarised contracts or deeds. Only contracts certified by a notary are eligible for registration.

In contrast, the Cadastre (Catasto) does not provide information about ownership. Instead, it contains the technical dataof a property. A distinction is made between the Nuovo Catasto Terreni (N.C.T.), which records land parcels according to the cadastral map, and the Nuovo Catasto Edilizio Urbano (N.C.E.U.), which contains detailed information on buildings and structures, including the cadastral income (rendita catastale) used to calculate the cadastral value (valore catastale) relevant for taxation.

The cadastral system classifies properties according to their type, location, and value category, primarily for tax purposes.

Type of Property
A – Private residences
B – Public buildings
C – Commercial premises
D – Industrial use

Location of the Property
Zone A – Historic town centre
Zone B – Residential areas outside the historic centre
Zone C – Newly developed residential areas
Zone D – Industrial areas
Zone E – Agricultural land
Zone F – Areas designated for public infrastructure and facilities
Zone G – Non-buildable land
Zone H – Protected natural or landscape areas

Property Value Category
A/1 – Luxury residence
A/2 – Standard residential property
A/3 – Economical residence
A/4 – Basic residence
A/5 – Very basic residence
A/6 – Rural dwelling
A/7 – Small detached house
A/8 – Detached villa
A/9 – Castles or buildings of significant historical or artistic value
A/10 – Offices and studios
A/11 – Regionally characteristic houses

Access to cadastral data is open to the public. Cadastral extracts (visure catastali) can be requested directly from the local cadastral office or viewed online for a small fee. These extracts usually also indicate the current owner of the property.

When purchasing real estate in Italy, the buyer becomes liable for a number of one-time and recurring taxes and feesassociated with ownership.