Understand before you sign.

Law 182/2025 amended articles 561 and 563 of the Civil Code and solved an old Italian headache: property received as a gift was hard to sell or mortgage, because other heirs could later claim it back. Under the new rules the claim of a wronged forced heir becomes a simple money claim against the person who received the gift: buyers and lenders are safe, and gifts are once again a sound estate-planning tool.

Many Italian homes have a closed-in veranda or a moved wall that never appeared on the original plans. Before any deed, the property must be checked against the three building amnesty laws (1985, 1994, 2003): what can be regularised depends on when and how the works were done, and on landscape restrictions. Checked first rather than afterwards, a home with a few irregularities can still be an excellent purchase.

Italy recognises trusts under the Hague Convention (Law 364/1989): assets are handed to a trustee for the benefit of the beneficiaries and become a separate estate, out of reach of unrelated creditors. The home-grown alternative is the purpose restriction under article 2645-ter of the Civil Code, which ties property or registered assets to a worthy purpose. Neither is “better” in the abstract: it depends on your goals, and choosing is the notary’s job.

The family pact (patto di famiglia, articles 768-bis and following of the Civil Code, introduced in 2006) lets an entrepreneur transfer the business or shares to one or more descendants while alive, choosing who is best placed to run it. Once the other forced heirs are compensated, the transfer can no longer be challenged at the succession — so the future of the company is decided at the family table, not in court.

The S.r.l. (limited liability company) is the tool of choice for starting a business in Italy, thanks to limited liability and wide freedom in drafting the articles: pre-emption rights, approval clauses, deadlock mechanisms. But a company’s life doesn’t end at incorporation: transformations, mergers, sales of the business and share transfers need the same care, because each affects every shareholder’s rights. The notary’s involvement guarantees legal certainty, today and every time the company changes shape.

Cadastral compliance (the property matches the plans filed at the Land Registry) and planning compliance (the property matches the building permits) are two different things. Article 46 of the Building Code requires the permits to be quoted in the deed, otherwise the contract is void: a building with no permit at all cannot be sold, except for those built before 1 September 1967. The Supreme Court has clarified that the deed stands if the declaration about the permits is truthful, even where the property differs somewhat from them — but the seller remains liable. One more reason to have the planning history checked before any preliminary contract.

People imagine “the notary’s cost” as one number, but the bill is the sum of very different items, and most of it doesn’t go to the notary. There are the taxes (registration, mortgage and cadastral taxes, sometimes VAT), collected by the notary on behalf of the State. There are the expenses actually paid for the checks: land registry searches, certificates, filings. Only the last item, the fee, pays for the notary’s work — advice, review of the documents, drafting and execution of the deed. That is why a serious quote can’t be a number thrown out on the phone: it is built item by item.

A mortgage loan (mutuo fondiario) is secured by a first-ranking charge on the property, which becomes final just ten days after registration. On loans longer than 18 months a single substitute tax replaces registration, stamp and mortgage taxes: 0.25% of the loan for a first home, 2% otherwise. The bank pays it and passes it on to you. The reduced rate is not automatic: it must be expressly requested in the loan contract — worth checking before signing.

Every type of deed has its own tax logic. Buying a home from a private seller: registration tax of 2% (first home) or 9% (other) on the cadastral value, plus €50 each for mortgage and cadastral taxes; buying from a developer, VAT replaces most of that. Gifts: spouse and children enjoy a €1,000,000 allowance each, and since 2025 gifts of businesses and controlling shareholdings can be fully exempt if the beneficiaries carry on for five years. Company deeds: mostly fixed taxes. Three logics, one piece of advice: have the sums done before signing, not after.

Registration tax is charged on deeds filed with the Italian Revenue Agency. It can be proportional (a percentage of the value, as in property sales) or fixed (today €200, typical of company deeds). The key principle is alternation between VAT and registration tax: when a sale is subject to VAT because the seller is a business, registration tax is charged only at the fixed amount, to avoid double taxation. So it is not true that “registration tax is always paid”: it depends on who sells and in what capacity.

Buying a home from a private seller you pay 9% registration tax, reduced to 2% with the “first home” benefit (not a luxury property, residence in the municipality within 18 months, no other first-home property). The big advantage for private buyers is the price-value rule: on request in the deed, taxes are calculated on the cadastral value rather than the price, which is almost always lower. Buying from a developer within five years of completion, VAT applies instead (4% first home, 10% or 22% otherwise) and registration tax drops to the fixed amount.

Incorporations, amendments, transformations, mergers and share transfers normally pay registration tax at the fixed amount of €200; contributions of property in kind may trigger proportional taxes. Inheritance and gift tax depends on kinship: 4% above a €1,000,000 allowance for spouse and children, 6% above €100,000 for siblings, 6% with no allowance for other relatives up to the fourth degree, 8% for everyone else; property in the estate also pays 2% mortgage tax and 1% cadastral tax. Since 2025, transfers of businesses and controlling shareholdings to spouse or descendants can be exempt.

Since 1 January 2025 gifting a business, or a branch of it, to a spouse or descendants can be fully exempt from gift tax. The condition is simple but binding: the recipients must carry on the business for at least five years and declare that commitment in the deed. Once the five years have passed without interruption, the benefit is final.

The same exemption applies to gifts of S.r.l. quotas or S.p.A. shares to a spouse or descendants, provided the recipients keep control of the company for at least five years (for partnerships or non-controlling stakes, keeping ownership is enough). The notarial deed is where the requirements for the exemption are checked, avoiding nasty surprises in a later tax audit.

Article 2645-ter of the Civil Code allows property or registered assets to be tied to a worthy purpose — typically the care of a vulnerable family member — making them unattachable for unrelated debts. Unlike a trust, no foreign law is needed. The restriction lasts at most ninety years or the beneficiary’s lifetime, and must be created by notarial deed.

The building capacity of a plot can be transferred to a neighbouring plot without selling the land itself (article 2643 no. 2-bis of the Civil Code). The transferring plot permanently loses that volume, the receiving plot gains it. To be enforceable against third parties the agreement must be signed before a notary and registered — after checking the planning status of both plots.

Italian law recognises three forms of will. The holographic will is written, dated and signed entirely by hand: free and immediate, but at risk of loss or challenge. The public will is received by the notary before two witnesses: it costs a little more but is the hardest to contest and is kept safely. The secret will sits in between: written by the testator (even typed) and handed to the notary in a sealed envelope. The right form depends on how complex your estate is and how much protection from disputes you want.

Whoever dies without a will opens the intestate succession: the law itself (articles 565 and following of the Civil Code) decides who inherits and in what shares — spouse, children, then other relatives up to the sixth degree. A will lets you choose freely, favor one person, add conditions or leave something to a friend or a charity. One limit applies in both cases: the reserved share (legittima) due to spouse, children and, failing children, parents, which no will can cancel.

If you sell a home bought with the “first home” benefit and buy another one with the same benefit within a year, you recover the tax paid on the first purchase, up to the amount due on the new one (article 7, Law 448/1998). The credit is personal and must be expressly claimed in the new deed: if the notary is not told in time, a benefit already earned is lost.

Selling for more than you paid does not automatically mean tax. The five-year rule (article 67 of the Income Tax Code) applies: after five years from purchase, no tax on the gain. Within five years, the gain is taxed either with ordinary income tax or with a 26% substitute tax that the notary calculates and pays at the deed, on request. Always exempt: inherited property, and the home used as your main residence for most of the ownership period. Since 2024, for gifted property the five years run from the donor’s purchase.

Can the building’s residents’ association stop you renting on Airbnb? It depends on the type of rules. Rules approved by majority at a meeting cannot limit the use of private property, so a ban adopted that way is challengeable. Rules of a contractual nature — drafted by the developer or approved unanimously — can legitimately forbid or limit short lets. Before listing an apartment, have the condominium rules read by a notary: a badly drafted clause creates disputes that last for years.

The sale of a business is final: the seller leaves the picture, collects the price and only keeps a limited non-compete obligation. The lease of a business is temporary: the owner remains owner, the tenant runs the business for a fee, and at the end the business goes back. Leasing is common for those who want to “test” a business before buying, or who are not ready to sell yet. Tax treatment differs a lot, and both require a written deed prepared by the notary.

Associations and foundations that want legal personality — full separation between the entity’s assets and the members’ — need a notarial deed, with a minimum endowment of €15,000 for associations and €30,000 for foundations. By law the notary checks the requirements for Third Sector status and files the deed with the national register (RUNTS) within twenty days. Even small entities benefit: badly drafted bylaws can block access to grants and the 5×1000 for years.

Italian notaries are bound by a detailed code of conduct approved by the National Council of Notaries, which also governs how they may advertise: truthful, correct information about qualifications, the office, languages spoken and opening hours — no promises of results, no aggressive discounts. The code forbids unfair competition, such as promising a favourable outcome with banks or tax offices or offering services outside the notarial function. That is why a good notary doesn’t “sell” a product: independence and impartiality are the essence of the public function, protecting every party to the deed.

An heir steps into the deceased’s whole legal position — assets and debts alike, unless the estate is accepted with the benefit of inventory. A legatee receives only a specific asset or sum (a legacy) and is not liable for the estate’s debts beyond it. The wording of a will decides which is which, and it changes taxes, deadlines and responsibilities: one more reason to have a will drafted with a notary.

Planning compliance asks: “does this property, as it stands today, match the permits issued by the municipality?”. Amnesty comes into play only when the answer is no, and asks: “can this difference be regularised, and on what conditions?”. A property can have every amnesty possible and still be unsellable if further changes were made after the last one. That is why the notary’s check doesn’t stop at the amnesty certificate: it rebuilds the full planning history, permit by permit.