We’re super excited to get started on our dream project but of course can’t do anything until we have the legal right to do so – ie: own the property…:-)
We often get asked if Americans are allowed to own real estate in Italy and what the process is like. Yes, Americans (and just about any other non-Italian) can purchase and own real estate in Italy. Owning a car in Italy is way more challenging and possibly the subject of a future post!
The process for buying is relatively straightforward but does involve a lot of the slow and painful bureaucracy that Italy is famous for. Searching for and exploring property is the fun part and is a fair bit simpler if you have a bilingual agent to work with. Once you have a property in mind, the paperwork begins!
The keys steps, at a very high level are to make an offer (proposta d’acquisto), sign a preliminary contract (compromesso), complete inspections, and then complete a final deed of sale (rogito notarile).
As of mid-June 2026, we are nearly complete with inspections and don’t have any reason to expect any issues. The sellers have completed quite a bit of major structural work under the watchful eyes of various governing bodies; all of which has been formally approved. Since we are buying a gutted shell, there’s not really much more to inspect at this point. With two months remaining before we head to Italy, we theoretically have plenty of runway ahead of us to be ready for the signing of the final deed in mid-August.
We already have our favorite designer Irene booked for the project. We absolutely love her and will share images of some of her work on apartment #2 in a future post. Once the final deed is done, we’ll need to complete some design and architecture work with a TBD architect and pull permits. This will be a several months effort, followed by 18-24 months of construction (my guess). Projects in Italy require patience and fortitude…
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