Renovating a Tuscan Farmhouse

Picture a buyer walking round a farmhouse with a plan already in mind: a pool beside the terrace, an extra room under the eaves. The plan is a list of works, and the law sorts works into categories, each with its own procedure.

What needs a title, and which one?

The national building code sorts works into categories, and each category has its own procedure. The lightest is free building activity. Ordinary maintenance – repairs, renewal and replacement of finishes, keeping existing systems in working order – needs no title, subject to municipal planning rules and to seismic, safety, energy and heritage rules.^[1] The same article lists other minor works, and the regions may extend the list.^[1]

Next comes the CILA, a notice of start of works to the municipality, accompanied by a technician’s declaration (comunicazione di inizio lavori asseverata). It covers works that are not on the lists for free activity, for the permesso di costruire or for the SCIA.^[2] The technician declares that the works comply with the planning instruments, are compatible with seismic and energy rules and do not affect the structural parts of the building.^[2] Failure to file carries a fine of €1,000, reduced if the notice is filed while the works are under way.^[3]

The SCIA, a certified notice of start of activity, covers extraordinary maintenance and conservative restoration that affect the structural parts (and, for maintenance, the façades), and building restructuring not falling within the permesso cases.^[4] The permesso di costruire, a building permit issued by the municipality, is required for new construction, urban restructuring and, among other cases, restructuring that changes the overall volume or, in historic zones, the use, and works that change the outline, volume or façades of buildings under cultural protection.^[5] Regions decide by law which changes of use need a permesso or a SCIA,^[6] and may add further works.^[7]

These three titles are roughly comparable to a notice, a simple permit and a full permit in other systems, but the categories are Italian and the list of works in each is set by statute. The definitions of ordinary and extraordinary maintenance, restoration and restructuring are in the code itself.^[8] Which category applies to a specific project is decided by the technician and the municipality, not by a rule of thumb. Seismic rules apply in addition and are not described here. The technician who prepares the file (a geometra, architect or engineer) signs the declarations; for a CILA the law requires the declaration of a qualified technician.^[2]

What changes when the landscape is protected?

Where the property lies within an area protected for its landscape value, the Code of Cultural Heritage and Landscape prohibits altering it in a way that harms the protected values, and requires the owner to obtain the landscape authorisation before starting works.^[9] The protection, a vincolo paesaggistico, is given by law or by decree.^[10] The authorisation is a separate act that comes before the building title.^[9] Apart from the cases the Code lists, it cannot be granted after the works have been done,^[9][11] and it is effective for five years.^[9]

The procedure runs as follows, according to the statute. The Region issues the authorisation (it may delegate this to municipalities and other bodies) after an opinion of the Soprintendenza, the State heritage and landscape authority.^[9] The municipality checks the application within 40 days and forwards it; the Soprintendenza gives its opinion within 45 days; the authority then decides within 20 days.^[12] If 60 days pass from the Soprintendenza’s receipt of the file without an opinion, the authority decides on the application anyway.^[12] A simplified procedure for minor works is provided for by the same article and by a separate regulation, which is not described here.^[13] The opinion is binding, or mandatory but not binding, depending on whether the landscape plan has been incorporated into local planning.^[14]

A building under cultural protection is a separate regime and needs the authorisation of the heritage authority for works.^[15] The municipal planning office can say whether a property is affected by either constraint.

What do the Tuscan rules for rural buildings add?

Regional Law 65/2014 governs the rural territory.^[16] Its articles on the change of agricultural use of rural buildings set limits on the change,^[17] provide for the change through a farm programme, the PAPMAA (the Tuscan multi-year farm improvement plan, used for some building works and changes of use on agricultural holdings),^[18] regulate the building works that involve a change of use,^[19] and provide for the implementing regulation.^[20]

A provision added to that regulation in 2023 says that, for a change of agricultural use through a farm programme, the absence of alternatives to agricultural use includes the absence of housing needs of the professional farmer, the family members and the permanent employees, provided that the minimum farm assets are kept and that the actual non-use of the buildings is documented.^[21] The agreement with the municipality must exclude new rural buildings that could have performed the function of the converted ones for the duration of the programme.^[21]

A regional law of 2025 amended Regional Law 65/2014 to reflect the national “Salva Casa” decree.^[22] What may be done to a particular farmhouse depends on its classification in the municipal plan, its legal status (see “Due Diligence: What Sinks a Purchase”) and any constraint. The municipal planning office holds that information.

Who does the work?

A technician (a geometra, architect or engineer) prepares the documents for the municipality and, where the law requires it, signs the declarations. Specialists in traditional materials and techniques carry out the restoration of stone, timber and terracotta. For an owner who does not live nearby, coordination of several parties and a second language is a practical consideration, as it is for any project carried out at a distance.

What does it cost, and how long does it take?

No reliable published figure exists for the cost per square metre of a farmhouse restoration or for the duration of a project, because both depend on the structural condition, the constraints and the extent of the works. The procedural times set by the statute for the landscape authorisation are given above; those for building titles are set by national and regional law and by the municipality.

Can renovation costs be deducted from tax?

According to the Agenzia delle Entrate, taxpayers subject to IRPEF, the personal income tax, may deduct part of the cost of renovation works on homes in Italy.^[23] For expenses paid in 2025 and 2026 the deduction is 50 per cent for works on the main home, when the expense is paid by the owner or the holder of a right in rem on it, and 36 per cent in the other cases, on a maximum expense of €96,000 per unit.^[23] For 2027 the rates are 36 per cent and 30 per cent, on the same maximum.^[23] From 2028 to 2033 the deduction is 30 per cent, on a maximum of €48,000.^[23] The deduction is spread over ten years.^[23]

A separate cap on the total of deductible expenses applies to taxpayers whose income exceeds €75,000.^[24] According to the Agenzia delle Entrate guide, the deduction is open to all taxpayers subject to IRPEF, whether or not they are resident in Italy.^[23] Whether it produces a benefit depends on the taxpayer’s Italian tax liability, which this article does not assess.

What can be checked before the purchase?

Building rules are national, regional and municipal, and they change. The works that can be carried out on a property are determined by its planning classification, its constraints and its legal status. Those can be checked before a preliminary contract is signed, with the municipal planning office and the technician who reviews the file.