ITALY: An Introduction to Public Law: Zoning & Planning

Italian Zoning & Planning in a Nutshell 

Focus on urban regeneration 

In 2023, the key word in Italian town planning has been “urban regeneration”.

According to the “Buildings in Italy 2023” Report by the Ministry of Economy and Finance (MEF) and the Agenzia delle Entrate (the Italian Revenue Agency), Italy’s real estate stock amounts to approximately 66 million real estate units, 53% of which were built before 1970, 31% in the two decades between 1971 and 1990 and only 7.4% and 8%, respectively, between 1991 and 2000 and from 2000 to date.

Regenerating old buildings and avoiding soil consumption, with refurbishment and renovation works, including demolition and reconstruction, energy efficiency, and removal of architectural barriers, have become a priority in national, regional, and local urban planning strategies. 

To this end, in fact, many funds have been granted by the State and the Regions.

Law No. 160 of 27 December 2019 allocated capital grants to Municipalities for investments in urban regeneration projects, with a total limit of EUR550 million for 2023 and 2024, and EUR700 million for each year running from 2025 to 2034. 

Thanks to the National Recovery and Resilience Plan (“PNRR”), which in “Investment 2.1” deals with investments in urban regeneration projects aimed at reducing situations of marginalisation and social exclusion, the contributions for urban regeneration for the years 2021-2026 amount to a total of EUR3.4 billion and, in 2021, more than 1,780 works were financed, mainly in southern Italy.

Moreover, the “Investment 2.2” of the PNRR, in accordance with article 21 of Decree-Law No. 152 of 6 November 2021, provides for the allocation of further EUR2.5 billion circa, specifically for Metropolitan Cities (including Milan, Rome, Naples, Turin, Venice and Florence), through the creation of integrated urban plans aimed at supporting projects related to smart cities and at promoting urban regeneration through the eco-sustainable recovery and renovation of building structures and public areas.

Even single Regions have taken action to finance urban regeneration projects; for instance, for the three-year period 2021-2023, Lombardy Region invested 200 million Euros in public interventions to initiate urban regeneration processes and EUR60 million for public works for tourist and cultural rehabilitation and enhancement of historic villages.

In addition, from a legislative perspective, in October 2023, a bill was submitted to the VIII Commission of the Chamber of Deputies presenting provisions for the containment of soil consumption and urban regeneration.

Town planning new trend: social housing 

In addition to urban regeneration, national and local governments have addressed and are facing the housing emergency.

Indeed, according to ISTAT (Italian National Statistics Institute), in 2023, in Italy house prices increased by 1.3% compared to the previous year, with a 5.6% increase for new homes. Similarly, even the cost of rents raised, and, in Milan, it reaches an average of EUR23.30 sqm/month.

These increases, combined with the housing shortage, are making access to housing (especially in university cities) particularly complex for students, young professionals, and middle-class families.

Municipalities (primarily as Milan, Bologna, Venice) are working to reduce housing pressure by introducing several social housing measures.

With regard to student housing, which is a specific category of social housing, “Mission 4.1” of the PNRR envisages the creation of 52,500 new beds for university students by 2026, in addition to the 7,500 beds already built as of December 2022, bringing the total number of beds for off-campus students to over 100,000.

To achieve this goal, an allocation of EUR660 million is planned, which will be used to reduce the social gap and to promote the right to education.

Furthermore, Law No. 56 of 29 April 2024 appointed an extraordinary commissioner to ensure the achievement by 30 June 2026 of the said objectives of “Mission 4.1” in terms of creation of new beds for university students.

From an urban planning point of view, under the said Law No. 56/2024, the change of intended use of buildings financed by PNRR to student housing is always admitted, also in derogation of any prescriptions and limitations provided for by the town planning instruments.

Goals of Italian Public Law in 2023 and 2024 

Notwithstanding the above, in 2023 and in the first half of 2024, important legal issues were addressed and resolved.

First of all, the new Public Contracts Code (Legislative Decree No. 36 of 31 March 2023) was approved, which, inter alia, provides for the execution of urbanisation works through precisely regulated public procedures.

With regard to the environmental remediation of polluted sites, after the uncertainty generated by the Constitutional Court in its Case No. 160 of 24 July 2023 (which declared the invalidity of the transfer of functions relating to the remediation of contaminated sites to the Municipalities), Law No. 136 of 9 October 2023 stated that the Regions can confer administrative functions related to environmental remediations to Municipalities, Provinces and Metropolitan Cities.

Moreover, with regard to building works, Law No. 11 of 2 February 2024 provided that building interventions currently in progress may benefit from the extension to two years and six months for the start or the end of works relating to building permits and SCIAs issued or formed up to 30 June 2024, as well as extending the validity of town-planning agreements formed by the same deadline.

The future challenges of Italian Zoning and Planning

Will the State and local institutions, therefore, continue to work together to overcome the bureaucratic obstacles that still hold back the urban planning sector, in terms of certainty and speed of the administrative procedures, and to eliminate some hurdles.

For instance, intervening in historic centres and on protected buildings has been unnecessarily complex, with a high risk of abandonment and depopulation of old buildings in historic centres.

Moreover, reconciling tourist accommodation needs sometimes conflicts with the demand for housing. The Italian Government is already involved in the matter and some relevant laws should be adopted shortly to insert corrections to the tourism code.

These important issues, as well as social housing, energy efficiency and urban regeneration of abandoned and disused buildings, are also being addressed by major Italian Cities.

In fact, in 2023 Milan, Rome and Florence have started administrative procedures to approve variations to their general urban planning instruments, which constitute an opportunity for investors and the means by which the aforementioned goals of can be achieved.