Many foreigners are tempted to buy a pristine patch of land under the Italian sun to build a dream home – but there are often hidden traps, including little-known national regulation on the purchase of land destined for agricultural use.
In 2023 Paula Clarke, a 65-year-old widow from Leeds who has been holidaying in Tuscany for the past 20 years, decided to buy a five-hectare patch of land on the green rolling hills surrounding Florence. But she was in for a surprise.
"I found out I needed permission from neighbours and former tenants to purchase it only after I had already settled for a good price of €50,000 with the owner," she says.
"Luckily a local friend of mine stopped me just in time, before I had transferred the money, informing me that I couldn't move on with the deal without prior permission from neighbours and tenants," Clarke tells The Local.
She wanted to build an eco-friendly wooden lodge where she would spend the rest of her life but was forced to give up on her dream.
"Agricultural land in Italy comes with many restrictions. It is land meant for agriculture, where farmers usually work or have worked on, so it is considered protected land by national law," explains Vincenzo Castellano, a legal expert who has handled the sale of many agricultural plots and rural properties in the southern region of Basilicata, where rural land up for sale abounds.
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Clarke had no idea that during the previous two years a tenant farmer had been using the land she wanted to grow vegetables on, even though the orchard had been abandoned.
According to Italian ownership laws on agricultural land, all adjacent land owners or recent tenants and their families have a first right of refusal to purchase the land.
Clarke was therefore obliged to ask them beforehand whether they wanted to buy it. Only after they officially refused, would she have been able to buy it.
"Once I found out about this, I spent months trying to strike a deal with five different families that had neighbouring lands, but one heir of a deceased owner did not accept my offer because he had plans to resume the farming lease to other tenants willing to revive the abandoned orchard," she says.
Clarke was ready to splash out a significant sum of money to buy out the heir's right to the land and be able to purchase it entirely for herself. Though she prefers not to disclose the amount of her offer, she says the heir turned it down.
Legal expert Castellano said Italy's "agricultural pre-emption right is primarily aimed at avoiding the fragmentation of land, and therefore to ensure its preservation by promoting continuity in agricultural management and eventually limiting the risk of turning it into building land for lucrative ends."
Regulation was first introduced back in 1965, and initially only concerned tenant farmers.
The right of pre-emption establishes that a tenant farmer who has been directly cultivating the land for at least two years prior to the sale of such land has the right to 'preferential treatment' in the purchase of it, above all other buyers.
Only after the tenant refuses to buy the land, can the owner place it officially on the market.
In 1971 the 'power of first refusal' was further extended to the direct farmer or neighbours who own land adjacent to the one on sale, provided that there is no tenant farmer whose pre-emption right comes first.
"It became a nightmare. I realised, luckily in time, what complex set of rules there are in Italy. Had I obliviously bought the land, I would now find myself in an infinite legal dispute with the heir because I was ignorant of regulations," says Clarke.
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The 65-year-old, who for now will keep holidaying in Italy but has ditched all plans to buy any kind of property, was left "traumatised" by the experience, but was also relieved she avoided getting stuck in a major hassle.
"It is paramount to rely on legal experts, who preferably speak English and who have a deep knowledge and familiarity with Italian regulations when it comes to agricultural land, prior to taking any step forward in the process of buying," she says.
"Don't trust the owner, who just wants to get rid of the land and won't tell you about the existence of the 'right of first refusal'; he or she may not even know about it".
It is also wise to ask locals if they know of any right of pre-emption existing among neighbours or tenants of the land you want to purchase, she adds.
Another of Clarke's tips is to visit the local town hall and ask to view the land registry data, where you can find maps and listed names of neighbours and tenants.
"Sometimes even asking locals or people you meet at the market or at the bar in small areas can be very helpful in finding out key information," she says.
That's how she got lucky. Friends living in the area warned her.
You can find more important information and practical advice on buying or renting property in Italy in our property section.
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