Frequently asked questions

Check the address on the flood hazard maps: you can use ISPRA's IdroGEO platform or the report, which tells you in plain words whether the parcel is in a P3, P2 or P1 area and shows the flood zones nearby on a map. For a legally valid check, the binding sources are the river basin authority's plan and the technical office of the Comune (the local council). Ask the seller too whether the building has ever flooded.

It is the third of four classes: strong earthquakes are possible but rare, with an expected ground acceleration between 0.05 and 0.15 g. It does not mean a building is safe or unsafe: what matters is how it was designed and built. The differences between the zones are explained in Seismic zones 1, 2, 3 and 4.

No. Landslide and flood hazard changes from one street to the next: the same municipality can have safe areas and high-hazard areas. That is why the exact position of the building needs checking. The seismic zone, on the other hand, applies to the whole municipality, but even there what matters is the shaking expected at that point and, above all, how the building was built.

Yes, for fires seen by satellite: the report says whether the plot lies inside a burnt area, in which year and, if not, how far away the nearest fire was. It matters because Law 353/2000 is strict: burnt land cannot be built on for ten years, its use cannot change for fifteen, and for fifteen years the deed of sale must mention the restriction or it is void. Satellites see fires of roughly 30 hectares and above (smaller ones only from 2018): the legally binding record is the municipal register of burnt land, and the report explains how to request it.

The seismic zone applies to the whole municipality: it says how much the area can shake, not how the ground under the house responds. Where the municipality has carried out a seismic microzonation study, the report goes down to that spot: how much the ground amplifies shaking compared with bedrock, and whether the study reports landslides, liquefaction or faults. Not every municipality has a study: where it is missing the report says so, because not knowing does not mean the ground is sound.

It says how many there are in the municipality and how many have been cleaned up, in every region we have imported. In Piedmont it also says which sites still open are within one kilometre of the address, how far away, for what cause and with which substances, and it keeps sites with clean-up under way apart from those still under investigation: the Region publishes the point of each site. In Lombardy the count stays by municipality, with the name and street of each site, because the register publishes a hand-written address and a site put in the wrong place would be worse than one counted by municipality. In the other regions the report says that region is yet to be imported.

Nobody can say for certain, because it depends on the municipal planning scheme, and the binding answer is the planning certificate. The report does give two concrete clues: how much land was covered around here in the last year, and by what kind of work (building sites, buildings, roads, ground-mounted solar farms), and how fast built-up land is growing in the municipality. Where nothing was covered over the last twelve months, the report says so: that is information too.

In the visura catastale (land registry record), the purchase deed, the cadastral floor plan and often the registered rental contract. If you do not have these documents, type the address in the search: the report shows the foglio (sheet) and particella (parcel) of the plot the building stands on, wherever the cadastral maps are public.

Because data on individual flats (subalterni), such as category, cadastral income, floor plan and owners, is not open data. The report works on the cadastral parcel and the building, which is the information that matters for risks, services and transport. For data on the flat you need a visura catastale (land registry record).

Yes, but without the cadastral parcel. In the provinces of Trento and Bolzano the tavolare land registry (catasto tavolare, based on the libro fondiario or land book) applies, and the Revenue Agency (Agenzia delle Entrate) does not publish cadastral maps; the same is true for Magasa and Valvestino, in the province of Brescia. The report says so and works out risks, population, services and transport from the address point.

It says whether the area of the property falls under landscape protection, for example the strip along a river or the coast, a wood or an area of notable public interest, and how far the nearest protected area is. Where protection applies, work that changes the outside appearance needs landscape authorisation before it starts. The Ministry of Culture map is drawn at 1:25,000 and describes the area, not the individual property: the binding answer comes from the Superintendency. In Aosta Valley, Trentino-Alto Adige, Marche, Molise and Sicily the map does not exist, and the report says so.

Yes. When you create the report choose "A plot of land": the price is the same, the order changes. The land comes first (area, slope, aspect, elevation, whether the satellite sees it farmed, what is built on it), then landslides, floods, earthquakes and restrictions, and a buyer's guide with the questions that matter for land: planning use, agricultural right of first refusal, farm tenancies, access, water and boundaries. The sections about living in a home move to the end, and those with nothing to say are left out. The site already suggests "A plot of land" when the parcel is large and has no buildings on it. Everything is on the page The report for buying land.

In two ways, from the search on the home page. By sheet and parcel (foglio and particella), which are written on the land registry record, on the preliminary contract and often in the listing: choose the municipality and enter the two numbers (what they are). Or by coordinates: on Google Maps press and hold on the land, copy the two numbers that appear at the top (for example 44.2221, 12.0411) and paste them into the coordinates field. The site takes the cadastral parcel under that spot and shows it to you before the report, so you can check it is the right one.

The municipal planning scheme decides, and the document that certifies it for that parcel is the certificato di destinazione urbanistica: you request it from the technical office with the sheet and parcel numbers, it arrives within 30 days and is valid for one year. It states the zone, how much can be built and the restrictions. The report helps you prepare the request: it flags landslides, floods, landscape restrictions, parks and land burnt by wildfires (where nothing can be built for ten years), which are the things that can limit what the plan allows.

29 topics on the building and the area, from 38 sources: the liveability index, a number from 0 to 100 summing up the area, cadastral parcel and the buildings on it, price per square metre for the area, landslide, flood and earthquake risk, how much the ground amplifies shaking, land burnt by wildfires, ground movement, radon, age of the buildings, ground elevation, slope and aspect, distance from the sea, land use, protected areas, landscape protection, solar panels with estimated savings, who lives there, income and climate of the municipality, fast internet, nearby services and businesses, public transport and distance from railways and airports. There is also a buying guide with the questions to ask and the documents to request. For a plot of land the report puts the land first and has its own questions (the report for land). Each topic has a rating, a short explanation, the figures and the source with its date. As a PDF it runs to more than 30 pages; the details are in How it works.

It is a number from 0 to 100 at the top of every report, summing up what it is like to live in the area: services on foot, transport, green space, natural hazards, distance from stations and airports, local buildings and internet connection. Each part has its own score, shown in the report, and the index is the weighted average. It is our own measure, not official data: weights and thresholds are published on the Liveability index page. It does not use residents' income, age or origin, and with a critical natural hazard it cannot go above 60.

No. It is a summary of public data on the building and the area. It does not estimate the value of the home, as a valuer (perito) does, and it does not show cadastral income and owners, as a visura catastale does. Nor does it check planning compliance: for that you need your surveyor and the notary (notaio).

A single report costs 14.90 euros. The Comparison pack costs 29.90 euros and includes three reports, handy for comparing several homes: they do not expire and you use them whenever you like. The Starter subscription costs 99 euros a year (8.25 euros a month) and includes 30 reports, up to 5 in any month. For estate agents and surveyors there are the Pro and Studio plans with unlimited reports. Subscriptions are billed annually, with automatic or manual renewal as you prefer. All prices are on the Prices page.

From public bodies and open sources: the Revenue Agency (Agenzia delle Entrate) for the land registry and local prices, ISPRA for landslides and flooding, the Civil Protection Department and INGV for earthquakes, Istat for population, the European Commission for sunlight, Overture Maps for services and transport operators for stops. Licences and dates are on Where the data comes from.

It gives the distance to the nearest railway station and airport, with their names, and whether the property lies in the bands where the law allows the infrastructure to be noisier than elsewhere: within 100 metres and between 100 and 250 metres. It is not a noise measurement. Railway lines and motorways are not yet in the open data we use, so distances are measured from the station, not from the tracks: the report says so.

The report answers with two different measures, because they answer two different questions. The first is about the circle around the address: how much of the land is already covered within 200 and within 500 metres, and by what. The second is about the whole municipality, compared with the province, the region and Italy. The two can be far apart: in Milan the municipality stands at 58.7%, while an address in the centre reaches 100%. The first tells you what the place is like, the second what kind of municipality it sits in.

Land cover says what is around the address right now: houses, fields, woodland, water. Land take says how much of that land has been covered artificially, that is roads, car parks, yards, warehouses, building sites and ground-mounted panels, as well as houses. The first is a photograph, the second tells you how much is still free and how fast it is running out. The report has both, side by side, because on their own each tells half the story.

It says whether there are large industrial plants within one and three kilometres: their names, what they do and how far away they are. These are the ones European law requires to report themselves: power stations, refineries, steelworks, cement works, chemicals, landfill sites, incinerators, wastewater plants and intensive livestock farms. Smaller businesses stay outside every public register, so "no plants nearby" speaks about the large ones: the workshop down the street is still something to look at in person.

No, and that is on purpose. The European source declares that a plant exists, what it does and which pollutants it reports above very high thresholds: it does not say how much reaches your home, which depends on stacks, winds, working hours and how the plant is run. Passing judgement on that data would mean making things up. The report gives you the name, the activity and the distance, and if it worries you the right question goes to the regional environmental agency (ARPA), which has the actual measurements.

It gives you what you need to judge, by looking at the land from the satellite twelve times a year. Worked land grows and is harvested, so its greenness has a clear peak and a clear low; idle land stays much the same all year. The report shows the twelve-month curve, the greenest month and the barest. It is not a certificate: it says how the last year went, not whether the land can be farmed, which depends on soil, water and the planning scheme.

Yes. The block looks at the 500 metres around the address, not just your plot: it tells you whether the area is green or almost entirely built up, and how that changes with the seasons. That is the question that makes sense for someone buying in town, where a flat's parcel is too small for the satellite to measure on its own: each measurement covers 10 metres across. On plots over 2,000 square metres the report also adds a reading of the plot itself, which shows whether it is worked or idle.

Yes. The European Sentinel-3 satellite measures how hot the surface gets on summer days, and the report puts the value for the address next to the twelve kilometres around it: you can see whether this spot is among the warmer or the cooler ones nearby, and by how many degrees. There is also a map of the heat, with the address at the centre. The difference between a concrete district and one with parks reaches five or six degrees of surface temperature, and that is what you feel living there: at night tarmac gives back the heat it took during the day, greenery does not.

They are two different things and you read them differently. The forecast gives the temperature of the air, measured in the shade two metres above the ground: it is the number that tells you how to dress. The satellite gives the temperature of the surface, how hot what it sees from above actually gets: on an August day with 33 degrees of air temperature, tarmac reaches about fifty and grass about thirty. The report uses the second because it changes from street to street, while the air is much the same across a city: it is the surface that says which district heats up most and which one stays liveable.