Frequently asked questions: buying land

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.