Frequently asked questions: the report

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.