Frequently asked questions: the report

32 topics on the building and the area, from 50 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, what floods and earthquakes cost on average each year in euros, 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, summer heat, air quality, large industrial plants and contaminated sites nearby, solar panels on the roof slope by slope with estimated savings, who lives there, income and climate of the municipality, fast internet, nearby services and businesses, public transport, cycle paths and pedestrian streets, distance from railways, major roads and airports. In Lombardy and Piedmont also the energy rating of the building, in Lombardy, Veneto, the province of Bolzano and the metropolitan city of Turin also what the municipal plan says. 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, which you can also see for free by searching the address. It sums up what it is like to live in the area: services on foot, transport, green space, natural hazards, air, noise from railways, major roads 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. Each municipality page also has a map of the index area by area.

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).

After the search, the property page straight away shows the cadastral parcel with its sheet and parcel numbers and, for a home, the liveability index for the area with the score of each of its eight parts. For land, instead of the index you get the land sheet: area, slope, elevation, what is around it and buildings on the plot. If the topics checked to work these out already show something worth a closer look, such as a flood-prone area, the page names it. The full report adds everything else: what each risk means for that property, local prices, restrictions, costs, the guide with questions and documents, as a PDF with sources and dates. Without an account you can see a few indices a day; with a free account, more. Municipality pages, also free, show a map of the index area by area.

Yes, with a free account. Under the index there is a "Customise your index" button: remove the parts you do not care about, change the weight of the others and add new ones, for example the nearest state primary school, a pharmacy, the metro, cycle paths or few bars downstairs. Your choice applies to all your reports and searches, including reports you already have, and the Vicinalia index stays next to yours for comparison. Who lives there (age, households, origin) cannot be weighted: the index measures the place, not the people. The details are on the Liveability index page.

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 tracks, motorway or dual carriageway, main road, station and airport, with their names, and whether the property lies in the bands where the law allows more noise than elsewhere: within 100 metres and between 100 and 250 metres of railways, motorways and dual carriageways. Railways and roads come from the OpenStreetMap map. It is not a noise measurement: it says how close the source is, not how much noise reaches the house, which depends on traffic, barriers and buildings in between. The same distances feed the liveability index.

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.

Yes. From the European Environment Agency maps the report takes nitrogen dioxide, fine particles PM2.5 and PM10 particles in the square kilometre of the address, as a yearly average, and compares them with today's legal limits, the stricter ones that apply from 2030 and the World Health Organization recommendations. It also says whether particles go over the daily limit on more than the 35 days a year allowed, and, for nitrogen dioxide, the traffic gas, whether the address is among the more polluted or the cleaner parts of the municipality. These are estimates over one kilometre: next to a very busy road the air is worse than the square's average.

Yes, as an indicative estimate. From the building's footprint on open maps the report works out the roof shape (two slopes, four slopes or a flat roof) and which way each slope faces. North-facing slopes are left out; for the others it asks the European Commission's PVGIS service how much a panel produces with that direction and the typical pitch of Italian roofs. From this come the kW that fit, the energy over a year, the cost and the years to pay it back, with every assumption written alongside. On the web page you can change the power and the type of use. The roof shape is worked out, not measured: a surveyor on site may find different slopes, dormers or terraces.

Yes, in Lombardy, Veneto, the province of Bolzano and the metropolitan city of Turin, where the Region or Province publishes the mosaic of municipal plans. The report says what the parcel is for the plan (PGT in Lombardy, PI in Veneto, PRGC in Turin): already built-up area and its designated use, zone A-F, transformation area, agricultural area, area for public facilities (if planned, the municipality can expropriate it), with the share of the parcel. It also says whether it is in the historic centre, the constraints in the plan, the date of the plan and links to the municipal sheets or rules; in Lombardy also the landscape sensitivity, the geological feasibility and the buffer zones of roads, railways, cemeteries and wells. It is a summary: the planning use certificate is binding. In the other regions the section is not there, because they do not publish a mosaic of plans; the method is in Municipal plans.

It gives the building's, not the single flat's, and for now in Lombardy and Piedmont, the regions that publish energy certificates with their address. From the regional energy register the report counts the certificates of the flats at the address: the most common rating, how many are rated F or G, the stated construction period. Alongside it shows the area within 300 metres, for comparison. With fewer than three certificates the building is not described, because you could read the rating of a specific home. The rating of the flat you want to buy is on its certificate, which the seller must show from the listing onwards.

Yes, with a subscription: in the report choose "Monitor this property", or turn it on from the history of your reports. From then on we write to you, at most once a day, if a rating in the report changes because a source has been updated (for example a new flood map or a contaminated site found nearby), if new prices for the area come out or if there is an earthquake that could cause damage. When a rating changes you can update the report with today's data without paying for it again. It helps while you consider several homes over weeks, and also after you have bought. With Starter you follow 3 properties, with Pro 30, with Studio 200. The details are in How it works.

Yes, through the partner programme. It is designed for people who talk about property with people about to buy: creators, websites and newsletters, mortgage brokers, buyer agents, relocation advisers and surveyors. You send a request from your free account; if it is approved you get a personal link and a discount code for the people you send, and a commission on every customer's first purchase. The details are in the partner programme terms.