Italy's official cadastral extract — the document recording a property's fiscal description, category, rendita catastale, and owner, used in every property transaction and tax calculation.
The visura catastale is the official extract from the Italian Catasto (land registry / cadastre), issued by the Agenzia delle Entrate. It is a key due diligence document in any Italian property transaction, recording the property's fiscal description, cadastral category and class, surface area (in vani or square metres), rendita catastale (annual cadastral income), and the name of the registered owner. It is used in calculating IMU, inheritance tax, and certain transaction taxes.
Every Italian property has a unique cadastral identifier consisting of: comune (municipality), foglio (map sheet), particella (parcel number), and subalterno (sub-unit number for apartments). These coordinates appear on property deeds (rogito), IMU bills, and official documents. The visura catastale pulls the full description for a specific set of these coordinates.
The catasto system distinguishes between the Catasto Edilizio Urbano (CEU) for buildings and the Catasto Terreni for land. Residential apartments and houses are in the CEU, classified by category (A/) and class. The most common residential categories are A/2 (civil dwellings), A/3 (economic dwellings), and A/7 (villini). Category determines the applicable multiplier for IMU fiscal base calculation. Luxury properties in categories A/1, A/8, A/9 do not qualify for the prima casa IMU exemption.
A critical issue for Italian property buyers is the conformità catastale — the requirement that the actual physical state of the property matches the records in the Catasto. Extensions, internal reconfigurations, and additions that were never declared to the Catasto create a non-conformity (difformità catastale). Under Italian law, the notaio is required to declare in the rogito that the cadastral description matches the property as built. Non-conformities must be resolved (regularised or declared) before the deed can be signed.
You can obtain a visura catastale for any Italian property via the Agenzia delle Entrate portal (agenziaentrate.gov.it) by searching the property's address or cadastral coordinates. The search is free for the visura ipotecaria (mortgage/encumbrance search at the Conservatoria) and the catastale. Your Italian geometra or property lawyer will obtain both as part of pre-purchase due diligence.
The visura catastale is the Catasto extract showing the property's fiscal and physical description. The visura ipotecaria is the mortgage/encumbrance search at the Conservatoria dei Registri Immobiliari showing any charges, mortgages, or judicial seizures on the property. Both are needed for due diligence — the catastale tells you what the property is; the ipotecaria tells you if it is clean.
Italian residential properties are classified A/1 (luxury townhouses — IMU liable), A/2 (civil dwellings — most common), A/3 (economic dwellings), A/4 (popular dwellings), A/5 (very popular — obsolete), A/6 (rural), A/7 (villini/detached), A/8 (luxury villas — IMU liable), A/9 (historic buildings — IMU liable). The category determines the multiplier used for IMU calculation and whether the prima casa exemption applies.
Yes. The Catasto is a public register — you can search for any property's cadastral data using its address or cadastral coordinates at agenziaentrate.gov.it for free. This is a recommended first step in due diligence, giving you the rendita catastale (for IMU calculation), the cadastral description, and confirmation of the registered ownership before commissioning a full legal search.
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