Buying a home in Friuli from abroad: the steps, in order

1. Reciprocity. Citizens of the EU and the EEA (Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway) buy as Italians do. For everyone else the notary checks that Italians enjoy the same right in the buyer's country. For Americans, the Foreign Ministry's country sheet flags no barriers. The sheet for Britain was last updated in 2020, for the Brexit transition period, so a British buyer's case is settled by the notary.
2. Italian tax code (codice fiscale). You need it before making an offer. From abroad the Italian consulate issues it; otherwise an office of the Agenzia delle Entrate, with form AA4/8: how to get one.
3. Viewing and first papers. The cadastral plan must match the house, the building permits must exist, and the seller has to show the energy certificate (APE) from the start of negotiations: the checks.
4. Written offer (proposta). Usually an estate agent's form, handed over with a sum of money. It binds you the moment you sign; the seller is bound only on accepting, and from then on it counts as a preliminary contract.
5. Preliminary contract (compromesso) and deposit. In writing, and registered within 30 days. With a caparra confirmatoria, a buyer who walks away loses the deposit; a seller who walks away pays it back twice over: offer, contract, deposit.
6. Mortgage and grants, if needed. The regional first-home grant must be applied for before completion: who qualifies.
7. The notary (notaio). Unless agreed otherwise, the buyer pays for the deed and normally chooses the notary, who checks mortgages, encumbrances and the planning and cadastral position, then collects the taxes and pays them over. The deed is in Italian: if you don't understand it, you receive a translation alongside, with an interpreter chosen by the parties where needed: notary and deed.
8. Completion and payment. In the deed both sides state how the price was paid and whether an agent was involved. If either party asks, the notary holds the money in a dedicated account, releasing it once the deed has been registered and published.
9. Land register. Where it applies, ownership passes with the entry in the register, which a judge orders: what changes.
10. After completion. With the main-home rate, you have 18 months to become resident (residency). With a second home, the online ILIA declaration has a deadline of 30 June in the next calendar year (the tax).

• Private seller: registration tax at 9%; mortgage and cadastral taxes are flat, €50 each.
• Tax base: buying as a private individual in a sale without VAT, you can ask the notary to base the tax on the cadastral value (valore catastale), not on what you paid. That is the cadastral income (rendita) plus 5%, times 120, or times 110 at the main-home rate.
• Developer selling with VAT: VAT at 10%, 4% for a main home, plus three flat taxes of €200.

Worked examples: purchase taxes. Your exact figure comes from the notary; ask for it in writing before completion.

The 2% rate applies if the house is in the municipality where you are registered as resident, or where you register within 18 months of the deed, or where you work or study. Spending a few months a year there without registering is not enough.

Since 2023 (Decree-Law 69/2023) someone living abroad can skip the move only if they left Italy for work, had lived or worked there for at least 5 years beforehand, and buy in their municipality of birth or the one they left. Nationality makes no difference. A foreigner who has never lived or worked in Italy has two routes only: residency in the municipality, or work or study there.

Promise residency and don't take it up: the tax saved is clawed back with interest, plus a 30% penalty. Change your plans before the 18 months are up and you can withdraw the declaration without the penalty.

• The land register (libro fondiario) in Trieste, around Gorizia and Monfalcone, in part of the lower plain and in the Val Canale: a legacy of Austrian rule. The Revenue Agency's online mortgage searches do not cover these areas; charges are read at the land registry offices.
• ILIA instead of IMU, since 2023. A second home pays up to 1.06% a year; one per person, declared to the Region in time, pays 0.70% at most, wherever the owner lives.
• A regional first-home grant, higher in the mountains: as a rule it requires 5 years of registered residence in Friuli Venezia Giulia within the 8 years before applying.

And anywhere in Italy: if the energy certificate is missing from the deed, buyer and seller are jointly liable to a fine of €3,000 to €18,000.