I have inherited a family house in a Friuli village: should I sell, let or keep it?

The mountain municipalities had 73,095 residents in 2001 and 59,366 at the start of 2026. The steepest fall is in Drenchia: -55%. Five villages in five valleys:

• Homes without residents include second homes and holiday lets, not only ruins: alternatives for a buyer, either way.
• Sales are few compared with the housing stock: in a year a median 2.1% of homes change owner, where the Revenue Agency publishes the figure. Yours will not be the only one for sale, and how it is presented will count.

• ILIA. In this region the local property tax is ILIA rather than IMU, and an empty house normally does not also pay Italian income tax on its cadastral income. Everyone can pick a single home anywhere in the region, other than their own residence, as a first ‘second home’: it pays at most 0.70%, provided the notice goes in on the Region’s website before July of the year after. Otherwise the municipal rate for other dwellings applies: median 0.86%, with the maximum, 1.06%, in 14 municipalities. Co-heirs each pay on their own share.
• Bordano went up to 1.06% in 2026; its council resolution says the aim is to get empty houses used again. Venzone also charges more for homes kept vacant.
• The rest: roof, gutters, damp, insurance, basic utilities, whether or not anyone goes there.

Working out the tax for your house: ILIA and second homes.

• Long lets. On OMI values the median rent for a mountain flat is €2.6/m² a month, which works out at 4.5% gross a year on paper, before tax, expenses and months without a tenant. A flat-rate tax on the rent (cedolare secca) can replace income tax.
• Short lets. You need a CIN, the national code shown in every listing, and from 2026 the lighter tax treatment stops at 2 flats per owner. It works where tourists come: in half the mountain municipalities visitors spend fewer than 5.1 nights a year per resident.
• Someone on the spot for keys, repairs and cleaning, if you let from afar.

• Succession. If it is not complete, or the house is still in the name of the person who died, ask a notary what is needed and how long it will take: it depends on the case.
• Land registry. The deed requires the seller to declare that floor plan and cadastral data match the house, or it is void. In a house altered over generations, an added room or moved window shows up only when plan and walls are compared.
• Building permits. Licences, permits or amnesties must be cited; if building started before 1 September 1967, a sworn statement replaces them.
• Energy certificate. It must be shown when negotiations start.
• Land book. The libro fondiario covers 43 municipalities in full, that is, every municipality of the former provinces of Trieste and Gorizia and some in the former province of Udine, and buyers there rely on what is registered: check with the notary that the house is entered in your name.
• Tax on the sale. Selling within five years of buying can trigger capital gains tax, but the law excludes property received by inheritance.

For a first look at your papers: send them to us.

• Renovation allowances on 2026 spending, 36% for a house that is not your main home (50% if it is), are deducted in instalments from Italian income tax. If you have no income taxed in Italy, there is nothing to deduct them from, and an empty house in this region normally produces no income tax: it pays ILIA instead.
• Since 17 February 2023 these allowances can no longer be sold on or turned into a discount on the invoice: without Italian tax to set them against, they are lost.
• The regional energy-efficiency grant, open in October 2026 (50% of costs, up to €12,000 per type of work), also covers second homes, but only for applicants resident in Friuli Venezia Giulia when they apply.

Before spending, set the quote beside the local value: for a detached house, OMI gives a median of €670/m² in the mountains.