Agricultural land to building land in Italy: who decides

Agricultural land in Italy becomes building land only by decision of the Comune (the municipality) under the regional planning law: the owner can propose and object, not decide. In Emilia-Romagna, outside the urbanised area, the main route is an accordo operativo (development agreement) voted by the municipal council after a 60-day public deposit for objections. Municipal property tax (IMU) on building land can be due as soon as the general plan is adopted; the special levy and building charges come with the building work, each with its own conditions.

The report brings together public information about the land, with sources and dates, to prepare questions for the relevant offices: €29 in English or Italian · €39 in both languages · total, VAT included.

Who decides: the Comune through its plan, not the owner

Under DPR 380/2001, art. 12, para. 1, a building permit is issued only in line with the planning documents. On land zoned agricultural you can build only what the plan allows in farming zones (see building a house on agricultural land).

The plan is drawn up by the Comune (1942 planning law, art. 8); its name and the procedure for changing it depend on regional law, and in Emilia-Romagna the general plan is the PUG (piano urbanistico generale) under Regional Law 24/2017. Owners take part through objections and, where the regional law allows, proposals; the Comune decides. A seller’s promise is not a decision: for building, what counts is the act that has taken effect under the regional law.

Emilia-Romagna: when new land may be built on

This section and the next apply only to Emilia-Romagna (Regional Law 24/2017, current text). Elsewhere, ask the Comune’s planning office (ufficio urbanistica).

The PUG draws the boundary of the urbanised area (territorio urbanizzato). Rural land stays outside, even when enclosed between urbanised areas (art. 32, para. 3). Apart from direct urban reuse and regeneration works under art. 26, the PUG never gives open land a right to build, building potential or any legally protected expectation (art. 25, para. 1).

Here land take (consumo di suolo) is a balance: land that detailed plans earmark for development outside the urbanised area, minus land inside it earmarked for unsealing (art. 5, para. 5). Two limits apply:

• For what. It is allowed only for public works or works of public interest and for strategic developments, where there is no reasonable alternative of reusing built-up land (art. 5, para. 2). It is not allowed for new housing, except housing needed to start regenerating mainly residential urban areas, or social housing with only the share of open-market homes needed to make it viable. The rules for rural land in art. 36 stay in place (art. 5, para. 3).
• How much. The total may not exceed 3% of the urbanised area existing when the law came into force on 1 January 2018 (art. 6, para. 1; art. 80). Where no alternative without land take exists, some areas are not counted, such as supra-municipal public works, rural buildings serving farm businesses and urban parks (full list in art. 6, para. 5), or land used to carry out plans in force under art. 4 (art. 6, para. 7).

New development outside the urbanised area must sit next to existing settlements or ones covered by a planning agreement (convenzionati). The PUG’s rules for scattered or discontinuous buildings and their related and infill land still apply (art. 5, para. 4; art. 36, para. 4).

Sources: SNPA, land consumption report 2026, table 18; ISPRA, press release of 27 October 2026; accessed 13 November 2026.

The development agreement, stage by stage

Outside the urbanised area, new development under the PUG goes mainly through an accordo operativo, an agreement between the Comune and private parties with the force of a detailed plan (art. 38, paras. 1 and 2). The stages (Emilia-Romagna only):

1. Proposal, at the Comune. The developer submits an urban design, an agreement with work schedule and guarantees, a financial report and an environmental assessment (Valsat). It is published at once on the Comune’s website.
2. Review, planning office. Within 60 days of receipt, a binding deadline, the Comune checks it against the PUG and plans in force and weighs the public interest. The limit doubles if the proposal answers a public call by the Comune, in the cases of art. 4, para. 1, or for particularly complex programmes.
3. Deposit and objections, Comune website and BURERT. Within 10 more days the Comune decides and, if it complies and is agreed, places it on deposit for 60 days from the notice on the Comune’s website and in the regional official bulletin (BURERT), during which anyone can file objections.
4. Opinion of the Comitato urbanistico (CU, planning committee). Outside the urbanised area it also goes to the CU and the environmental bodies, unless exempt under art. 19, para. 6. The CU gives its opinion within 30 days of receipt; silence counts as a positive assessment.
5. Vote, municipal council. Within 30 days of the end of objections or of the CU’s time limit, the council rules on the objections, follows the CU’s opinion or gives detailed reasons, and authorises signature.
6. Signature, at the Comune. Both parties sign within the next 10 days.
7. Taking effect, BURERT. It takes effect from its notice in the BURERT, provided its full text is on the Comune’s website the same day.

These are per-stage limits, not a guaranteed total. Once in effect, a building permit is still needed unless the Comune finds the agreement itself serves as one for all or part of the works (art. 38, para. 15).

For a new PUG or an amendment, the draft is on deposit for 60 days for objections, extendable by 60 days at most (art. 45, paras. 3 and 5). The municipal executive (giunta) then has 60 days to examine the objections (art. 45, para. 9); then the council adopts the plan, the CU has 120 days for its opinion, suspended if it asks for more documents, and the council approves it within 60 more days (art. 46, paras. 1–6). These limits are halved for the general amendment that moves a municipality with a PSC (structural plan under Regional Law 20/2000) to the PUG (art. 3, para. 2). The plan comes into force on publication of the approval notice in the BURERT, provided the full plan is on the Comune’s website the same day (art. 46, para. 10).

From adoption by the council the salvaguardia (safeguard rule) applies: decisions conflicting with the adopted plan are put on hold. The Comune can bring it forward to the assunzione, the formal acceptance of the draft plan by the competent body before its adozione (adoption), but only if the council itself accepts it. Unless another law says otherwise, it lasts until the plan comes into force, for at most three years from adoption or assunzione, or five if the plan is sent to the CU within one year (art. 27). National rules: what you can build under the PRG.

Sources: Emilia-Romagna Regional Law 24/2017 (text in force); accessed 13 November 2026.

What it costs: IMU, charges and purchase taxes

IMU. Land counts as building land if it can be built on under the general or detailed planning documents (Law 160/2019, art. 1, para. 741), and the adopted general plan is enough, even before approval (Decree-Law 223/2006, art. 36, para. 2; from 1 January 2027 art. 336 of Legislative Decree 141/2026). The taxable value is the market value on 1 January, or from the date of adoption (para. 746). Excluded is land owned and farmed by a coltivatore diretto or IAP enrolled in farmers' social security, as long as farming or livestock rearing continues. In Emilia-Romagna the PUG gives open land no right to build, apart from direct urban reuse and regeneration works (art. 25), so ask the Comune to confirm the status (para. 741). See IMU on building land.

Special levy. For projects in variante (a plan change) or in deroga (an exception to the plan), the Comune works out the increase in value, and at least 50% goes to the Comune (DPR 380/2001, art. 16, para. 4, letter d-ter), unless regional laws or municipal plans provide otherwise (para. 4-bis). In Emilia-Romagna it applies to projects outside the urbanised area and on unserviced permeable land inside it (Regional Law 24/2017, art. 8).

Purchase taxes. Registration tax follows the same adopted-plan rule (Decree-Law 223/2006, art. 36, para. 2). For a deed signed in 2026, a private seller outside VAT, a buyer who is not a coltivatore diretto or IAP enrolled in farmers' social security and no tax relief claimed, it is 15% if the land is still agricultural and 9% if the adopted plan makes it building land; never less than 1,000 euro, plus mortgage and cadastral taxes of 50 euro each (DPR 131/1986, tariff, art. 1; Legislative Decree 23/2011, art. 10). On a hypothetical price of 50,000 euro, accepted as the taxable value, that comes to 7,600 euro as agricultural land and 4,600 euro as building land. For registered farmers and deeds from 2027, see the tax guides for agricultural land and for building land.

Buying agricultural land in the hope of rezoning

Before signing a preliminary contract, make three checks with the Comune’s planning office.

1. Current zoning. Ask for the zoning certificate (certificato di destinazione urbanistica, CDU) showing the plan in force and any adopted changes: the Comune must issue it within 30 days of the request (DPR 380/2001, art. 30, para. 3).
2. Procedures under way. Ask whether a PUG, plan change or development proposal affecting the parcel is on deposit, and the date of its notice in the BURERT.
3. Regional limits. Ask whether the land is inside the urbanised area and how much land-take allowance the Comune has left.

If the price assumes the rezoning, the preliminary contract can make the deed conditional on the rezoning act taking effect, through a condition precedent drafted by the notary.

The reverse route: from building land back to agricultural

The Comune can also take building status away through a plan change, sometimes at the owner’s request. Effects and IMU refunds are covered in the guide on building land rezoned as agricultural.