Selling a Sappada home to a foreign buyer: what changes, and what does not

In 2025 foreign guests accounted for 13.4% of the nights spent in Sappada's registered accommodation: the village's tourism is mostly Italian.⁹ But the Austrian border is a few kilometres away. By car, on our estimates, Lienz is about 1 h 55 min away, Klagenfurt about 2 h 40 min, Ljubljana about 3 h 30 min, Munich about 5 h 20 min. And the village's own speech, Sappadino, is of Austro-Bavarian origin: our guide to Plodn tells its story.¹¹

For a seller, a buyer who lives abroad is one more buyer. They do not need rules different from an Italian's, except on four points: whether they can buy, with which documents, in which language they sign, and how the money arrives.

The general rule is old and sits in the preliminary provisions of the Civil Code: a foreigner enjoys the civil rights of an Italian citizen on condition of reciprocity, that is, if their country grants the same rights to Italians. Buying a house is one of those rights.¹

In practice the check concerns few people. According to the Foreign Ministry, exempt are citizens, individuals and companies, of EU countries and of the other three countries of the European Economic Area: an Austrian, a German or a Slovenian buys in Sappada like someone living in Udine. Also exempt are stateless persons and refugees resident in Italy for at least three years, citizens of countries that have a bilateral investment agreement with Italy, and foreigners living in Italy with a long-term residence permit or with a permit for work, for a sole proprietorship, for family, humanitarian reasons or study. The immigration law treats a lawfully resident foreigner like a citizen for civil rights.²³¹⁰

For everyone else, for instance a US or British citizen who does not live in Italy, or lives here on a different permit such as one for elective residence, the notary checks before the deed, using the Ministry's data, whether there is reciprocity between the two countries. It is worth knowing when the offer arrives, not on the day of the deed.¹⁰

The first is the Italian tax code. Someone living abroad requests it from the Italian consular authorities of their country of residence; it can also be obtained at an office of the Agenzia delle Entrate, by appointment and with an identity document.⁴

Then a valid identity document, marital status and, for married buyers, the property regime, because these decide whose the house will be. For a couple married abroad a document on the law that governs their marriage may be needed: the question should be asked early.

A buyer who cannot come to Italy to sign can be represented by an attorney. The power of attorney is made abroad, before a notary or at the Italian consulate, and the notary handling the deed will say which formalities make it valid in Italy and whether it must be translated: better to ask before the buyer signs it.

An Italian notarial deed is written in Italian. The notarial law provides two routes for those who declare they do not know it.⁵

Either way the buyer always signs a text they can read. That is why the buyer's language should be told to the notary when the date is set, together with who will act as interpreter and witness: as a rule, in these cases, the notary calls witnesses. Interpreter and witnesses must meet the legal requirements: of age, Italian citizens or foreigners resident in Italy, with no interest in the deed, neither spouses nor close relatives of the parties; and the interpreter cannot also be a witness. The buyer's spouse or child, therefore, cannot act as their interpreter. Who pays for the interpreter and the translation is for the parties to decide: it is worth writing it into the preliminary contract.

And the preliminary contract itself is best written with the two languages side by side, stating which text prevails in case of doubt.

In the deed of sale the parties declare, in a sworn statement, how the price was paid: the details of each bank transfer or cheque. In the same statement they say whether an agent was involved, who it was, and how much was paid and how. A buyer paying from abroad does so by bank transfer, and the notary records its details.⁶

When the money comes from far away there is a tool that protects both sides: a request from either party is enough, and the notary must place the price in a dedicated account, where it stays separate from the notary's own assets and cannot be seized. It is released to those entitled after the sale has been registered and recorded in the land registers, once the notary has checked that no new encumbrances have appeared. The seller knows the money is there; the buyer, that the house is theirs before the money changes hands.⁷

Finally there is anti-money-laundering. The notary and the agency must identify the buyer and verify their identity; if the purchase is made through a company, they must trace who owns and controls it. They may ask where the money comes from. A foreign buyer who knows this prepares the documents in good time.⁸

The seller's taxes are the same: the capital gain, on homes bought or built less than five years earlier (ten if Superbonus works were carried out), subject to the exceptions in the law, is calculated as for any sale, and our guide to selling explains how.¹² The documents to prepare before the listing are also the same: the energy performance certificate, the conformity of the cadastral plan, the building permits, the landscape authorisation for exterior works.

What changes is how much they count. A buyer who lives hours away, and may read Italian with difficulty, decides on what they can see from afar: legible floor plans, faithful photographs, the certificate, condominium charges in writing. A house with its papers in order and a listing in the buyer's language sells at a distance; a house that needs three trips to understand what is being bought often does not.

Every house we sell in Sappada has its listing in Italian and also in English, German and Slovenian, with documents and declared photographs. The group works from Trieste, and of the buyers who contacted the group in the last year for homes in Trieste and its surroundings, and whose country we know, 37% lived abroad: it is not a Sappada figure, and it measures our own contacts, not the whole market.

Whoever wants to sell their Sappada home, including to someone from outside, starts with us from the written valuation and the papers. The notary is usually chosen by the buyer; we tell you beforehand what they will need.