Italy short-term rental law in 2026: the rules, what changed and what’s coming in 2027

What does Italian law say about short-term rentals?

When people look for “the short-term rental law” in Italy, they almost always end up at article 4 of Decree-Law 50/2017. That’s where the locazione breve (short-term rental) is defined: a lease of a residential property located in Italy, lasting no more than 30 days, signed by private individuals outside a business, including with services such as cleaning and linen. The same article sets the rules on the cedolare secca flat tax and on the tax withheld by platforms.

Around that definition, rules from different levels of government have piled up:

• The State: the CIN code and safety devices, reporting guests to the police, taxes;
• the Regions: regional codes, start-up notices and ISTAT statistics;
• the Comuni (municipalities): the tourist tax and, where regional law allows, limits in some areas;
• the European Union: Regulation (EU) 2024/1028 on short-term rental data.

Residence in Italy is not a condition: foreign owners follow the same rules as everyone else, and our guide to managing a rental in Italy remotely shows how. Beyond 30 days you need a different contract, such as the transitional lease. If you’re starting from scratch, read how to start a short-term rental in Italy first; this guide covers the rules in force and what has changed.

Which national rules apply in 2026?

The national duties for anyone letting short-term, with the law, start date and the practical guide for each:

TULPS is Italy’s 1931 public-security law; the BDSR is the Ministry of Tourism’s accommodation database that issues the CIN. Two further points. Since 2024 Airbnb collects and pays the tourist tax for short-term rentals: it started on 15 February 2024 in 1,200 Comuni, with others to follow; for direct bookings and other channels it’s still your job. And when a platform or agency collects rent on your behalf, it withholds 21% as an advance on your tax, whichever regime you choose.

What changed for short-term rentals in 2026?

Three changes matter more than the others.

The two-apartment limit

Under the 2026 budget law (Law 199/2025), the short-let tax regime applies only if you use no more than two apartments for this activity in the tax year; until 2025 the limit was four. From the third apartment, the activity is presumed to be a business. A proposal to remove the 21% rate for owners who use platforms didn’t make it into the final text.

Platforms check the CIN

Since 20 May 2026, Airbnb, Booking.com and other platforms must display the registration number, which in Italy is the CIN, verify it with random checks and send the authorities the nights booked and the number of guests. A wrong CIN can cost you the listing.

Guest identification

Judgment 9101 of 21 November 2025 by the Consiglio di Stato, Italy’s highest administrative court, reinstated the Interior Ministry’s circular: the host must verify de visu (in person) that the guest matches the document, and sending documents online is not enough on its own. Keyboxes and door codes aren’t banned, but identification has to be organised: ask your Questura (provincial police headquarters) how it applies the rule.

Do you need a VAT number for short-term rentals?

Not if you stay within the short-let regime, that is up to two apartments let as a private individual: the income is taxed with the cedolare secca or with ordinary income tax (IRPEF). Above the threshold the activity is presumed to be a business, with a partita IVA (VAT number) and a SCIA, the certified start-of-activity notice, filed with the Comune’s business desk (SUAP). Operating as a business without a SCIA risks a fine of €2,000 to €10,000.

Services matter too: cleaning, linen and Wi-Fi are allowed, while breakfast, meals, car hire or guided tours take you outside the regime. Co-ownership and single rooms are cases to review with a commercialista (an Italian chartered accountant). The steps, in the right order, are in our guide to starting a short-term rental in Italy.

What changes between Regions and Comuni?

Tourism is a regional matter in Italy, and this is where the rules split:

• Regional codes. Many Regions issue their own code: in Lombardy and Piedmont it’s called the CIR, and in Piedmont it must stay visible in every form of promotion.
• ISTAT data. The Region sets the portal, deadlines and fines: in Lombardy by the 5th of the following month, in Piedmont by the 10th. Our Ross1000 guide compares the regions.
• Tourist tax. Rates, exemptions and deadlines are set by the Comune.

In October 2026, in judgment 163/2026, the Corte costituzionale (Italy’s Constitutional Court) struck down a Puglia rule that made the regional code a mandatory step before the CIN, because it added a burden beyond national law (as reported by Il Sole 24 Ore). In other words, a regional code can sit alongside the CIN, not condition it. Completing the regional procedure is still useful: on the BDSR you’ll find the property pre-filled with the Region’s data.

In judgment 164/2026, filed on 9 October, the Court also struck down articles 4 and 5 of Emilia-Romagna law 10/2025, which required a change of intended use for every short-term rental in the region: a disproportionate measure, because it covered the whole territory and even occasional hosts. Limits remain possible if they are targeted and justified. On 22 October the Court of Justice of the EU (case C-813/24, Smartflats) also accepted prior authorisation schemes and caps on permits where housing is scarce, under precise conditions.

On limits, also in October 2026, Puglia’s regional council approved a law allowing its 39 Comuni with high tourist density, and its provincial capitals, to identify areas with criteria and limits for new tourist lets, with transitional rules for existing ones (ANSA). Wherever you let, check your Comune’s rules.

What’s under discussion for 2027?

The news of recent weeks concerns two tables: Italy’s budget law and a proposed EU regulation. At 12 November 2026, neither is law.

The 2027 budget and the cedolare secca

On 28 October 2026 the Council of Ministers approved the 2027 budget bill. In the official press release, the housing measures concern the canone concordato (agreed-rent leases), with the cedolare secca falling from 10% to 5%, and to 1% for tenants aged up to 35, and the extension of the cedolare secca to commercial property. Nothing on short-term rentals: for the “2027 cedolare secca” the 2026 rules still apply. The bill reached the Chamber of Deputies on 30 October (AC 3174), must be approved by 31 December and can still change. Already law, by contrast, is a new penalty regime for the annual tourist-tax declaration from 2027 (D.Lgs. 147/2026): see the fines table below.

The EU proposal: the Affordable Housing Act

On 9 September 2026 the European Commission proposed the Affordable Housing Act (COM(2026) 599), a regulation on housing measures in “areas under housing stress”. According to the Commission, it doesn’t ban or directly limit short-term rentals: it sets the conditions States, Regions or Comuni must meet if they decide to act:

• restrictions must target activity that takes homes away from residential use, especially because of its size, frequency or commercial nature;
• the authority must show that short-term rentals have had a significant negative effect on house prices or availability for at least three years, and that less restrictive measures wouldn’t be enough;
• it must apply Regulation (EU) 2024/1028, including registration and removal of non-compliant listings, and use its data.

The proposal now has to be approved by the European Parliament and the Council, which can amend it.

How Italian politics reacted

On 26 October 2026, at the Stati Generali degli Affitti Brevi in Milan, Infrastructure and Transport Minister Matteo Salvini said he would oppose the EU proposal “by every necessary means”, calling it a measure that “essentially legitimises a form of expropriation” (Il Sole 24 Ore). On 28 October the Senate’s EU Policies committee approved a reasoned opinion stating that the proposal breaches the subsidiarity principle (ANSA); according to ItaliaOggi, the equivalent Chamber committee issued a similar opinion.

What are the fines?

CIN checks are the Comune’s job, and fines add up. Failing to report guests on Alloggiati Web is a criminal offence (a contravvenzione), not just an administrative fine. And the authorities now have better tools: the Ministry of Tourism’s BDSR Lens dashboard, used by Comuni since 2025 and, since June 2026, also by the tax authorities and the police, flags properties without a CIN and records checks on online listings.

How do you stay compliant without losing time?

The CIN, safety devices and tax regime are set up once. The time goes on the duties that come back with every booking, and that’s where Maurice works:

• guest documents collected before arrival through online check-in, in the browser and without an app;
• Alloggiati Web: registrations go out automatically, on time, with Alloggiati Web automation;
• ISTAT: guest movements reach your regional portal with automatic Ross1000 reporting, in the supported regions;
• tourist tax: Maurice applies your Comune’s rule and collects the tax by card during check-in, with tourist tax collection;
• everything tracked in the dashboard: check-ins, confirmed identifications, receipts and payments, ready for the Comune and your commercialista.

Maurice also answers guests 24/7 in their language, and it doesn’t only talk to guests: it talks to you too, and does what you ask. It manages more than 500 properties and has handled more than 20,000 bookings. Until 31 December 2026 it costs €9.99 per property per month, VAT excluded, and the team activates a free trial with guided onboarding: see Maurice’s pricing.