Visura catastale: searching the cadastre and land registry

Two registers, two questions

The cadastre and the property registers answer different questions, and buyers confuse them.

• The cadastre (catasto) describes the property: where it is, what category it falls in, how big it is, and the rendita used for tax. It names the cadastral holders (intestatari).
• The property registers (registri immobiliari, the mortgage register in everyday language) record legal acts: transfers (transcriptions), mortgages (registrations) and changes to those entries (annotations). They answer “who owns it, and what is registered against it”.

The Agenzia delle Entrate explains that the registers are organised by person: the complete chronological story of a property emerges by searching each successive owner. Online searches by cadastral identifier or by person-and-property exist only for the computerised period, which varies office by office.

Who can request a visura, and where

The Agenzia delle Entrate gives three ways: at any provincial territory office, at a decentralised cadastral counter, or online via its services. At the counter the visura is issued on paper; online it is a PDF file. Online access requires SPID, the electronic identity card (CIE) or the national services card (CNS). A foreign resident without these can go to the counter or ask a professional with access.

• Your own property: the online “own properties” service gives current and historical visure, map extracts, plan extracts and mortgage searches for free and exempt from tax, as a PDF, for properties where you hold ownership or another real right, even for a share.
• Property you do not own: an online service lets anyone obtain, free of charge, a current visura by person (limited to properties on which that person is currently a holder; no historical visura by person) and current or historical visure by property using its identifiers, plus map extracts for land parcels. The search covers the whole country except the autonomous provinces of Trento and Bolzano.
• Professionals can use a platform called Sister, which requires an agreement and a fee, and returns data also in an XML format.

Reading the visura: the identifiers

The agency’s guide to reading a visura defines the terms. To find a property you need:

• the cadastral municipality;
• the sheet (foglio): the portion of the municipal territory shown on a cadastral map;
• the parcel (particella, also mappale): the plot or building with its yard;
• the sub-unit (subalterno): the individual unit on a parcel, when the building has several; the minimum unit with its own income and function.

Optional parts exist in some places: an administrative, census or urban section, and a denominatore, which appears only in the Catasto fondiario of Trieste and Gorizia and parts of Udine and Belluno. Under “Dati sugli immobili censiti al Catasto dei Fabbricati” you then read the address, the census zone, category, class, consistency (rooms for category A, square metres for C, cubic metres for B) and rendita. The meaning of the income figure is explained in the cadastral income guide.

Floor plans

The agency states that cadastral information is public, with the exception of floor plans, whose consultation is reserved to holders of rights over the property, their delegates and those entitled to access. A buyer therefore cannot pull the plan of a flat he or she does not yet own. Ask the seller for it; the deed must refer to the plans filed at the cadastre, and the holders must declare that the state of the property matches them (L. 52/1985 art. 29). See due diligence.

The mortgage register search

The ispezione ipotecaria is open to all: it can concern any person, natural or legal, and gives access to transcription, registration and annotation notes. For a property you do not own it is a paid online service, with the fee the statutory tariff less 20% for the online channel. Searches can be by natural person, by note, or by cadastral data of the property; a search by legal entity is not currently available online. For a property you own it is free via your personal area, but it shows only certain “against” entries (seizures, claims, mortgages) and only for the current tax code and cadastral identifiers; older formalities need a visit to the property-registry office. The agency warns that the database can hold personal and judicial data, and that improper or excessive use is punishable.

Land-book territories

The Agenzia delle Entrate says the mortgage-register search excludes the provinces of Bolzano, Gorizia, Trento and Trieste and some municipalities of Belluno, Brescia, Udine and Vicenza, where the land-book (libro fondiario, tavolare) system applies. The cadastral extracts for properties you do not own exclude Trento and Bolzano,. If your property is in these areas, the notary or a local professional will tell you which register to consult; Payotte did not read the local rules.

Correcting an error

If you find wrong data, such as a wrong holder, the agency offers a “rectification request” in its reserved area, or a form lodged at the provincial office.

Which professional to consult

A surveyor can request and read the extracts and fix mismatches. A notary makes the legal register checks. An architect can redraw a plan.