The Visura Catastale is a document issued by Italy’s tax authority, Agenzia delle Entrate. It contains the official information on how a property is registered in the cadastral system. It shows how the State “sees” the property, but it does not confirm its legal compliance.
It includes the category and class of the property, its size, the number of cadastral rooms (vani), the cadastral income (rendita catastale), the technical coordinates, and the registered owner. Owner data is always included, although it may be outdated or inaccurate and sometimes needs to be updated.
It is important to understand that the Italian cadastre is a tax tool created for calculating property taxes, not a register that guarantees ownership rights. For this reason, the Visura Catastale does not prove ownership and does not guarantee that the structures on the plot are legally authorised.
How the Cadastral System Works
The Italian cadastre is based on a system of map coordinates, not on postal addresses. In the extract you will always find three key elements: foglio, particella and sub (subalterno). The fogliois the cadastral map sheet number within the municipality, the particellais the parcel on that sheet, and the subis the individual unit within that parcel — such as an apartment, garage, cellar or a separate building.
These references are not just numbers but precise markers on the cadastral map. They identify the property in a clear and unambiguous way. This approach may differ from what foreign buyers are used to: a house may have no visible number, and the cadastral and postal addresses may not match. But the foglio–particella–sub combination is fixed and remains the only reliable way to identify a property in official documents.
This is why estate agents begin their checks with the Visura Catastale, and why property details in purchase offers (proposte d’acquisto) are always described using these references.
What the Cadastre Is For, and What the Visura Shows
Since the cadastre exists to calculate taxes, the central element is the rendita catastale, which is used to determine the cadastral value. Many taxes related to purchase and ownership depend on it.
The extract shows how the property is formally registered: its designation, its parameters, its coordinates, the number of vani, and the person listed as the owner. These details describe the property from a fiscal perspective only; they do not reflect its legal status.
Limitations of the Cadastral Extract
Because the Italian cadastre was created as a tax system, for a long time it did not verify whether buildings had the required permits or conformed to planning rules. As a result, some structures may appear in the cadastre even though they have never been fully regularised.
It is not uncommon to find storage rooms, extensions or small additions that have been registered for years, with owners paying taxes on them, assuming they are legitimate. Yet during checks before a sale it may emerge that these structures do not legally exist and may even need to be removed.
So the mere presence of a structure in the cadastre is not a guarantee of its legality.
The Role of the Visura in the Property-Checking Process
The Visura Catastale is the first step in understanding the property. It shows what the tax system records and allows specialists to compare the formal data with the actual condition of the property.
However, it is never the only source of information. The real picture is established by comparing cadastral data with the relevant legal and technical documentation. Only by reading everything together can professionals confirm that the property is consistent with the documents and ready for a safe transaction.
The cadastral extract is an important document for understanding the layout of the property, the number of cadastral rooms (vani), and its position on the map. But it is not proof of ownership and does not confirm the legality of the structures. Since the Italian cadastre is a tax system, the information it contains must always be read together with legal and technical documents. This combined approach is what makes a property purchase in Italy safe and transparent.