Luxury second homes in Italy are no longer a niche phenomenon. They have become a structural segment of the national real estate market, with a growth trajectory showing no lasting reversals and a positioning as a strategic asset increasingly recognized by investors and high-net-worth families. This is what emerges from the report "The luxury market in Italy: between first and second homes," published by Patrigest and Santandrea of the Gabetti Group, which captures a fully mature sector with data, rankings, and analyses of Italy's top tourist destinations.

How much is a foreign buyer prepared to spend on a home in Italy?

For years, buying a home by a lake largely meant buying a view. That is no longer the case. People choosing a second home on Lake Como or Lake Maggiore are looking for something more complex than a scenic panorama: a place to use throughout the year, where work and leisure can sit alongside each other, and where families can spend longer periods. That is the central argument put forward by Paola Cleps, senior sales consultant at Savills Residential, in an analysis of the high-end second-home market around northern Italy’s lakes. It is a market undergoing a cultural transformation before an economic one.

There is an Italy that sits outside the usual mass-tourism circuit: Apennine villages, quiet countryside, lesser-known lakes and stretches of coast where getting onto the beach does not mean joining a queue. This is also the Italy that a growing number of foreign buyers are choosing when it comes to purchasing a home. Data compiled by Gate-away.com for the first half of 2026 points to international demand following a different path from major tourist flows. It is more spread out, more curious and more deeply drawn to everyday Italy.

A village on Lake Como has decided to help young people stay and live there through funding allocated via a public call to people who choose to establish their official residence in Bellano and build a life there. Called “Abitare Bellano”, the initiative is a trial measure set up by the local Comune — municipal council — for 2026. It has a total fund of €100,000 and addresses an issue shared by many small Italian towns. On Lake Como, it takes on a particular form: a picturesque area that is increasingly unaffordable for the people who would genuinely like to make their home there.

For years, it has been taken for granted that a prestigious address guarantees a smooth property sale. The data now suggests that this is no longer the case. In many situations, the opposite is true. Homepanda Horizon, an observatory launched by the estate agency operator Homepanda, analysed 243,266 property listings over twelve months of continuous monitoring across Milan, Rome, Naples and Turin. The result is a snapshot of the market that challenges some of the sector’s most deeply rooted assumptions.

Italy’s rental market is changing shape.

Forty years after the death of Jorge Luis Borges and 15 years after its inauguration, the labyrinth dedicated to him by the Giorgio Cini Foundation on Venice’s Island of San Giorgio Maggiore has been renewed. One of the Venetian cultural heritage’s most iconic and poetic spaces has now reopened

On 1 January 2026, the EU’s population was estimated at 452.0 million people, an increase of 706,000 compared with the previous year.

If you are interested in buying a €1 house, a truly unusual listing has appeared on idealista: a farmhouse in Montechiaro d’Asti for just €1. What makes it stand out?