Italian House Insurance Companies & Buying Guide

The funny thing about buying a property in Italy is that the buying procedure is relatively easy and very secure. The most difficult part is finding an agent and notary you feel comfortable with and trust.



If you don't speak Italian it is often a good idea to have a lawyer assist you, although if you are dealing with a large and well known realtor this is not essential.

The steps involved in the buying procedure and a brief explanation of each you can find on our Piedmont site. More difficult than the buying procedure is getting your house insured after you have bought it. If you want to buy home insurance in Italy my advice is don’t do it.

Insurance anywhere can be a nightmare but Italian house insurance companies and their horrible policies are a minefield, the only things worse than Italian home insurance policies are Italian car insurance and life insurance policies. The amount of small print that Italian house insurance companies have on their policies would take ages to wade through and be hard to decipher even if translated in English.

One major problem with house insurance companies in Italy is that they seem reluctant to pay out on holiday house insurance claims and you can forget about them ever including insurance on valuables, in fact I have never bothered to insure our valuables because of all the escape clauses that exist.

My advice is to insure in your home country. Unless you live permanently in Italy and speak the language dealing with a house insurance company in your own country is easier for a number of reasons:

1) Policies and claims will be handled in your own language.

2) From my experience insurance companies in the UK and USA settle about ten times quicker than their house insurance counterparts in Italy. My brother is still waiting, after five years, for a vehicle insurance claim to be paid out.

3) Premiums on holiday home insurance are often cheaper in many European countries and in the USA.

One other important point to note is that building insurance will never cover you against earthquake damage, if this happens the Italian government is liable but I wouldn’t hold your breath waiting for payment from them, rather buy in an area with a low risk of earthquakes.

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