Florence's New Short-Term Rental Rules: What Buyers Need to Know

By Patrick · 2026-09-30

What the rule actually says

Florence's city council approved the update on 4 June 2026 as Delibera di Consiglio Comunale (DCC) n. 28 — a "delibera" is a formal council resolution, the standard legal instrument Italian comuni use to set local rules like this one. It amends an earlier resolution, DCC n. 27 del 5 maggio 2025, which had already restricted new short-term rental activity in part of the historic center. The 2026 update entered into force on 21 June 2026, according to the comune's own published page.

From that date, it is no longer possible to start a new short-term rental activity (in Italian, locazione turistica breve) in three of the four sub-zones that make up Zona A — the zoning category covering Florence's historic core under the city's urban plan:

• Sub-zone A1 — already restricted before this update
• Sub-zone A3 — newly restricted from 21 June 2026
• Sub-zone A4 — newly restricted from 21 June 2026
• Sub-zone A2 — not currently restricted

That last point matters: the restriction does not cover the whole of Zona A. If you're looking at a specific property, the sub-zone it sits in — not simply whether it is in "the historic center" — determines whether a new short-term rental can be started there.

Ask your agent or geometra to confirm the sub-zone before you make an offer or include short-term rental income in your calculations.

If a property already has a short-term rental running

Existing activity is not cut off overnight. A property that was "already regularly destined" to short-term rental during 2024 — the comune's own wording — gets a transition period of three years from the rule's entry into force, running to roughly 2029, before the restriction reaches it.

That wording matters: it protects a unit that was actually being let in 2024, not one that merely existed or was bought with that intention later.

Outside the transition, a short-term rental authorization, once granted, runs for five years per unit (the comune's own rules describe this as "quinquennale" — Italian for "on a five-year basis").

The published rules we reviewed don't address what happens when a five-year authorization comes up for renewal inside a sub-zone where new activity is now barred. That's a real gap, and it's worth putting directly to a geometra rather than assuming either outcome.

If you're buying a property that's marketed with existing short-let income attached, two questions are particularly important: does the current authorization transfer to you as the new owner, and how many of its five years are left?

A listing description rarely answers either. Ask the seller's agent to confirm both in writing before you make an offer.

Why the exact address matters

There is a national requirement that applies across Italy: every short-term rental listing needs a CIN (Codice Identificativo Nazionale).

But whether a new short-term rental is permitted can depend on local rules set by the individual comune. As Florence shows, those restrictions can even differ between sub-zones within the same city.

That means a general headline about "Airbnb rules in Italy" — or even about Florence as a whole — isn't enough to assess a specific property. For a purchase decision, you need to check the rules that apply to the property's exact location.

What to verify before you make an offer

Before buying a property in Florence with short-term rental income in mind, check:

• Which Zona A sub-zone the property falls in, and whether new short-term rental activity is currently permitted there
• Whether the property already holds a valid short-term rental authorization, and when it was granted
• Whether that authorization transfers to a new owner or has to be reapplied for
• Whether the property qualifies for the 2024 transition period, and how much of it is left

These aren't questions to leave until after the purchase. If short-term rental income is part of the reason you're buying, they can materially change the numbers before you make an offer.

If short-term letting isn't an option here

A restricted sub-zone doesn't necessarily rule a property out as a purchase — but it changes the numbers you should be running.

Without short-let income, the property might work as a long-term rental instead, which is taxed differently, or as a personal residence. Either way, the running costs don't change based on how you use it: IMU, condominium fees and the rest still apply.

It's worth working through the full annual cost picture — covered in our guide to IMU and the real annual cost of owning a home in Italy — before deciding whether a property still makes sense once short-let income is off the table. And if you're earlier in the process, our step-by-step buying timeline covers where a check like this one fits between the proposta and the rogito.

How Trovara covers this

We're building a short-term-rental legality check directly into the Individual Property Report, comune by comune, verified against each comune's own published rules rather than a general regional summary. Florence is one of the towns covered this way so far, with more comuni being added over time.

If you're evaluating a specific property — in Florence's historic center or elsewhere in Italy — the Trovara Individual Property Report (€109, with multi-report bundles available) checks a property's short-term-rental legality alongside its structural, legal and financial risk, so you know whether the rental income you're picturing is actually available to you before you sign anything.

Prepared with AI assistance and reviewed by the Trovara team. This article is for informational purposes only and is not tax or legal advice — verify any rule or figure that affects a purchase decision with your notaio or commercialista.