I need to do a cadastral search.
ka-TAS-ta-le — stress the second syllable; 'c' before 'a' is hard, like 'k'.
Use this when buying property, checking land registry data, or resolving boundary disputes. The catasto (land registry) records all Italian properties with their owners, values, and boundaries. Access is through the Agenzia delle Entrate-Territorio.
The catasto (land registry) is divided into the catasto edilizio urbano (urban buildings) and the catasto terreni (agricultural land). A visura catastale is a search that returns the registered details of a property — owner, category, area, and rendita catastale (cadastral value used for tax purposes). It can be done online via the Agenzia delle Entrate.
La rendita catastale serve per calcolare le imposte sulla casa.
The cadastral value is used to calculate property taxes.
Rendita catastale is the official value; it is lower than market value and is used for IMU, TASI, and inheritance tax.
Devo fare la visura per controllare chi è il proprietario.
I need to do the search to check who the owner is.
Cadastral records are public; anyone can look up a property.
Il notaio fa la visura prima del rogito.
The notary does the search before the deed.
Rogito is the formal notarial deed of sale — the final step in buying Italian property.
Italy's catasto dates to the 18th century, when Lombardy under Austrian rule created one of Europe's first modern land registries. The current system still carries legacy complexities — for instance, the official cadastral values (rendite catastali) are widely acknowledged to be 20-40% below true market values, creating structural inequity in property taxation that multiple Italian governments have promised to reform.