Services · Building permits
Building permits in Italy: CILA, SCIA and permesso di costruire
The permit an Italian building project needs is decided by what the works touch, not by what they cost. I prepare, sign and file the application with the comune, once I have checked that what stands on site matches the permits already on record.
The framework
What a building permit is in Italy, and why filing the wrong one is itself a problem
An Italian building permit is the instrument that makes works on a property lawful, and which permit applies is fixed by statute rather than chosen by the owner or the builder. D.P.R. 380/2001, the Testo Unico dell'Edilizia, sets out five levels: free works, CILA, SCIA, the SCIA that replaces a building permit, and the permesso di costruire. What decides the level is what the works touch — structure, volume, external appearance — and not what they cost.
I am Ivan Nozzi, an Ingegnere, meaning an engineer registered to practise in Italy, enrolled with the Ordine degli Ingegneri della Provincia di Chieti under number 2489, Section A, civil and environmental sector. I prepare and file these applications for properties in the provinces of Chieti and Pescara. Every file begins the same way: establishing which permits already exist on the building, and whether what stands on site corresponds to them.
Filing the wrong permit is not a clerical slip that can be tidied up afterwards. If works requiring a permesso di costruire are carried out under a CILA, the penalties are those attached to the permit that should have been used — a fine, and in some cases an order to restore the previous condition. It surfaces again on resale: an Italian deed of sale must recite the details of the building permit, and the buyer's own technician will compare those details with the building as it actually stands. This is one of the most common reasons a sale in Abruzzo stalls at the notary's desk.
D.P.R. 380/2001
Which permit applies: free works, CILA, SCIA and permesso di costruire compared
The table summarises the permits set out in the Italian building code. Treat it as a map, not a determination: the classification of any given project is settled on the drawings and on the rules of the specific comune.
| Permit | When it applies | Who signs | When work may start | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Free works — attività edilizia libera (art. 6) | Routine maintenance, external paving and finishes, garden furniture on the plot, temporary works removed within 180 days, removal of accessibility barriers that do not alter the shape or elevations of the building. | Nothing is filed and no technical certification is required. Classifying the works correctly remains the owner's responsibility. | Immediately, with no step at the comune. | The national glossary approved by D.M. 2 March 2018 lists the qualifying works. Landscape, seismic and public-health rules still apply on top. |
| CILA — notified start of works with technical certification (art. 6-bis) | The residual category: works that fall outside free works but do not need a SCIA or a permesso. In practice, extraordinary maintenance that leaves structural elements untouched. | A qualified technician certifies compliance; the owner or other entitled party files the notification. | From the date the notification is filed. | Failing to file carries a fine of EUR 1,000, reduced by two thirds if the CILA is filed voluntarily while the works are still in progress. |
| SCIA — certified notice of commencement (art. 22) | Extraordinary maintenance and conservative restoration affecting structural elements; renovation that does not change volume or elevations and, on listed buildings or in historic-centre zones, does not change the shape either. | A qualified designer, with a detailed technical report and a signed statement of compliance. | From the date the notice is filed. | The comune has thirty days to review the file and can order works to stop if the requirements are not met. |
| SCIA in place of a building permit (art. 23) | Renovation producing a building wholly or partly different from the original; new build and urban restructuring carried out under planning instruments that already set precise layout and volume parameters. | A qualified designer, with the complete set of project drawings. | No earlier than thirty days after filing. | It replaces the permesso only in the cases listed in article 23. Where the works attract the construction contribution, it is payable exactly as for a permesso. |
| Permesso di costruire — building permit (arts. 10 and 20) | New build, urban restructuring, and renovation that increases the number of units or changes volume and elevations; on listed buildings and in historic-centre zones, changes of shape as well. | A qualified designer signs the project; the permit itself is issued by the comune to the owner or other entitled party. | Only after the permit has been issued. | Sixty days for the case officer's assessment and thirty for the decision, both doubled in comuni above 100,000 inhabitants and for particularly complex projects. Works must start within one year of issue and finish within three years of starting. |
D.P.R. 380/2001 sets the national framework only. The municipal building regulation, the technical rules attached to the local plan, regional legislation and any constraint on the plot add requirements and can move a project from one line of this table to another. The regulation of the comune where the property sits has to be read before filing, not after.
The deliverable
What I prepare, what I sign and what I file
An Italian building application is a dossier rather than a form. These are the documents I draw up and the filings I handle on the client's behalf; the exact scope is fixed against the specific project before any engagement.
- Scaled drawings: measured survey of the existing building, the proposed scheme, and a comparative sheet showing demolitions and new work.
- A technical report setting the works against the planning and building rules of the comune, clause by clause.
- The asseverazione: the signed statement in which I certify that the design complies with the planning instruments, the building regulation and the other applicable rules.
- Dated photographic record of the property inside and out, with a plan showing where each photograph was taken.
- Reconstruction of the planning history: a formal records request at the municipal archive to recover earlier permits, then a comparison against the building as built.
- Cadastral check: the extract and the filed floor plan, with a list of the discrepancies that must be resolved before or alongside the new permit.
- Electronic filing with the Sportello Unico per l'Edilizia, together with the administrative charges and, where due, the construction contribution.
- Where structural elements are involved, the seismic filing or seismic authorisation with the Genio Civile: the whole of Abruzzo sits in seismic zone 1, 2 or 3, so this step applies region-wide.
- Where a landscape constraint applies, the landscape authorisation application, standard or simplified, which runs as a separate procedure with its own authority.
- The computo metrico, the itemised measured cost schedule, where it is needed to compare contractors' quotations or to quantify municipal charges.
- Completion notice and cadastral update at the end of the works, so the registered data matches the building as finished.
- Filing is electronic, so an owner living outside Italy does not need to be present in the comune for the application to proceed.
Timing
How long a permit takes, and what actually causes delay
The timeline of an Italian building application has two halves: the part that depends on the technician — survey, drawings, recovery of earlier permits — and the part that depends on the comune. A CILA or a SCIA can be filed as soon as the dossier is complete, and work may begin on the filing date. For a permesso di costruire, D.P.R. 380/2001 allows sixty days for the assessment and thirty for the decision, both doubled in comuni above 100,000 inhabitants and for particularly complex projects.
The longest stage is almost always the documentary reconstruction, and foreign owners are rarely warned about it. Municipal archives take weeks to answer a records request and frequently return an incomplete file: applications from the 1960s and 1970s, missing sheets, amnesty applications with partial paperwork. Until the lawful state of the building is established, a new permit cannot be filed correctly, however straightforward the works themselves may look.
Four causes of delay recur. Discrepancies that emerge when earlier permits are compared with the building as built, which have to be dealt with first rather than folded into the new project. Requests for further documents from the comune, which interrupt the statutory term so that it restarts when the documents are received. Constraints on the plot — landscape, hydrogeological, boundary distances, road and cemetery setbacks — each with its own authority and procedure. And the fact that the deemed consent that would otherwise apply to a permesso di costruire does not operate where hydrogeological, environmental, landscape or heritage constraints exist.
None of these variables is within my control and I do not give a promised issue date. What I do give, before any engagement, is a written statement of which documents are missing, which additional procedures attach to the property, and which facts about the building are not yet established.
Frequently asked
Questions buyers and owners in Abruzzo ask most often
Can I start work immediately after the application is filed?
It depends on the permit. With a CILA or a SCIA, work may begin on the day the file is lodged with the comune, although a SCIA remains open to municipal review for a further thirty days and a defect can lead to a stop order. With the SCIA that replaces a building permit, you must wait thirty days from filing. With a permesso di costruire, work may only start once the permit has been issued, and it must start within one year of issue.
What is the difference between a CILA and a SCIA?
The dividing line is structural work. A CILA covers works that fall outside the free-works category but leave the structure alone: internal extraordinary maintenance, moving non-load-bearing partitions, renewing services. A SCIA is required once the project affects structural elements or amounts to a renovation in the legal sense. The classification follows what is actually being built, not the way a contractor's quotation describes it.
Who signs the asseverazione, and what does that signature carry?
The asseverazione is signed by the qualified technician who prepares the design. On the applications I handle, I sign it myself as an engineer enrolled with the Ordine degli Ingegneri della Provincia di Chieti under number 2489. By signing, I certify that the design complies with the planning instruments, the building regulation and the other applicable rules. D.P.R. 380/2001 treats the designer as performing a service of public necessity and requires the comune to report untrue statements to the professional register. That is why I do not certify what I have not been able to verify.
How long does the comune take?
For a permesso di costruire, D.P.R. 380/2001 sets sixty days for the officer's assessment and thirty for the decision, doubled in comuni above 100,000 inhabitants and for particularly complex projects; a request for further documents interrupts the term, which restarts when the documents arrive. A SCIA gives the comune thirty days of review while the works may already be under way. A CILA has no review term. Add to all of this the records request that precedes the application, which is often the slowest step of the whole process.
What happens if works were already carried out without a permit?
Works already carried out without the required permit cannot be cured by filing an application as though they were still to begin. The route is regularisation, with procedures and penalties that depend on the type of work, the permit that should have been obtained, and the planning rules that apply. The first step is documentary in every case: only after earlier permits have been compared with the building as it stands can anyone say whether, and how, the work can be regularised. No outcome can be guaranteed in advance.
Next step
Check first, file second
Tell me what you want to build and on which property, and attach whatever you already hold: the cadastral extract, the filed floor plan, any earlier permits. I will reply setting out which permit is likely to apply, what has to be verified before that can be confirmed, and what it means in terms of drawings, filings and municipal charges. Studio at Via Torre 168, Torrevecchia Teatina (CH), Abruzzo.