Questions on buying, compliance and building work in Italy

A civil engineer in Italy designs building works, verifies how the structure behaves, prepares the applications the comune and the Catasto require, and supervises the works on the client's behalf. Ivan Nozzi practises in that role from Torrevecchia Teatina, province of Chieti. His title is Ingegnere — the Italian term for a registered engineer — in Sezione A, civil and environmental sector, which is the qualification a structural design must carry to be signed off in Italy.

Ivan Nozzi's registration can be checked free of charge in the Albo Unico Nazionale kept by the Consiglio Nazionale degli Ingegneri, and in the roll of the Ordine degli Ingegneri della Provincia di Chieti: number 2489, Sezione A, civil and environmental sector, since 22 February 2021. You search by surname and province, and it takes a couple of minutes. It is worth doing before you engage any technical professional in Italy, whoever they are.

Ivan Nozzi works from Via Torre 168, Torrevecchia Teatina (CH), a few minutes from both Chieti and Pescara. The usual working area is the province of Chieti and the province of Pescara: the Teatina coast, the Pescara and Sangro valleys, and the inland hill towns. I take work elsewhere in Abruzzo where the job justifies the travel. Site visits are agreed by phone and carried out in person, never by proxy.

Ivan Nozzi works in Italian. You are welcome to write in English or German: enquiries in those languages are read and answered. Quotes, contracts and reports are drawn up in Italian, the language that carries legal effect in Italy. Meetings, site visits and calls are held in Italian: you can bring someone to interpret, or I can suggest someone locally. Stating that precisely is more useful than a vague promise you would only test at the table. This site is published in Italian, in English and in German.

An engagement with Ivan Nozzi starts with a call or a message describing the property, the comune it sits in, and the decision in front of you. I then read whatever documents already exist — the cadastral extract and plan, the deed of provenance, any permits — and arrange a site visit if the question cannot be settled on paper. Only then do I set the scope out in writing. Nothing binds either side before that point.

Ivan Nozzi issues a written proposal before starting any work, without exception. It states the scope, the stages, the documents needed from you, the expected timing and the fee, with the Inarcassa contribution and Italian VAT shown separately. Municipal charges and filing fees sit outside it and are paid to the authority, not to me. If the proposal does not suit you, you have incurred nothing by asking for it.

Ivan Nozzi practises as an individual professional under VAT number 02717680694. EDIL NOZZI S.R.L. is a legally separate construction company with its own VAT number, IT02760240693; it shares the same premises and I cooperate with it. Which contractor carries out your works is your decision alone. Appointing EDIL NOZZI S.R.L. is never a condition of any engagement, and I disclose the connection in writing at the outset rather than leaving you to discover it.

An appointment can be run entirely at a distance for someone who lives outside Italy and is buying or renovating in the provinces of Chieti and Pescara. The site visit and the accesso agli atti — the formal request for a property's planning file at the comune — are carried out on the ground by me. The report reaches you digitally, with photographs and cadastral references, and I take you through it on a video call. Signatures at an authority or before a notary are handled by power of attorney, which the notary drafts.

The permit follows the depth of the intervention. Edilizia libera covers routine maintenance; a CILA covers internal work that leaves the structure untouched; a SCIA covers major refurbishment, conservative restoration and part of the renovation category; a permesso di costruire covers new build, extension, and renovation that changes footprint, volume or use class. Ivan Nozzi identifies the right route by reading the individual comune's building regulation as well, since it can be stricter than national law.

A structural design in reinforced concrete, steel or load-bearing masonry must be signed in Italy by an engineer or an architect entered in the relevant professional roll. A geometra may not: the profession's own statute limits them to modest civil constructions and excludes reinforced concrete. All of Abruzzo sits in seismic zone 1, 2 or 3. Ivan Nozzi is entered in Sezione A of the Chieti roll under number 2489, signs the calculations and files them with the Genio Civile.

Miglioramento sismico raises the safety of an existing structure without necessarily reaching the level demanded of a new building; adeguamento sismico brings the building up to that level and is compulsory in the cases set by the NTC 2018 code, among them adding a storey, extending, and changing the use class. Ivan Nozzi calculates the safety index of the building as it stands, then states which of the two routes is imposed and which is a choice.

The direttore dei lavori, the site supervisor, is appointed by the client and not by the contractor. This is the person who checks, on behalf of whoever is paying, that the work matches the design, the contract and the agreed prices, and who signs off each stage of progress. If the contractor picks them, the checker and the checked answer to the same interest. Ivan Nozzi accepts site supervision only on the client's appointment and discloses any relationship with the contractor in writing.

How long a building application takes depends on the permit type and on the comune. A CILA and a SCIA take effect on filing, subject to later checks; a permesso di costruire runs to statutory review periods that are suspended each time the office asks for further documents. Opinions from other authorities and the seismic authorisation add to that. Ivan Nozzi gives a realistic estimate for the comune concerned when the scope is agreed, and promises no date.

Before the first call it helps to have the current cadastral extract and floor plan, the deed of provenance, whatever permits the owner holds, any certificate of agibilità, and for apartments the condominium regulation. Ivan Nozzi works without them where necessary: what is missing can be recovered through a planning file request at the comune. Knowing from the outset what is missing shortens the timeline and reduces the cost of retrieval.