South Tyrol slams the door on outsiders
Only locals will be allowed to buy houses in the Italian province under new law ‘in defence of the homeland’
HOSPITALITY apparently has its limit in Italy’s South Tyrol region as political leaders are moving to clamp down on property purchases by outsiders “for the defence of the homeland”.
The province of Bolzano has banned both foreigners and Italians from outside the largely German-speaking region from purchasing holiday homes in the area, after concluding they were driving up house prices beyond the reach of the locals.
Second homes will now be restricted to residents who have spent at least five years in the region or those who work in the area.
Arno Kompatscher, the provincial governor, reportedly said the move was “for the defence of the homeland”, after the council approved the latest move to protect the popular tourist destination from an excessive number of outsiders.
The council says the Dolomite mountain range, a World Heritage site which dominates the region, is a big draw for hikers and leisure seekers but that the demand for housing and land purchases was making it too hard for residents, in particular young people, to be able to afford a home.
Richard Theiner, the council deputy president, told local media: “This phenomenon, with a consequent increase in the consumption of land and building areas, makes it very difficult for residents to access a house at an affordable price.”
But Carlo Perseghin, who owns his own estate agency in Bolzano and is president of the Italian federation of real estate agents (FIAIP), said it would impact interest from abroad and other parts of Italy.
“The new law is madness,” he told The Telegraph. “In Europe there is free circulation of financial resources and people.
“Why should someone from Trento, for example, be allowed to buy a house in Berlin but not in South Tyrol? Whoever buys a second home here sets in motion a positive mechanism that contributes a great deal to residents. The future is not about closure, but openness.”
Michaela Biancofiore, an MP for the centre-right Forza Italia party, said the new law promoted “a new kind of apartheid” and that she planned to appeal to the European Parliament.
“This initiative will bring the real estate sector to its knees and homeowners will be forced to sell,” she said. “It will cause enormous damage to residents.”
A council statement named the 25 towns and 26 villages that would be affected by the new law which was passed by the council in July, and went into effect this week.
Regular checks will be carried out on second homes to ensure the law is being upheld.
In towns and villages where the number of second homes exceeds 10 per cent, all new or converted homes will be reserved for residents.
With its Gothic churches, German street signs and restaurants filled with apple strudel and Wiener schnitzel, South Tyrol seems the least Italian part of Italy.
The north-eastern city Bolzano is just 70 miles from the Austrian border and two thirds of the population in South Tyrol speak German. Many residents have never accepted the region’s annexation from the Austro-hungarian empire in 1919.
Federico Guiglia, journalist for the Venetian daily Il Gazzettino, criticised the move as a ploy to gain votes ahead of regional elections in October and questioned why the council had not applied it to all 116 municipalities in the province.
“It applies to the high tourist-density municipalities with the most beautiful places that are visited,” he said.
There were also concerns that the law may be in breach of the Italian Constitution but Mr Theiner said the national government had examined the new provincial law and decided not to challenge it before the constitutional court.