GREG EVANS recently restored Il Granaio near Peccioli, Tuscany. Bottom, the villa before restoration, and, top, the villa afterward. The muddy creek was transformed into a pool.

Seasoned agents can also help us navigate the labyrinthine Italian real estate laws. Buying in Italy can be just a bit complicated, suggests Benedetta Vigano, an agent in Milan, with some understatement. Italy is often caricatured as a nation of crazed bureaucrats; doubters need only try to leave a grocery store without getting a receipt for a soda (it is actually illegal). As for real estate transactions, there are not two, but three legal and binding stages of the purchase. The first is the offer, which includes a nonrefundable deposit; the amount is negotiated between the buyer and the seller, but normally ranges from 2 to 3 percent of the total asking price. Inspections, title searches and lien checks are done before this stage, unlike in the United States. Careful preparation before this point is the best way to avoid disappointment.

BEFORE AND after photographs of the Il Granaio kitchen and dining room restoration. Materials original to the structure were used when possible, including 230-year-old terra-cotta floor tiles.

Happily, however, if the seller backs out at this time, he is generally required to return the deposit, with a 100 percent penalty. This affects the negotiation of the deposit amount. A seller hoping to land a better offer from another buyer will request a smaller deposit; a very committed buyer will try to run it as high as possible to prevent the seller from walking away.

Approximately one month after the offer, the parties move to the second stage, called il compromesso, or the full preliminary contract. At this point, the buyer hands over 20 to 30 percent of the sales price, minus the deposit, and the agent’s commission is paid. Two to three months later, the buyer and seller sign the final transfer deed, or rogito, and a bank check changes hands.

In addition to an agent, a buyer will also rely on the services of an Italian notary, or notaio. Our agent will probably recommend one who will handle the official records and check for title discrepancies, liens or other outstanding claims. A good agent will have access to reputable people, and a licensed local agent will carry insurance against some mishaps, such as title squabbles. A buyer will also require a local geometra, or surveyor, who will inspect the land and ensure that it matches its registered description. The geometra prepares a report describing the boundaries of the property and its overall condition.

Gray Areas
Taxes and fees can add up quite quickly. These include a stamp duty that ranges from 3 to 7 percent; the notaio’s fee, which can run more than $5,000 on a $2.5 million property; the geometra’s fee, which may be $1,000 to $2,000; a real estate tax of 3 percent, if you are buying from an individual; and local taxes, generally 0.4 to 0.8 percent of the assessed value. Italy is also notorious for “adjustments” made between the actual and the declared value of a home; buyers are generally expected to make a cash payment to cover the difference. Although sellers do not demand these adjustments with quite as much swagger as in the past, it pays to be aware of this cultural anachronism. “It’s sort of legal and sort of not—and sort of standard,” says Barbara Schaefer, a broker with New York-based Eychner Associates. Today, we can pay for the adjustments with a bank check, rather than a pile of cash in a briefcase. Italy also charges nonresidents a premium on many services. This can be as much as 50 percent more on expenses such as property taxes and water, electricity and phone bills. These charges vary from region to region, and from town to town.

Whether we emerge unscathed from these negotiations depends greatly on the expertise of our local legal team. Buyers at the higher end of the market do enjoy some advantage here, as reputable well-established agents with strong networks of trustworthy people will be easier to find. But Italy’s mania for such idiosyncrasies as the infamous rubber stamps are part of the country’s charms and are to be embraced if we hope for a relatively angst-free transaction. “Once people get here, they want to stay,” says Schaefer, who lived in Italy for 12 years. “With all of its difficulties and contradictions, it’s still a warm and wonderful place. You take it to heart.”

With millions of readers raptly following every slap of the trowel in Frances Mayes’ Under the Tuscan Sun, it almost seems like a buyer is missing out if he is not getting frustrated with the “colorful” workers who restore—or neglect to restore—a recently purchased villa. In reality, Zecca remembers the shock he felt when the master mason showed up. “He basically had a bucket and two hammers. Three years later, though, our home was perfect.” But it was three years of careful oversight, with the Zeccas living just down the road all the while, visiting the house constantly. Zecca does not believe he could have done it any other way.

Those who cannot devote this amount of time can work with an agent who specializes in restorations, such as Greg Evans of Tuscan Hills, a real estate and furnishings company based in Princeton, N.J. Although Evans also handles properties in mint condition, he primarily offers help restoring the Mayes-type ruin in Tuscany. In this region, a fixer-upper is often the best option, according to Evans, as new construction in rural Tuscany is restricted, and many of the most interesting properties remaining are in need of ground-up renovation. Evans will do as much or as little of the work as his customer desires, in concert with a sister office in San Gimigiano. “We have some clients who are very hands-on, flying in constantly to visit the property,” Evans says, “and some who are completely hands-off, doing everything by email.” Evans, who restored a 200-year-old farmhouse for himself, suggests that it could take $1 million to $2 million to restore a five- or six-bedroom farmhouse to luxury standards. Expect the process to take 12 to 14 months. Evans believes this is money well spent. One of his clients recently purchased a Tuscan farmhouse for $300,000, and invested $1.2 million in a restoration project. Evans believes it would sell for between $2.5 million and $2.75 million now.

Zecca currently keeps a full-time staff of four, and says Ugnana costs him a couple of hundred thousand dollars a year to run. Although profit was never his primary motive, he is able to defray his expenses by selling grapes from the registered vineyard and leasing the villa to tenants. As an investment, he admits, the villa has certainly increased in value. Moreover, Zecca, finding himself surrounded by 40 acres of ancient olive trees, found that he could not help but try making his own olive oil. His hobby blossomed into international renown and a restaurant in San Francisco. He still spends three or four months a year at Ugnano, but now also runs Frantoio in San Francisco, the only restaurant in the country with an in-house olive-oil-making operation. In Italy, business and pleasure often commingle; this is certainly the case in real estate.

Regional Tastes
In Italy, where we buy is at least as important as what we buy; the country’s geography offers everything from sun-drenched beaches to snowbound passes. It is necessary to become thoroughly accustomed with Italy’s most popular—and commonly overlooked—regions.

The lake district has long been a center of wealth and glamour. At Lake Como, George Clooney, who bought his Villa Oleandra there for $7 million last year, has practically redefined the region. “It was just like when the Duchess of York went to Maremma, in Tuscany. Everyone had to be in Maremma,” says Benedetta Vigano, an agent in Milan, and a member of Sotheby’s international network of brokers. Vigano is currently representing the Villa Fuoco, on the western shore of Como, about a mile from Clooney’s retreat. Dancer Sofia Fuoco built the house in 1846. Unlike most properties in the area, it rests directly on the lakefront. It has nine bedrooms, not including the staff quarters, and includes a boathouse with a terrace affording panoramic views of Como and the Alps. The asking price is about $5.5 million.

Sardinia is still very much a hot spot, says Vigano and other brokers, although the crowd is typically more continental European, with fewer English and Americans. Russians, in particular, have favored the island recently.

Tuscany, of course, is hardly undiscovered. In fact, the area has long been called “Chiantishire,” poking fun at the overwhelming number of English who have been settling there for decades. Nearby Umbria, constantly touted as the next Tuscany, exhibits a similarly international cross-section; its resident star is the musician Sting.

South of Rome, high-end options center on the island of Capri and the cliff-hanging towns near Naples: places such as Positano, Sorrento and Ravello. With the exception of pockets of Sicily, the rest of the south seems to appeal mainly to those in search of value.