Buying Property on the Amalfi Coast and in Naples: A Campania Guide for Foreign Buyers

Published on: August 23, 2026

Last verified: 23 August 2026. Italian planning, heritage and civil protection rules change and are applied locally. Confirm the position for the specific property before committing funds.

Quick answer: Campania gives a buyer both extremes within an hour's drive. The Amalfi Coast is a closed market where the binding question is not price but permission: a UNESCO landscape constraint, the PUT territorial plan and the Soprintendenza mean you should assume no extension, no added volume and no change to external appearance without a landscape authorisation that may be refused. Naples is one of the cheapest major-city markets in Western Europe, around €3,000 to €3,200 per square metre city-wide against roughly €5,500 in Milan, but the city has begun capping new tourist accommodation by zone, so a short-let investment case must be checked zone by zone before purchase. In both, the single most important due diligence item is whether the physical property matches its cadastral plan and permit history.

Campania is the only Italian region that gives a buyer both extremes in the same hour's drive. The Amalfi Coast is among the most supply-constrained and heavily regulated stretches of residential land in Europe, where the question is not what you can afford but what you are legally permitted to do with it. Naples, forty minutes north, is one of the cheapest major-city markets in Western Europe by price per square metre, with the arithmetic to match.

Most English-language coverage treats the region as a holiday brochure. This guide treats it as a transaction, because the difference between a good and a catastrophic Campania purchase is almost entirely a matter of paperwork done before you sign.

Part one: the Amalfi Coast

What you are actually buying

The Amalfi Coast has been a UNESCO World Heritage cultural landscape since 1997. That designation is not decorative. It sits on top of a dense stack of Italian and Campanian planning instruments that together mean the coast is, in effect, a closed market where the housing stock is fixed and the main permitted activity is careful restoration of what already exists.

The instruments a buyer will meet:

• Vincolo paesaggistico (landscape constraint). A broad-area protection covering the coast under the Italian cultural heritage and landscape code. Works affecting external appearance require a separate autorizzazione paesaggistica on top of the ordinary building permit
• Soprintendenza. The Ministry of Culture's territorial office, which reviews and approves works in constrained areas. Timelines are measured in months, not weeks
• PUT (Piano Urbanistico Territoriale). Campania's territorial plan for the Sorrento and Amalfi peninsula, in force since the late 1980s, which zones the peninsula and sharply restricts new construction, volume increases and changes of use across most of it
• Vincolo idrogeologico. A hydrogeological constraint that applies widely on steep terrain and triggers additional authorisation for excavation, retaining walls and pools
• Municipal plans of each comune, which vary considerably between Positano, Praiano, Amalfi, Ravello, Maiori, Minori and Cetara

The practical consequence: assume you cannot extend, cannot add volume, and cannot change the external appearance without a formal landscape authorisation that may be refused. Any agent's assurance that permissions will be fine should be replaced with a written technical opinion from a local architetto or geometra who has actually filed applications in that comune.

The abusivismo problem

Campania has one of Italy's highest rates of unauthorised or partially unauthorised building. Terraces enclosed, roofs raised, taverns dug into the hillside, a bedroom where the plan shows a store. Where the physical property does not match the deposited cadastral plan and the building permit history, the discrepancy transfers to the buyer.

This is the single most important item of due diligence on the coast, and it is not something a notary's title search resolves. The notary confirms who owns it and whether it is mortgaged. Whether the third bedroom is legal is a different investigation entirely.

Ask for, and have a technician verify:

1. The original building permit or, for pre-1967 buildings, evidence of the date of construction
2. Every subsequent concessione, permesso di costruire, SCIA or CILA
3. Any amnesty application (condono edilizio) and, critically, whether it was granted or merely applied for. A pending application decades old is not a clean title, and in landscape-constrained zones amnesty is far more restricted than elsewhere
4. The planimetria catastale against the physical unit, room by room
5. The certificato di agibilità (habitability certificate)
6. Whether any part of the property sits inside the 300-metre coastal band or within a maritime state-property (demanio marittimo) concession, particularly for anything with sea access, a boathouse or a jetty

Prices, supply and reality

Coast supply is genuinely scarce. There is very little that can be built, most of what exists is in local family hands, and the highest-value properties frequently trade privately without ever appearing on a portal. Expect asking prices in Positano and Ravello to be a multiple of comparable square metres in the rest of Campania, and expect the qualifying stock at any given price point to be a handful of properties rather than a market.

Practical friction that buyers underestimate:

• Access. Many coastal houses are reached only by staircase. Hundreds of steps is normal. Furniture, renovation materials and, eventually, less mobile family members all have to get up them
• ZTL and parking. Positano, Ravello and Amalfi operate restricted traffic zones with camera enforcement and seasonal ordinances that vary by town and by time of day. Fines run from around €150 per detection. A parking space, where one legally exists, is a serious value component
• Season length. The commercial season runs roughly April to October. Winter on the coast is quiet, several restaurants close, and some services thin out
• Water and utility capacity. Constrained on steep terrain and worth checking specifically. Our guide to water scarcity and drought for property buyers covers the questions to ask

Letting on the coast

Italy's national short-let rules apply in full: the CIN registration code in every advertisement, mandatory gas and CO detectors and extinguishers, guest reporting to police within 24 hours, and cedolare secca at 21 per cent on one nominated unit and 26 per cent from the second. From 2026 the non-business threshold dropped from four units to two, with the third triggering business treatment and VAT registration.

The CIN is required even for a purely seasonal April-to-October operation. See our guide to licensing a holiday let for the wider framework.

Part two: Naples

Why the numbers are different

Naples is the third-largest city in Italy and, on a per-square-metre basis, dramatically cheaper than Milan or Rome. City-wide asking averages in 2026 sit around €3,000 to €3,200 per square metre, against roughly €5,500 in Milan. The dispersion within the city is extreme.

Bands are drawn from portal and OMI data and are indicative. Naples has an unusually wide price range within single postcodes, so street-level comparables matter more here than in most Italian cities.

The 2026 short-let restrictions

Naples has moved to cap tourist accommodation, and this is the most important recent regulatory development for anyone buying to let.

The city's planning variant works from a target that tourist accommodation should not exceed a defined share of total housing units in a given zone. Where that threshold is reached, new short-let authorisations in that zone are restricted. The quarters under the heaviest pressure, and therefore most likely to be closed to new entrants, are Porto and San Giuseppe, followed by San Lorenzo, Pendino and San Ferdinando, with Montecalvario and Chiaia in the medium-pressure band. Peripheral areas remain open, which is the explicit policy intention.

If your investment case depends on short-letting a specific flat in the historic centre, verify the current status for that exact zone with the comune before you commit. A unit that cannot be authorised has a materially different value from one that can.

What Naples is genuinely good at

• Year-round demand. Unlike the coast, Naples has universities, hospitals, a port, public administration and a large permanent population. Long-let demand exists in every month
• Entry price. Small units in improving central quarters have traded at levels that support real yields, and the gap between entry price and achievable rent is wider than in northern Italian cities
• Transport. Metro Line 1 has reshaped values along its route, the same pattern seen in Milan and Athens. Capodichino airport is unusually close to the centre
• Supply of restoration stock. Naples has a very large stock of historic buildings in need of work. Costs are lower than in northern Italy. See renovation cost per square metre by country for comparison figures

Seismic and volcanic due diligence

This is a factual technical matter that Campania buyers should address explicitly, and it is routinely omitted from lifestyle-oriented property content.

• Seismic classification. Italian municipalities are assigned seismic zones, and construction and renovation standards follow from the classification. Ask which zone the comune sits in and what that implies for any structural work you plan
• Vesuvius emergency planning. The area around Vesuvius is covered by civil protection planning zones, and the innermost zone has specific building and planning implications. Confirm whether the property sits inside any designated zone
• Campi Flegrei. The caldera west of Naples, covering Pozzuoli and adjacent areas, has been in a documented phase of ground uplift (bradisismo) with associated seismic activity, and Italian authorities have issued dedicated measures for the area including building vulnerability assessment programmes. Anyone considering Pozzuoli, Bagnoli, Bacoli or Monte di Procida should ask specifically about current civil protection status and any building assessment obligations
• Insurance. Confirm what is and is not covered. Our guide to claiming on overseas home insurance covers the questions to raise with an insurer before completion

None of this makes Campania unbuyable. Millions of people live there. It does mean the technical survey is not optional, and that a structural engineer's opinion is worth more than a reassuring conversation.

Purchase taxes and closing costs

Italy's acquisition tax framework is national, so the numbers are the same as elsewhere in the country.

Resale from a private seller

• Registration tax 9 per cent for a second home, 2 per cent under prima casa relief, €1,000 minimum
• Fixed mortgage and cadastral taxes of €50 each
• Private buyers of residential property can elect the prezzo-valore mechanism, so the tax base is the cadastral value rather than the price. Request it at the deed

New or substantially renovated from a developer

• VAT at 10 per cent, or 4 per cent under prima casa, or 22 per cent for luxury cadastral categories
• Fixed taxes of €200 each

Plus

• Notary fees, commonly 1 to 2 per cent
• Agency commission, typically 2 to 4 per cent plus VAT from the buyer
• Technical survey, which on the Amalfi Coast is the least optional expense in this list
• Sworn interpreter if you do not speak Italian

Annual costs are IMU on second homes, the TARI waste charge and condominium charges.

Non-EU buyers should also read our note on source of funds and source of wealth checks, since Italian banks and notaries apply anti-money-laundering documentation requirements at completion.

The rest of Campania

• Sorrento peninsula. Sorrento, Massa Lubrense, Sant'Agnello. Better road and rail access than the Amalfi side via the Circumvesuviana, similar landscape constraints under the PUT, a longer season, and a slightly deeper transaction market
• Ischia and Procida. Ischia has a genuine year-round island population and a thermal spa economy. Procida is tiny, protected and thinly traded. Both sit under island planning constraints
• Capri. Effectively a closed market with extremely limited supply and its own transport and construction logistics
• Cilento. South of Salerno, a national park coastline with far lower prices, longer distances and much thinner international demand. The value play in Campania, and the one that requires a car and patience
• Caserta and the inland provinces. Agricultural and industrial, cheap, and outside the international buyer market almost entirely

Frequently asked questions

Can foreigners buy on the Amalfi Coast?
Yes, on the same terms as elsewhere in Italy: EU nationals freely, non-EU nationals subject to reciprocity, which the notary verifies. Ownership is not restricted by nationality on the coast. What is restricted is what you may build or alter.

Can I add a pool or extend the terrace?
Assume no until a technician tells you otherwise in writing. Landscape authorisation is required and frequently refused for volume increases and visible alterations in constrained coastal zones.

Is Naples safe to invest in?
Naples has real security perceptions attached to it, and they vary enormously by quarter, which is one reason the price dispersion is so wide. Treat street-level local knowledge as essential and do not extrapolate from a city-wide average in either direction.

What return should I expect on the coast?
Amalfi Coast properties are lifestyle assets with a strong seasonal letting overlay, not yield instruments. Gross seasonal revenue can be high, but the season is short, management costs are high, access complicates servicing, and entry prices reflect scarcity. Naples is where the yield arithmetic is more conventional.

How long does a Campania purchase take?
Two to four months in normal cases. Materially longer where cadastral or amnesty irregularities need resolving before completion, which on the coast is common rather than exceptional.

Keep reading on JanusHermes

Campania is a paperwork market before it is a lifestyle market: on the coast the permit file decides the value, and in Naples the zone decides whether the letting plan is legal at all. JanusHermes lists property from local agencies in 11 languages, with the local agency's own contact details on every listing.

On Italy, see the country guide for foreign buyers, Milan and Lombardy, buying an apartment in Rome, Abruzzo, Le Marche and Umbria and Sicily. On the technical side, read the property inspection gap and how to hire a real estate lawyer abroad.

This article is general information published on 23 August 2026. It is not legal, tax, engineering or investment advice. Italian planning, heritage and civil protection rules change and are applied locally. Verify your position with an Italian notary, a locally qualified technician and, where appropriate, an independent lawyer before committing funds.