Renovating on the lake: what you can do, who decides, what you get back

The Cultural Heritage and Landscape Code makes landscape assets by law «the land bordering lakes within a band 300 metres deep from the shoreline, including land raised above the lakes», and likewise woods, parks and nature reserves¹. The lake band does not apply to areas that on 6 September 1985 were zoned A or B in the town plans, that is historic centres and built-up zones; but any specific protection decree for the same place still stands¹. The exact line of the band is drawn by each municipality in its town plan, in agreement with the Ministry and the Region⁴.

On top of these statutory protections come the decrees of «significant public interest». The widest is the ministerial decree of 1 August 1985, code B054 in the regional landscape plan: 73 km² of shore and hills in 12 of our municipalities, plus Arola and Cesara. Its stated reason: a belt of land «culturally and scenically akin» to the strictly coastal strip already protected³. In all, the regional catalogue lists 17 decrees for the thirteen municipalities, from 1926 to 1985:

The prescriptions of the landscape plan bind private owners from the outset and override town plans that conflict with them⁴. The plan ranks Lake Orta among Piedmont's lakes «of particular merit»⁴.

Quarna Sopra does not appear in the list of decrees by municipality; the 300-metre band and the woods still apply where they exist. Whether a house is inside or outside is shown by the town plan: before signing, ask the municipal technical office which constraints apply to the plot.

In the catalogue every decree has a sheet with prescriptions that apply to anyone who builds or alters. Those of the 1985 decree, which covers almost the whole lake, are³:

• the visibility of cultural assets and landmarks must be safeguarded: work nearby must not interfere with them «in terms of volumes, form, materials and colours»;
• new buildings provided for in plans go into vacant plots between existing buildings or next to built-up areas, in «non-dominant positions», without volumes and colours that spoil the views of the lake;
• in historic villages and centres no work may alter the layout of the built fabric or its typical character;
• telecommunication and energy installations must not spoil panoramic views.

Along the shore the sheets repeat themselves. Of the decrees the catalogue lists for the thirteen municipalities, twelve ask for new landing stages and jetties to be built «favouring the use of wood», and nine for new fences towards the lake to be low and simple in form, so as «to preserve the visual perception of the lake setting», without full-height solid walls; eight rule out external technical equipment that does not meet the «minimum visual impact» test³. In the area of the village of Orta, no new car parks are allowed either³.

On lakes of particular merit such as Orta, new harbours and jetties, or piers extended by more than 20%, are subject to a check of landscape consistency; and anyone building or restoring in the lake band must show consistency of size and form with the historic fabric⁴.

Ordinary and extraordinary maintenance, structural consolidation and conservative restoration that do not alter the place or the outward appearance of buildings need no landscape authorisation¹. A 2017 regulation lists, one by one, the exempt works (annex A) and the minor works under a simplified procedure (annex B)². Among the exempt works, those that most often concern a lake house:

• interior works that do not change the outward appearance, even with a change of use (A.1);
• redoing plaster, paintwork, cladding and roof coverings in keeping with the existing materials and finishes and any municipal colour plan; replacing windows and adding insulation without projecting elements (A.2);
• air conditioners, boilers and aerials on secondary façades or otherwise out of public view (A.5), except on listed historic buildings;
• solar panels on flat roofs not visible from public spaces (A.6);
• paths, paving, planting and domestic greenhouses up to 20 m² in the garden (A.12); maintenance of gates and fences with the same materials (A.13); awnings (A.22).

The simplified procedure applies instead to extensions of up to 10% of the volume and never more than 100 m³ (B.1), façades that change appearance, including openings and balconies (B.3), roofs redone in different materials or with altered pitches (B.4), garages with no more than 50 m³ above ground (B.16), and permanent canopies and pergolas up to 30 m² (B.17)². The decision comes within 60 days; if the Soprintendenza does not answer within its 20 days, silence counts as consent; the authorisation lasts five years².

Solar panels on a pitched roof. They are exempt when built into or flush with the roof, but not on buildings that fall under the protections of art. 136, letters b) and c); there they go through the simplified procedure (B.8)². The 1985 decree and almost all the shoreline decrees were issued precisely under letters c) and d)³: before ordering, ask the technical office which procedure applies to your house.

For everything else the landscape authorisation must be applied for and obtained before work starts: it is a separate act that comes before the building permit, and outside the minor cases it cannot be granted retrospectively. It lasts five years, plus one year to finish work already begun¹.

The statutory timetable: the authority examines the file and sends it to the Soprintendenza within 40 days; the Soprintendenza gives its opinion within 45; the authority decides within 20 days of the opinion, and if no opinion arrives within 60 days it decides anyway¹. The opinion is binding until the Ministry has verified that the town plans have been brought into line with the landscape plan¹.

In Piedmont the Region keeps only the largest projects, for example above 10,000 m³ or 3,000 m² of floor area; the rest is delegated to municipalities that have a local landscape commission⁵. The regional list updated on 8 October 2026 includes 11 of the thirteen municipalities, some with a joint commission; Madonna del Sasso and Nonio are not on it, and there the Region decides⁶. The Region warns that the list is a survey and may not match how the commissions actually operate⁶.

The competent Soprintendenza is the one in Novara, covering the provinces of Biella, Novara, Verbano-Cusio-Ossola and Vercelli⁷.

The landscape authorisation does not replace the building title, nor the other way round. Under the consolidated building act⁸:

• free building works (ordinary maintenance, for example) need no title, but «without prejudice» to the Landscape Code: free for building purposes does not mean free for the landscape;
• the CILA, a notice certified by a technician, covers everything that is neither free works nor SCIA nor a permit; forgetting it costs €1,000;
• the SCIA is needed for extraordinary maintenance on structures or façades and for «light» renovation; on protected property it takes effect only after the authorisation or opinion;
• the building permit is needed for new buildings and, in the protected areas of the lake, also to demolish and rebuild with a different outline, façades, footprint or volume.

If you are buying a house to renovate, the legal status of what already stands matters as much as the plans: the steps of a purchase are in Buying property in Italy.

Whoever breaches the protection is always bound to restore things as they were, at their own expense¹. A finding of landscape compatibility can be requested only for works that created no usable floor area or volume, for materials different from those authorised and for maintenance: the competent authority decides within 180 days, with the binding opinion of the Soprintendenza, and if the works are compatible you pay the greater of the damage caused and the profit gained; if not, they are demolished¹.

Works on landscape assets without authorisation are also a criminal offence, which is extinguished by spontaneous restoration before conviction¹. In practice: an enclosed veranda or an added volume built without authorisation on a lake house cannot be put right by paying.

Landscape protection concerns the place; cultural protection concerns the building. A private house becomes cultural heritage only through a declaration by the Ministry, for an interest of «particular importance», and the law names among possible assets villas, parks and gardens of artistic or historic interest¹. Buildings of public or church bodies more than seventy years old are protected until a check excludes them¹. In Orta the catalogue cites, among declared assets, Villa Crespi-Pia (1987), La Bagnera (2003) and Villa Motta (2004)³.

• any work on a cultural asset requires the authorisation of the Soprintendente¹;
• the sale must be notified to the Ministry within 30 days; the Ministry, or in its place the Region and local authorities, has 60 days to exercise a pre-emption right at the same price (180 if the notice is missing or incomplete), and meanwhile the deed is suspended and the house may not be handed over¹;
• a sale made without these rules is void¹.

Listing also has a tax effect: IMU is worked out on half the taxable base, as explained in IMU property tax on the lake. The Ministry publishes listings on its «Vincoli in Rete» service, warning that the data are not certified and must be confirmed by the Soprintendenza⁹.

The Sacro Monte of Orta is one of the nine complexes of the «Sacri Monti of Piedmont and Lombardy», a UNESCO World Heritage site since 2003¹⁰. It is also a special nature reserve, now managed by the Ente di gestione dei Sacri Monti created by Regional Law 19 of 2009¹¹. For reserves the statutory landscape protection applies without the 1985 exception for zones A and B, and in special reserves the general bans for protected areas apply, among them earthworks that substantially change the shape of the land¹¹¹.

The 1980 regional law that set up the reserve, with its ban on new buildings that would harm the environment, was repealed by the 2009 law: anyone quoting it as law in force is wrong¹¹.

For spending in 2026 the credit for building renovation is 36%, rising to 50% when the work concerns the main home of its owner or of the holder of a right in rem; the cap is €96,000 per dwelling and the credit is spread over ten equal yearly instalments¹⁴¹⁶¹². The same rates apply to the energy («ecobonus») and seismic («sismabonus») credits for 2026; replacing heating with a single fossil-fuel boiler is excluded¹⁴.

The lake house of someone who lives elsewhere is a second home: 36%. Being the owner is not enough for 50%: the house must be the habitual dwelling of the owner or of a family member. A family member living with you, a tenant or a borrower who pays for the work gets 36%¹³.

Non-residents can use the credit too, provided they pay Italian income tax (IRPEF)¹³: it is a reduction of Italian tax, so anyone with none to pay gets nothing from it. On listed property it can be combined with the reliefs for protected buildings, reduced by 50%¹².

If you sell before the ten years are up, the unused instalments pass to the buyer, if a natural person, unless the parties agree otherwise; if the deed says nothing, the transfer is automatic¹³. It is a choice to write into the deed and to weigh in the negotiation.

What changes next. For 2027 spending the rates are already set at 30% and 36% on the same cap; from 2028 to 2033, 30% on a maximum of €48,000¹⁴¹⁶¹³. And from 1 January 2027 the 1986 consolidated income tax act is replaced by a new one, Legislative Decree 117 of 2026, which carries these rules over¹⁵.

Taxpayers with income above €75,000 have an overall cap on deductible expenses, introduced from 2025: the Agenzia delle Entrate guide explains it; we do not calculate it here¹³.

Do you own a house on the lake and are weighing whether to renovate, sell or let it? The tool From price to net shows what a sale leaves you; if you would like our view on yours, tell us about it.