About
The brokerage for your 7% move.
I help foreign retirees settle in the small southern Italian towns where the 7% flat-tax regime applies — and find the home that holds up long after the tax break ends.
Why this niche
A flat 7%, in towns most buyers overlook.
Italy introduced Art. 24-ter TUIR in 2019 to fight depopulation in southern municipalities of 30,000 or fewer inhabitants. Any foreign pensioner who hasn’t been an Italian tax resident in the prior five years and who moves to one of those towns can pay a flat 7% on all foreign-source income — pension, rental, dividends, capital gains — for up to ten tax years.
The catch is not the rule. The catch is the towns. Most general agents don’t know the eligibility map, can’t tell you whether a hamlet is its own Comune or part of a larger one, and aren’t equipped to support a cross-border buyer. That gap is the work this brokerage does.
I’m Francesco Fontana. I’m based in Italy and I work with a small number of clients per year — by design.
How I work
PRINCIPLES
01
Focused
One regime, eight regions, a short list of towns. No general brokerage, no luxury chase — just the corner of Italy where the 7% rule actually applies.
02
Independent
I work for the buyer, not the seller. No dual mandates, no kickbacks from local agents. Every fee on every side of the table is disclosed in writing.
03
On the ground
Every town I show clients is one I’ve walked. Every property is visited before it reaches your shortlist. Remote brokerage at this scale doesn’t work — and I don’t pretend otherwise.
The process
FROM CALL TO KEYS
- STEP 01
Eligibility check
A 30-minute call to map your situation against Art. 24-ter — country of pension, prior Italian tax residence, treaty status, household composition. If you don’t qualify, you’ll know on the call.
- STEP 02
Town selection
Together we shortlist eight regions down to two or three towns that fit your climate, healthcare, and lifestyle preferences — all under the 30,000-inhabitant threshold.
- STEP 03
Property search
A curated shortlist of 5–10 properties per town. I handle the local listings, the off-market network, surveyors, and any restoration scoping.
- STEP 04
Closing & relocation
I sit alongside your notaio, your commercialista, and (where needed) your immigration advisor through closing and residency registration with the local Comune.