Two central provisions of Emilia-Romagna’s law on short-term rentals, approved at the end of 2025 to curb overtourism and protect the housing market, have been struck down.
Italy’s Constitutional Court (Corte costituzionale) rejected the rules that introduced a specific urban-planning classification for short-term lets and allowed municipalities to impose particular conditions on such activities in certain areas.
The issue is not whether restrictions can be placed on tourist rentals, but how the Region chose to do so. According to the judges, the limitations were disproportionate to the stated aim, not least because they applied across the entire regional territory.
There is also another matter at play: the unequal treatment between those renting out an apartment to tourists and those running other types of accommodation, such as non-hotel facilities.
The requirement to change a property’s intended use — from residential to tourist accommodation — applied only to short-term rentals. The Court deemed this distinction unreasonable, given that an apartment may be rented to tourists only occasionally.
The Consulta therefore upheld the Government’s objections, striking down the two contested provisions, while not calling into question the broader principle that regions are entitled to act against the effects of overtourism.
This marks a different outcome from the ruling on Tuscany’s equivalent law, which had instead passed the Constitutional Court’s scrutiny.
