The building heritage of the Church: cost and location.

The estimate was provided by Scenari Immobiliari for the newspaper Il Sole 24 Ore, which, through an unprecedented mapping exercise, completed the data on Vatican properties managed by Apsa.

Let's take a look at the types of properties owned by church institutions and how they are distributed across Italy.

How much real estate is owned by church organizations in Italy.

According to recent studies, the real estate of church institutions is very extensive: we are talking about 45,927 buildings that cover an area of 38.6 million square meters and are valued at 42.5 billion euros, not including the artistic treasures housed in them. This estimate does not include the buildings owned by the Vatican and managed by the separate institution Apsa - the Administration of the Patrimony of the Apostolic See, of which there are about 4,000.

The explanation for the vast variety and large number of these buildings throughout the Italian territory is found in the very definition of an ecclesiastical institution: they are universities, religious foundations, religious associations and, above all, dioceses and parishes.

What buildings are part of the property of church organizations?

As already mentioned, the real estate of religious institutions is very extensive and includes different types of buildings. Most are designed for the communal life of religious communities, such as monasteries, but may also include functional facilities such as medical facilities, orphanages, boarding houses and schools. These are estimated to be spacious buildings with an average floor area of 1,433 square meters. According to the category of cadastral records, we are mainly talking about buildings of category B/1, ie. е. in communal use, but there are also category B/7 buildings, such as prayer rooms and chapels not intended for public worship.

Renovation project

Factually, Scenari Immobiliari estimates that between 30% and 40% of the properties owned by church organizations are empty or underused, and 40% are in poor condition. This data points to the potential for the use of these buildings to benefit both church organizations and the community at large. The trend toward greater social and environmental sustainability in the management and use of these assets is gaining momentum, although the entire process, including analysis and restoration work, can take up to three years. There is, however, a case of successful redevelopment - the five-star Portrait Hotel inMilan, which opened in December 2022 on the site of the former archbishop's seminary on Lungarno Alberghi and is leased by the Ferragamo family. The seminary has retained ownership of the building and has made some spaces available to the diocese for public events, thus turning an unfavorable situation into a source of income that is directed to other charitable and educational initiatives.

The Italian neighborhoods with the most church property

As already mentioned, real estate owned by church organizations is distributed throughout the Italian territory, but there are some areas where it is predominant. There are as many as 12,200 buildings in Northern Italy, making it the leader in terms of ownership, althoughRome alone has 1,194 registered buildings. Then come Milan with 365 buildings, Turin with 280, Naples with 255 and Venice with 175 properties owned by religious organizations.