Every year when I go to my summer beach house in Sabaudia, just south of Rome, I meet new Italian families who have just bought a second home by the seaside.

In Italy, 33 percent of Italians own a second home, and half of these own even a third or fourth property. According to a recent study during the pandemic, from 2020 to 2021, there was a 42 percent rise in purchases of second homes by Italians.

But while the pandemic may have accelerated the trend, in 2023 too the number of second homes purchased (over 270,000) was almost equal to the number of first homes bought by Italians (278,000), according to data from Italy’s society of notaries.

Vincenzo Castellano, a real estate agent who has handled many sales of second homes, particularly in the south, tells The Local that for Italians owning a second home is a cultural issue.

“Italians have always preferred to invest in properties, and owning a second homes is also a status symbol. Italians are savers who like to invest in stable, long-lasting assets such as apartments, old properties or even patches of land where they can build their dream retreat from scratch,” says Castellano.

“Investing in shares or state bonds is perceived as vulnerable and unreliable,” he adds.

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It is not only wealthy Italians who have second homes (though they do have the most gorgeous and expensive ones located in stunning locations), but also the average, medium-low earning family who, during the holidays and weekends, sleeps in a one-bedroom property and shares it with other relatives.

In Italy, people of all ages and of all social groups might own a second home, including pensioners, employees and VAT holders such as professionals and freelancers.

Castellano points out how it is not only people in the big cities who can afford a second home, but also former farming families, particularly in the south, who have sold lands and made enough money to purchase a nice apartment somewhere close by, likely in the city, which must not be too distant.

That’s one crucial point: Italians like to have a second home as long as it’s not so far away from their first main house in case anything happens and they need to get back real quick – like if the grandparents get sick or a burglar breaks into their property.

Italians generally don’t like to travel too far even within Italy, let alone take a plane or ferry to get to their summer or winter retreats.

“They want to have all their properties under control, easily and quickly accessible”, says Castellano.

I know people who live in the centre of Rome and have a second home just 60 kilometers away, in the quiet countryside near Viterbo, or at the beach in Ostia, which is only 30 kilometers away.

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I even met one family who lived in the centre of Latina (a coastal town south of Rome) and bought a beach house in Latina Lido, just four kilomters along the seaside promenade of the same town.

However, it’s not just seaside locations that attract Italians looking for second homes. There are also mountain towns seeing a 12 percent increase in purchases since 2019, rural villages, lakes and spots with fewer crowds.

During the pandemic, the number of second home purchases rose, mainly due to the fact that people were looking for unplugged places off the beaten track where social distancing was easy. The pandemic also brought new opportunities for remote working, with people combining holidays with work at second homes located far from the city chaos and smog.

In these past couple of years also it’s become affordable for more people to have a second home in Italy thanks to low mortgage rates as well as tax incentives to purchase and renovate old buildings.

“These ‘eco-bonuses’ were so popular, people had tax breaks of up to 110 percent, that it triggered a shortage of builders,” says Castellano.

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Then there is la famiglia – the family – which in all aspects of Italian life is the sacrosanct building block of everything – including of the purchase of property.

Most Italians, especially southerners, tend to have extended families who have multiple properties which they’ve accumulated and inherited over time, sometimes even centuries.

“Second homes are treasured, like family jewels, and passed along to the new generations,” says Castellano. “These properties, and how long they’ve been in the family, are a source of pride.”

Grandparents may leave their rural farmhouse in Tuscany or island retreat in Sardinia to their grandchildren who split it among themselves, and who every year quarrel over who gets to go there in August (when everyone goes on their summer holidays) and for how many weeks.

The trend for second homes will never fade away. It’s a distinctive trait of the Italian population and it will always be seen as the safest investment for families, no matter their social status and income level.

“Those who do not inherit a second home from their parents, particularly millennials, are likely to apply for small mortgages to buy one”, says Castellano.