Corporate crises: court-ordered liquidations up by 13.6 per cent in the third quarter
Following the slowdown in cases at the start of the year, insolvencies and out-of-court settlements are on the rise again: the retail, services and construction sectors are among those hardest hit by these proceedings
Key points
Company insolvencies show no sign of abating. Following a quiet start to the year, the third quarter of 2026 saw a 13.6 per cent rise in court-ordered liquidations in Italia; there were 2,158 in total over the three-month period. This represents an increase of 259 cases, 162 of which were in the retail sector: this sector accounts for almost two-thirds of the overall increase.
A growth trend that has been ongoing for three years
These new figures – analysed by Cribis (part of the Crif group) – confirm that the upward trend in proceedings, which has been ongoing since 2022, is not over. Raffaella Calandra’s investigation, published in Il Sole 24 Ore, had highlighted the difficulties faced by businesses and presented the encouraging figures for the first half of the year: the number of insolvencies had remained at 2025 levels, with a 1 per cent decline; but after three years of growth, it was too early to speak of a reversal in the trend.
In fact, the Cribis survey covering the period July–September shows a significant increase in insolvencies compared with the same period over the last three years : +13.6% compared with 2025, +14.9% compared with 2024 and +38.1% compared with 2023. However, they remain 7.3% below the levels recorded in the third quarter of 2019, before the pandemic.
“This rise confirms that part of the Italian business community continues to face significant difficulties,” says Cribis’s chief executive, Marco Preti. “In a phase such as the current one, high energy prices and rising fuel costs are driving up production and transport costs, fuelling price pressures throughout the supply chain.”
A 30 per cent increase in transactions
Retailers have been hit hardest: in the retail sector, there were a total of 695 court-ordered liquidations in three months , compared with 533 a year earlier: an increase of 30.4 per cent, more than double the overall average. Almost one in three proceedings concerns this sector. Next comes the services sector, with 485 cases and a 4.3 per cent increase, followed by construction with 432, up 7.7 per cent, and manufacturing with 338, up 4.6 per cent.
The geographical breakdown of insolvencies confirms that Lombardy and Lazio lead the way: Lombardy recorded 419 cases, accounting for 19.4 per cent of the Italian total, representing a 4.8 per cent increase compared with the third quarter of 2025; Lazio recorded 293, an increase of 21.6 per cent. Finally, Piedmont has risen to third place: 183 settlements, representing a 22 per cent increase.
