Notarial Report

Donations: by 2025, four out of five will be properties

More than 216,000 changes of ownership, but only 46,864 transfers of movable property

by Anna Mulassano

4 July 2026

3' min read

Translated by AI

Versione italiana

Key points

Property
Regional figures
Over-70s in pole position
Movable property
More young people are being targeted
Minimum gender gap

3' min read

Translated by AI

Versione italiana

Property still clearly dominates in the gifting market, which over the past decade has seen a significant increase in the proportion of cash payments in transfers of ownership of movable property.

These are some of the snapshots provided by the ‘Notarial Statistical Data Report’ (DSN) for 2025, compiled by the National Council of Notaries. In 2025, there were 263,422 donations in Italia: in 82.2 per cent of cases, these involved immovable property (216,558 transfers of ownership), whilst there were only 46,864 transfers of movable property. The survey shows substantial stability compared with 2024, when the total number of donations stood at 264,834, of which 217,749 were of immovable property and 47,085 of movable property.

Property

As regards property, it is buildings that are donated in the majority of cases: 122,618, accounting for 56.52 per cent. This is followed, by a considerable margin, by the donation of bare ownership of a building, recorded by notaries 35,343 times last year (16.32 per cent).

The figures are similar for the donation donations of agricultural land, totalling 28,552, or 13.18 per cent of the total. Bringing up the rear are building plots: just 2,848 donations last year, accounting for 1.32 per cent. Donations benefiting from the first-home scheme remained stable (78,893): in 2024, there were 78,913.

Regional figures

The region with the highest absolute numbers is Campania, with 27,909 donations – that is, 12.89 per cent of the national total – followed by Lombardy and Sicily, (10.69 and 10.53 per cent respectively).

When the South and the Islands are taken together, they account for just under half of all deeds of donation (around 48 per cent): a trend which, according to the DSN, reflects “the greater prevalence of small-scale land ownership, the persistence of traditional family structures and the frequent preference for donation over inheritance by death in areas with lower effective tax rates”.

However, when looking at the number of donations per inhabitant, Trentino-Alto Adige takes the gold medal, with 961 donations per 100,000 inhabitants; second place goes to Calabria (799), whilst third place on the podium goes to Basilicata (764).

Over-70s in pole position

It is mainly older people who are concerned about the transfer of property between generations; indeed, the over-76s account for 35.14 per cent of donations. The recipients are mainly in the 46–55 age group (25.06 per cent) and in the 18–35 age group (23.32 per cent), whilst the figure drops to 20.98 per cent among those aged 36 to 45.

Movable property

Donations of movable property accounted for a small proportion, with 46,864 transfers. In most cases, these consist of cash (19,757 donations, or 42.16 per cent) or shares and company shares (19,558 donations, accounting for 41.73 per cent). Donations of businesses, by contrast, were in the minority: just 5.62 per cent. The proportion of cash donations has increased compared with the past: in 2016, it stood at just under 32 per cent. “This trend,” the Report states, “reflects the growing liquidity of family assets and the tendency to transfer wealth in the form that is most readily spendable by the recipients.”

Although, in absolute terms, Lombardy holds the record for donations of movable property (12,776, more than 27 per cent of the national total), it is still Trentino-Alto Adige that records the highest number of donations relative to its population: 183 per 100,000 inhabitants.

More young people are being targeted

When it comes to movable assets, too, it is mainly older people who pass on ownership, particularly those in the 66–75 and 76–99 age groups. The recipients, on the other hand, are mostly (74 per cent) under 55. According to the report, this confirms the role of intergenerational transfer of wealth. Donations of cash and shares, in particular, are made by elderly people to their adult children or grandchildren: ‘The donation of movable assets,’ the report argues, ‘is increasingly emerging as the preferred tool for advance estate planning.’

Minimum gender gap

The gender difference amongst donors is modest: 55 per cent are men and 45 per cent are women. More significant, however, is the disparity in the nature of the assets inherited: productive assets are more frequently bequeathed to men, whilst cash legacies are more frequently paid out to women.