Buyers from the US on the hunt for Italian castles

The most ‘popular’ region is Tuscany, although there is no shortage of properties on offer in Piedmont, Umbria and Emilia-Romagna. The market for castles, whilst a niche one involving substantial sums, is thriving, and it is driven primarily by foreign buyers.

“By their very nature, they are unique and scarce properties. This is precisely one of the factors that makes them particularly attractive to high-end buyers, especially international ones,” comments Danilo Romolini of Romolini Immobiliare – Christie’s Real Estate. For a foreign buyer, perhaps from a country with a historical and architectural heritage very different from that of Italy, a castle can represent the opportunity to become the owner of an authentic piece of history. Added to this are the architectural uniqueness, the originality of the materials, the finishes and the surrounding landscape. The purchase of a castle is therefore often perceived, at this level of the market, in much the same way as the purchase of a work of art: a unique and irreplaceable asset.” This is also because, very often, given that castles were originally built for military and defensive purposes, they are situated in ‘strategic and panoramic locations’.

L’interno del Castello di Fosini

“In recent years, we have seen growing interest, particularly from buyers with substantial financial resources and a strong personal motivation towards this type of property,” adds Romolini. Foreign buyers dominate this market segment; over 90 per cent of those interested in purchasing a castle are foreign.” Within this context, the United States accounts for the largest share of the market.

“In the first eight months of 2025,” he continues, “for luxury properties in Tuscany in the €1–3 million price range, Americans accounted for 28.4 per cent of international enquiries, followed by Germany and the United Kingdom.” Another characteristic of this sector is the time taken to sell, which is generally longer than for other types of property. This is because, as the representative of the agency – which has ‘56 castles officially for sale and over 100 properties of this type in its portfolio’ – points out, the value of a castle ‘does not depend solely on its floor area, but on a combination of factors: history, architecture, state of preservation, location, size of the grounds, privacy, potential uses and, above all, running costs and any renovation costs’.

Among the latest sales is Polgeto Castle. “My father sold it to the previous owners about 19 years ago,” recalls Danilo Romolini. “The property was subsequently completely refurbished, with a swimming pool, a tennis court and over 10 suites featuring high-quality finishes. We recently finalised the sale to an American buyer, with an asking price of 8.5 million euros.” And that’s not all: “Another significant sale finalised this year was that of Fosini Castle, the largest private estate in Tuscany, comprising over 2,000 hectares of land, 25 farmhouses and a thousand-year-old castle.”