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RENTING

Reader question: How can I find an apartment to rent in Rome?

The Eternal City is a popular destination for foreigners wanting to stay for a few months or even years, but finding a place to rent can be complicated. Here's where to start.

Published: 30 November 2022 15:50 CET
Updated: 22 January 2023 09:25 CET
Where should you start when looking for a place to rent in Rome?
Where should you start when looking for a place to rent in Rome? Photo by Ludovic MARIN / AFP.

Question: I’m moving to Rome in the spring with friends and we’re looking to rent an apartment in a central area. Do you have any suggestions for good sources of rentals in Rome?

For those staying in Rome for just a few weeks, it’s often simplest to go with a short-term booking site like Airbnb.

If you’re planning on staying for longer than this, however, it’s probably more cost-effective to go the official route and sign a rental agreement – though be prepared to deal with a certain amount of hassle (more on this below).

Some of the most popular websites in Italy for rentals are idealista.it, immobiliare.it, and casa.it, where you’ll find a wide range of apartments for rent.

All the listings on these sites are in Italian, so it’s helpful to familiarise yourself with some key vocabulary.

READ ALSO: Ten things to expect when renting an apartment in Italy

In affitto is ‘for rent’ (in vendita, ‘for sale’). For a short-term let, you’ll want a place that’s furnished (arredato). A  locale is a room (note: not a bedroom), so a bilocale is a one-bedroom with one other room and a monolocale is a studio. 

It’s worth reviewing all the photos available and if possible the floor plan (planimetria) so you know exactly what kind of set up the house has; for example a trilocale doesn’t necessarily have two bedrooms, but might just be a one-bed with a separate living room and kitchen. 

For people beginning their search without any Italian, the English-language real estate listings aggregator Nestpick is a good option – though bear in mind you’re unlikely to find the same range of options as on the Italian-language sites.

If you’re coming with a university, they should be your first port of call; some will have a roster of trusted landlords, or can at least direct you to online forums where you can seek recommendations from current and former students.

READ ALSO: Do renters in Italy have the right to keep pets?

Facebook is also a good place to look: Rent in Rome and Rome Expats have two of the largest groups dedicated to searching for an apartment in the eternal city. If you know you want somewhere for at least a year, Long Term Rentals Italy is also an option.

As a guidepost, InterNations, an information and networking site for people living overseas, lists the average monthly rent in Rome as €1,220.

Italy’s rental contracts tend to favour tenants: common contracts are the 3+2 or 4+4, which means the rent is locked in for at least three/four years, at the end of which the renter can choose to renew at the same rate for another two/four years.

Facebook groups can be a good place to start when apartment-hunting in Rome.
Facebook groups can be a good place to start when apartment-hunting in Rome. Photo: Filippo Monteforte/AFP

The contratto transitorio (temporary or short-term lease), by contrast, is for anywhere between one and eighteen months. Bear in mind it’s the landlord, not the tenant, that’s locked into these minimum time periods – just make sure there’s a clause that allows you to move out after a specified notice period.

Landlords often prefer to rent our their apartments with contratti transitori so they have more freedom to sell or raise the rent, so you may be at an advantage if you’re looking for a place to stay for just a few months.

Even with just a short-term lease, a landlord can request up to three months’ rent (!) in advance as a security deposit, and it’s common to ask for two. To stand the best chance of getting your deposit back, it’s worth taking detailed photos of the property before you move in so you have a record of its state.

READ ALSO: ‘Why I used to hate living in Rome as a foreigner – and why I changed my mind’

If you’re going through an agency, it’s also common for tenants to pay a finder’s fee of one month’s rent – all of which can make initial costs rise very fast. The silver lining is that in Rome you can (and should) negotiate on the rent, deposit, and other contract terms, and not just take what you’re offered.

Some landlords will suggest you bypass an agency and deal directly with them. While avoiding the agency fees is tempting, this can leave you in a very vulnerable situation as you have no legal standing if it turns out you don’t have an official rental contract – so it’s not advised.

It’s also important not to hand over any money until you’ve viewed the apartment in person (or had a trusted representative do so on your behalf) and confirmed the listing is legitimate. Scams are not unheard of in Rome, and foreigners are ideal targets.

READ ALSO: Moving to Italy: How much does it really cost to live in Milan?

When browsing listings, consider what’s important to you in terms of the neighbourhood and type of property – and if there’s anything you’re unsure of, it’s worth seeking out advice in online groups from people already living in the city.

A ground floor apartment on a cobbled side street near the centre, for example, may sound ideal, but if it’s in a touristy neighbourhood you may find you’re quickly driven mad by the sound of rolling luggage bouncing past your window all hours of the day and night.

Finding an apartment to rent in Rome can be a challenge, but if you put in the effort, you’re sure to find your ideal base – and move on to making the most of your time in one of Europe’s most picturesque and historically rich capitals.

Member comments

  1. readers should be aware that the web sites for real estate listed in the article (casa.it, immobiliare.it) show statistics on rental price per square meter by neighborhood, and the differences by neighborhood can be significant. although Rome real estate is highly variable and thus even within a zone there is variation in price, these stats are a good place to start. they are also useful to judge whether the rent being requested by the landlord is reasonable. more livable close in neighborhoods, like San Giovanni or San Paolo/Garbatella are more economical and deliver an experience more like living as a local, as well as having their own interesting histories. To avoid getting taken for a ride a renter might consider getting in touch with a Rome based English speaking lawyer to review the contract and see how the rates for the legal advice would compare with paying a real estate company. you might have a better chance of unbiased review of the rental contract, as well as experience dealing with issues common among foreigners, which a real estate agent may not have. but if the apt is listed and shown by an agency i don’t think you would have a choice as to paying the agency fee.

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For members

MOVING TO ITALY

‘€150 rent a month’: Why you don’t always need to buy when you move to Italy

Buying a house is often the most common route for foreigners choosing to retire in Italy, but renting can be a far better fit for some. Here's how one British retiree left a hefty mortgage behind to rent a rural cottage for €150 a month.

Published: 19 September 2024 13:39 CEST
'€150 rent a month': Why you don't always need to buy when you move to Italy

Retiring and moving to Italy at a certain age isn’t an easy job, particularly if one has to first get rid of a burdensome mortgage. 

But Tim Wood, a 72-year-old British retiree who used to work as an interior designer, in 2016 managed to sell his house in Brighton, pay off the remaining part of his mortgage and move to southern Italy. 

But instead of buying a cheap dwelling as most expats do, he settled for an extremely low rent. 

“I was just so scared of buying another home, even if it might have been mortgage-free and extremely cheap. I wanted to live without any financial weight on my shoulders. I now pay just €150 per month to rent a 4-bedroom rural cottage in Abruzzo”, Wood tells The Local. 

‘Abruzzo popped up after I researched cost of living throughout Italy’

Renting was also a much easier option than buying, because he wanted to avoid the paper work, the bureaucracy and procedures involved in purchasing and eventually having to restyle a house. 

After selling his UK house, Wood moved to the countryside near the coastal town of Vasto, on the Adriatic sea. 

“I did some online search on which were the cheapest regions to live in Italy, reading articles about national statistics on cost of living and life quality, and Abruzzo popped up”, says Wood. 

READ ALSO: What you need to know about navigating Italian rental contracts

Wood, who after losing his wife in 2015 decided to change life, said relying on advice from distant relatives of his who had already moved to the region a few years earlier proved crucial.

“They suggested I picked a place near the sea, for great summer dips, but at the same time far from the touristy areas and relatively quiet. That’s why I chose Vasto’s pristine rural surroundings,” he says.

‘Get a feel for the place before you move’

Being close to trains that cross Italy and even connect to Europe is vital if one has forsaken driving a car like he has, he says.

Wood advises anyone eager to follow on his steps to never rent or buy property if they haven’t seen it first hand, not just online.

Get advice from friends or other people who have made similar moves, he adds.

The old fishermens huts at Vasto marina. Photo: Tim Wood

“Prior to making the big leap I decided to take a two-week holiday in Vasto and tour the surrounding areas of Abruzzo. It’s important to get a feel of the place not as a tourist but as a local, meeting people, hanging out at the bar till nightfall, getting a haircut at the barber’s and listening to the gossip at the butcher’s shop, even if you hardly speak Italian,” he says.

The warm weather year-round in Vasto was also a major perk, as in some mountain spots in Abruzzo it can be as cold as in England in winter, he says. 

Wood lives off a small pension, plus the remaining revenues from the sale of his UK home. He says he spends around €150 a month for food and locally-sourced fresh produce. 

He’s so glad to be finally living the idyll after what he called a “nightmare” in the UK.

‘Make sure you’re not a victim of a scam’

Almost 24 years ago Wood purchased a two-bedroom apartment in Brighton for £400,000, with a downpayment of £250,000, and had been paying a £500 monthly mortgage since then.

“It was a nightmare. When I retired I realised I no longer wanted to live to pay a mortgage so I decided to move to Italy before post-Brexit new travel rules kicked in.”

Wood put his home on sale and managed to get £550,000. He now lives on a UK yearly pension of £8,000, which he says is more than he will ever need in Vasto. 

He was granted Italian residency in 2017, when the UK was still part of the European Union and Brits did not face the hurdles of today in traveling and relocating to Europe. 

One key tip he shares is to do a lot of prep research. Prior to relocating, he surfed the web to get an idea of what rentals were like in the area and also wanted to make sure he was not going to be a scam victim. 

So during his vacation there, he selected 10 properties, and booked a one-day tour with four local agencies to see them all before he picked the cottage. 

“Online photos don’t work, one needs to see the building and when I stepped into that farmhouse, I felt a special vibe”, says Wood. 

He also recommends meeting the local owners if possible, and starting with them a friendly relationship from the beginning in case there are bumps along the road, like the sewage system breaks down or a tree collapses on the front porch. 

READ ALSO: Italian rental scams: ‘As soon as we handed over the money, we kissed it goodbye’

The cottage was fully furbished, distant only two kilometres from Vasto’s historic quarter. And the icing on the cake was that it came with a 2-acre patch of land, olive trees and vineyard. 

“Locals have been making a premium extra-virgin olive oil here for centuries and I just found these trees in my garden. I now have farmers teaching me how to collect the olives and take them to the press.”

Cost of living and high quality of life are plus points. 

Family-run taverns in the countryside are very cheap and he can afford to eat out almost every night being alone. A meal is just €15, including a glass of wine. 

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