I found online that apparently 14 m² per person is enough, as long as it’s not a monolocale. Is a monolocale the Italian term for a studio apartment? If the kitchen is separate — is that already a bilocale (one‑bedroom apartment)?
14 m² is the regional norm — the federal minimum is lower.
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And nobody clarified the studio vs. one-bedroom thing — if the kitchen is separate, does that change the calculation? And if the regional standard is higher than the federal one, the municipality will apply the regional standard, right?
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Monolocale — a studio apartment where everything is in one room, so a separate kitchen already makes it a two-room apartment.
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We also need the housing suitability certificate (idoneità alloggiativa) from the municipality - without it the square meters don’t count.
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idoneità (housing suitability certificate) is exactly what’s needed to shut down schemes with fake addresses — the municipality carries out an inspection and checks the real conditions. Down here in the south (Reggio province) they asked for the apartment plan with the square meters of each room, and only after that issued the document. It’s not just a formality — there have been court cases in Italy over such schemes, where a person doesn’t actually live there and the address is used to renew a residence permit. So the regional regulation and idoneità are one system; without real compliance with the rules they won’t sign.
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By the way, square meters aren’t the only thing they check. If the bathroom opens directly into the kitchen or living room without a vestibule, that’s also a violation — something about DM 5 luglio 1975. We were told they can refuse the idoneità for that reason even if the size is fine. So before going to the comune it’s better to look carefully at the layout.
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I was looking at apartments in Turin — there were options €380–650: rooms and studios. I didn’t see the word idoneità (certificate of suitability) in any listing; you need to ask the landlord about it separately before viewing. When you go with a family, the square metres per person are calculated differently, and not every landlord understands that they need to arrange this document at all.
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When you’re looking for a place for a family, that 14 m² per person rule cuts off a lot of options. We searched in Turin and realized a 25 m² studio is simply not an option for three people, and there were almost no listings of the size we needed in our price range. You can end up spending months searching and living in short-term rentals while you look — that’s a serious expense not everyone is ready for.
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For a family with children, 14 m² per person is even tougher. For three people that’s already at least 42 square meters, and a layout where the bathroom is accessed through the kitchen further narrows the options. I looked in Bergamo — with a budget of 700–1000 excluding utilities, there are almost no such apartments.
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We were looking for a place for the four of us — with at least 56 square meters; not every owner agreed.
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In Turin, landlords often refuse to provide the idoneità (certificate of suitability), especially if you also ask for the residenza (residence registration).
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Better to ask right away on the first call whether the landlord is willing to arrange the idoneità (suitability certificate) - half will drop out, but at least you won’t waste days on irrelevant options. DM 5 luglio 1975 on bathrooms is federal; the region doesn’t change anything here. And as for square footage - in Piedmont you need to check the local regulation separately; it may be higher than the federal minimum.
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