Doing business in Italy
Open and run a company in Italy without flying over.
S.r.l. & branch setupDistribution & agencyM&A and JVs
Explore
English-speaking clients
↔
Italy
·
Since 1997
Italian law, handled the way you would expect at home.
You have a company, a house, an inheritance, a permit or a claim in Italy. We are the Italian lawyers who take it from there — in English, at a fee agreed in writing, without you boarding a plane.
Are you a lawyer referring an Italian matter?
—Rome
—New York
—London
—Sydney
Rome office hours 9:00–19:00 CET — late afternoon for the Americas, early morning for Australia and New Zealand.
For referring counsel
Your client stays your client.
We act as Italian counsel on the Italian part of the matter. We do not take over the relationship, we do not market to your client, and we report to you rather than around you. Here is how the arrangement works, before you send us anything.
- Conflicts check first, within 24 hours Send the party names before any substantive detail. We confirm clear or conflicted in writing, in one business day.
- Scope and fee agreed before we start Fixed or capped wherever the work allows it, so you can quote your client a number rather than an estimate.
- You hold the file We take instructions from you, copy you on everything, and address the client directly only if you ask us to.
- Reporting you can forward Written updates in English, structured the way common-law lawyers expect: the question answered first, then the reasoning.
- Neither of you travels Under a power of attorney we incorporate, buy, file and appear in Italy. Your client signs once, before a notary at home.
- We stay inside our admissions Italian law only. We do not advise on the law of your jurisdiction, and we will say so plainly when a question crosses the line.
Reaching us directly: info@avvocati.us · US line (207) 805-5956 · Avv. Alessandro Bonta, Rome Bar Association — Reg. No. A42354, LL.M. in International Law, Stetson University College of Law (Florida).
The problem with the ocean
Italy does not run on
the assumptions you grew up with.
That is the whole job.
There is no title insurance. No escrow agent. No discovery in the common-law sense. A notary validates the deed but not the building. A will drafted in New Jersey or in Surrey may not control the apartment in Naples. A contract signed in English may be rewritten by an Italian judge.
None of this is a reason to stay out of Italy. It is a reason to have someone on the Italian side whose job is to see it coming — and who can explain it to you in the language and the register you actually work in.
1997
Serving international clients since
0
Offices in Italy and abroad — clients across the English-speaking world
0
Practice areas built around US–Italy matters
0
Flights you need to take — we act under power of attorney
Case check
Sixty seconds. Then you know
what happens next.
Two questions, and you get the practice area, the first three moves, the documents to start gathering and the realistic timeline. Nothing is stored and nothing is sent until you decide to send it.
What is your connection to Italy?
Pick the closest one — we will refine it in the consultation.
Where are you in it right now?
This changes what we do in the first week.
Practice areas
Eight ways you end up
needing an Italian lawyer.
Each one is a full practice with its own procedure, its own deadlines and its own way of going wrong. Click through for what we actually do, what it costs you in time, and the documents to have ready.
Italian real estate
Buy in Italy with the due diligence you would expect at home.
Title & planning due diligencePreliminary contractsNotarial deed by proxy
Explore
Inheritance & succession
When an Italian estate becomes your problem.
Succession filingsForced heirshipEU Regulation 650/2012
Explore
Administrative law
When an Italian authority says no — or says nothing at all.
TAR appealsPermits & authorisationsPublic tenders
Explore
Injury & medical malpractice
Injured in Italy — claims run on a short clock.
Road and travel accidentsHospital and clinic claimsForensic medical opinion
Explore
Cross-border family law
Divorce, custody and marriage across two systems.
Jurisdiction strategyDivorce & separationHague child abduction
Explore
Litigation, arbitration & debt recovery
Enforcing what you are owed in Italy.
Decreto ingiuntivoContract litigationEnforcing US judgments
Explore
Criminal defence & extradition
Charged, investigated or extradited — act today.
Emergency responseDefence in absentiaExtradition & EAW
Explore
How we work
No mystery, no meter
running in the dark.
The complaint we hear most about foreign lawyers is not the fee. It is not knowing what the fee is, what is happening, or when. So we fixed that first.
1
Free first consultation
Thirty to forty-five minutes with a lawyer, in English, at a time that works in your time zone. You leave it knowing whether you have a case and what it involves.
2
Written scope and fee
An engagement letter in English: what we will do, what it costs, what it does not include. Fixed or capped wherever the work allows it. Nothing starts before you approve it.
3
Power of attorney
You sign before a US notary, we apostille it, and from that point we can incorporate, buy, file, appear and negotiate on your behalf in Italy.
4
Reporting you can follow
A named lawyer on your file who answers their own phone, updates in plain English at every stage, and documents delivered translated when the authorities require it.
Tool · Property cost planner
What an Italian house
really costs to buy.
Foreign buyers budget the asking price and get surprised by everything after it. Move the sliders for an indicative picture of taxes and fees on a residential purchase — then let us give you the real numbers for your property.
Italian transfer tax is charged on the cadastral value, which is normally far below the market price. Your notary computes the exact figure.
You are buying it as
The seller is
Registration tax—
Fixed mortgage & cadastral taxes—
Notary—
Estate agency, incl. VAT—
Legal representation & due diligence—
Technical survey—
On top of the price — ——
All-in, price included:
Indicative only. Actual liability depends on the cadastral income, the municipality, whether prima casa relief genuinely applies to you, and the seller's VAT position. We give you the exact figures before you sign anything.
The firm
An Italian lawyer who has sat in an American classroom argues differently — and explains differently.
Avvocati.Us was built for one specific client: the person who has something at stake in Italy, thinks in English, and has no way to see how the Italian system will treat it. Since 1997 that has meant families with an inheritance nobody registered, founders shipping into the EU for the first time, buyers who fell in love with a house before anyone checked its permits, and travellers whose holiday ended in a hospital.
Our founder is admitted at the Rome Bar Association — Reg. No. A42354 and holds an LL.M. in International Law, Stetson University College of Law (Florida). That combination is the point: Italian procedure, argued in an Italian court, explained to you the way your own lawyer at home would explain it.
- Every file is handled in English by a named lawyer you can reach directly
- Fees are agreed in writing before work begins — fixed or capped wherever possible
- We work alongside your own lawyer, accountant or family office as Italian counsel
- Offices in Rome, Milan, Genoa, Cagliari and in Washington, D.C. and Morrison, NJ
What people call us about
Six situations we see
most often.
Illustrative examples of the matters we handle, drawn from recurring fact patterns — not statements by identifiable clients.
A preliminary contract already signed on a farmhouse in Umbria by a buyer in Toronto — and a barn conversion that was never permitted. The question is whether the deposit can still be recovered.
A manufacturer in Ontario needs an Italian subsidiary to hold inventory and hire two salespeople, without anyone flying to Rome for the notary.
A fall in a hotel in Sorrento, treatment finished back home in Manchester, and an insurer offering a fraction of the Italian table value.
An Italian distributor with six figures outstanding who has stopped replying to a Dublin exporter, and assets sitting in Lombardy.
A child kept in Italy after a summer visit, and a parent in Sydney who needs to know what can be filed this week.
Insights
Notes from
the practice.
Short, practical pieces on the questions clients from abroad bring us most often.
The power of attorney that keeps you out of Italy
Almost everything you need to do in Italy can be done by your lawyer under a procura — buying a house, incorporating a company, appearing in court. Here is what the document has to say, and where foreign clients get it wrong.
ReadProperty Seizure Italy: What Owners Can Do
Facing property seizure Italy? Learn what a pignoramento means, how deadlines work, and the legal steps that may protect your home, assets, and rights.
ReadA Practical Guide to Cross-Border Asset Tracing
A guide to cross-border asset tracing for creditors, heirs, and businesses: find hidden assets lawfully, preserve evidence, and plan prompt recovery steps.
ReadWhere we are
Italy
Piazza del Popolo, 18 — 00187 Rome, Italy
Rome — HQMilanGenoaCagliari
United States
20 F Street NW — Washington, D.C. 20001
Washington, D.C.Morrison, NJ
…and wherever in Italy your matter actually sits: Italian lawyers are admitted nationally, so a case in Palermo or Trieste is handled by the same team you spoke to on day one.
Our clients are in the United States, the United Kingdom, Ireland, Canada and Australia. The work is done in Italy; the conversation happens in your time zone, in English.
Questions clients ask first
The practical answers.
We are abroad and the problem is in Italy. Do we have to fly over?
Almost never. A power of attorney signed before a notary at home and apostilled — by the Secretary of State of your state in the United States, by the Foreign Office in the United Kingdom, by the equivalent authority elsewhere — lets us incorporate companies, buy property, appear in court and file with the authorities on your behalf. Our practice is built around clients who never leave home.
Do you actually work in English?
Yes — every lawyer on the file. Our founder took his LL.M. in the United States and the firm has served English-speaking clients for over twenty-five years. Documents are delivered in English with certified Italian translations where the authorities require them.
How do fees work? Nobody likes surprises on a legal bill.
So do we. After the free first consultation you receive a written engagement with a fixed fee, a capped fee or a clearly defined hourly scope. Nothing starts before you have approved it, and injury matters are often handled on a success-linked basis.
How quickly do you respond, given the time difference?
The Rome office overlaps your morning, and we hold late-afternoon Italian slots specifically for US calls — that is 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Eastern. Urgent matters get a same-day reply; everything else within one business day.
Can you work alongside our own lawyer or accountant?
Routinely. We act as Italian counsel to firms and accountants in the United States, the United Kingdom and elsewhere, and we are comfortable taking instructions from your existing advisers and reporting to them.
Is the first consultation really free?
Yes, and it is a real consultation with a lawyer, not a sales call. If we cannot help, we will tell you in that call and, where we can, point you to someone who can.
Free consultation
Start with a
conversation.
Tell us what is happening. If we are the right firm for it we will say so and quote you. If we are not, we will say that too.
info@avvocati.usWritten enquiries — reply within one business day
+39 349 610 6793WhatsApp — fastest for urgent matters
(207) 805-5956Direct line, US number — WhatsApp works from anywhere
Piazza del Popolo, 18 — 00187 Rome, ItalyHead office