Property types in Italy

In the English language, an apartment is the same as in Italian, a so-called "apartamento".

The apartment is located in a building where several owners or tenants usually share the maintenance costs of the complex and its surroundings.

This is how the "single" houses are called in Italy. In these cases, it should therefore be a stand-alone property, with the owner owning the entire house and no other families attached (as with a condominio).

A "Casale" or a "Cascina" are located in more rural areas.

"Casale" means "country house" and "Cascina" means "farmhouse" in English.

These can of course also be categorized as "Casa independente", "Casa semindependente" or "Terratetto" .

In English-speaking countries, Villa's are considered to be something very noble. In Italy, however, almost all single-family homes are referred to as "villas". The difference between a "Villa" and a "Villetta" is that a so called "Villetta" is slightly smaller.

In terms of square meters, however, this is not precisely defined. It can therefore be assumed that a "villa" is a medium to large sized house and a "villetta" is something smaller.

This is what "townhouses" are called here in Italy. A "Villa a schiera" is usually a medium-sized house with a garden. In contrast, a "Villa d'angolo" is also a townhouse, but it is located on the corner and therefore has a garden that extends over two or three sides. 

This term refers to an apartment on the top floor.

In English, the term "Attic" or "Penthouse" is also often used for this.

Again, the maintenance costs of the complex are usually shared with the other owners. However, it may be that these are a bit higher, since Penthouses are usually a bit larger and, for example, the lift is used more than the others. 

In the English language we use the word "semi-detached house" for these objects, which are two single-family houses built together and often uniformly designed.

Each owner has their own entrance to their property.

The advantage of this type of property is that the heating costs are often lower because the outside wall is smaller.

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A so-called "rustico" is a house of traditional construction. They are immediately recognizable because granite stones were usually used for construction. Old country houses or farmhouses can also be called "rustico" for this reason. 

"Terratetto" translated means "ground to roof". 

All single-family houses over several floors

are therefore theoretically "Terratetto's".

The common meaning, however, typically refers to the houses that are built in a row one after the other and have several floors.