Renovating a Ruin: A Sustainable Investment

Our vast countrysides are rich in history and culture, often hidden or forgotten. Silent witnesses are the many abandoned buildings, dilapidated (and dangerous) ruins. Upon closer inspection, behind a pile of stones, one discovers a valuable, refined architecture that, due to the abandonment of rural areas, is increasingly rare.

Recovering a ruin is a healthy, sustainable, and also convenient choice. Today, we discover together how to renovate a ruin, the tax deductions available, and the basics for not making mistakes in this virtuous building intervention.

Beneath Those Rubble, a Noble Way of Living

The charm of the ruin does not strike everyone. One of the first to intuit the powerful evocative force of the ruin was Giovanni Battista Piranesi. In the 18th century, he understood that to exalt the magnificence of the Roman Empire, he had to draw its buildings in ruins. In the ruin, the action of man is softened and smoothed by time and, losing all presumption, returns to being nature.

If not all that glitters is gold, the opposite must also be true!

Everything in Its Place

To recover a ruined building, one must be sensitive to a nobility inherent in an ancient craftsmanship, wise, patient, and long-lasting, capable of withstanding earthquakes and bad weather.

Since there were no trucks or concrete mixers, every single stone was placed by hand and in the best position; every form was dictated by utilitas, firmitas, and venustas.

Recovering a ruin is taking care of a wise elder, the custodian of knowledgeable construction techniques and our ancestors.

Even the orientation of the building and the arrangement of the rooms are never random: they are studied to improve living comfort. For example, residential buildings are rarely found on the north side of a valley, the coldest and most humid side.

Conservative Restoration, but with Plenty of Character

The best way is (sometimes) also the simplest.

Although the widespread opinion advises demolition and reconstruction to update the technology, many times, to recover a ruin, far fewer interventions are needed. The preferred solution for renovating a ruin comes from conservative restoration. Therefore, the interventions we carry out have the simple purpose of recovering and preserving the forms and functions of our building.

A virtuous example is the  Dimora delle Balze. It is an ancient estate from the 1800s in the municipality of Noto (Syracuse). Built by a noble family from Palazzolo Acreide, after 50 years of abandonment, it has returned to its splendor thanks to a meticulous conservative restoration.

The trick that makes the recovery of a rustic building optimal is the juxtaposition by counterpoint of unique pieces, vintage and contemporary design elements together with peeling walls, original floors and plasters of the noble estate.

How to Identify a Ruin to Recover

Let’s take a practical example to start taking the first steps to recover a ruin. During a walk in the countryside, a beautiful abandoned farmhouse has caught your attention for a building renovation. So what to do?

To locate any property, the simplest and fastest way is to search the land registry. To do this, there are three ways: you can visit the cadastral geoportale and independently search for the identification of your potential ruin to recover; or you can go to the local office of the Revenue Agency; or, the fastest and cheapest way, is to contact a technician (who can be an architect, surveyor, or engineer) and request a cadastral survey. The technician will only need to know the location of the property. They will be able to tell you who the owner is, so you can trace the owners and address your proposals to them.

You can also request a cadastral survey through our online service.

Abandoned Buildings: What are Collapsed Units?

From the cadastral survey, you can also find out the intended use of a property, expressed by the cadastral category. An abandoned ruin is usually registered with the category F/2, which indicates a collapsed unit.

Category F/2 indicates a building that as a whole or even a part of it, is not in a condition to produce any income due to a significant state of deterioration. The collapsed building is neither habitable nor usable. The recovery of a collapsed building is therefore not possible with simple ordinary maintenance work, but requires much more significant structural work.

Let’s see together a concise and non-exhaustive list of the most common works to be done to recover a collapsed building or a ruin.

How Much Does it Cost to Recover a Ruin?

Non è facile trovare un prezzo medio affidabile per i lavori di recupero di un rudere. Nonostante ciò proviamo a farci un’idea gIt is not easy to find a reliable average price for the recovery work of a ruin. Nevertheless, let’s try to get a general idea of the main processes and related costs.

Here are the average prices in Italy regarding the most invasive, but very often unavoidable, works to recover a ruin:

• Consolidation of brick or stone foundation structures: 800 euros/m3
• Recovery of retaining walls: 70 euros/m3
• Restoration of above-ground structures: 130 euros/m3
• Consolidation of vaulted structures: from 100 euros/m3 depending on the intervention.
• Dehumidification and remediation works: from 50 euros/sqm upwards
• New roof structure: 1,800 euros/m3
• Roof covering: 150 euros/sqm

However, be careful, because each case must be studied carefully by experts. For professional advice, contact us.

The urban planning process for building recovery interventions should not be underestimated. For example, to recover a ruin, it must be possible to demonstrate the completeness of the building before it fell into a state of collapsed building. Thus, it will be possible to submit a SCIA (Certified Commencement of Works Notification) for a building renovation intervention.

But there is nothing to fear! The tax deductions for building recovery interventions are many and substantial.

Superbonus 110%: A Home is Born from a Ruin

For many years, it has been possible to take advantage of tax deductions for most building works. But from July 1, 2020, to June 30, 2022, the deduction rate was increased up to 110%. Eligible interventions concern building renovation for energy efficiency and seismic adaptation or improvement. The reference regulation is Legislative Decree no. 34/2020 (the so-called Relaunch Decree), in particular Article 119.

To recover a collapsed ruin, unfortunately, we will have to exclude the ecobonus (energy efficiency interventions), because it is very likely that it does not possess some of the access requirements. But we can take advantage of the sismabonus (seismic improvement bonus), as also clarified by the Revenue Agency in response to ruling number 17 of January 7, 2021.

But there is a rule to keep in mind:

“However, this possibility is subject to the condition that the administrative provision authorizing the works clearly indicates the change of intended use of the building from originally non-residential and that all other conditions exist and all the obligations provided for by the facilitating regulation are fulfilled.”

Recovering a ruin is a small gesture to recover the history of the entire country, to restore the proper dignity to our landscapes, rich in history and culture.

For doubts and other curiosities, leave a comment or write to us privately. Don’t forget to subscribe to the newsletter to receive the latest news in advance.

UPDATE:

The 110% Superbonus is no longer available, but email us to find out if new renovation incentives are in effect!

Architecture is at home.