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- A market changing its face: the new profile of the international buyer
- Who digital nomads buying in Italy really are
- The digital nomad visa: what Italian regulations provide in 2026
- What they look for: the ideal property features for the luxury remote worker
- Preferred destinations: villages, coastlines and structured countryside
- How Raro Realty serves this segment in Puglia
Around 25% of luxury real estate purchase requests in Italy in 2026 come from families intending to transfer their residency to the country permanently, not from simple second-home buyers. A figure that, read alongside the adoption of the digital nomad visa and the structural growth of remote working, describes a market whose composition is changing in a profound and irreversible way.
This is no longer simply about buying a holiday home. It is about redesigning one’s way of living and working, with Italy as a stable operational base.
A market changing its face: the new profile of the international buyer
The Italian luxury real estate market has always attracted international buyers.Yet the profile of today’s buyer is fundamentally different from that of a decade ago.
While buyers are predominantly high-net-worth entrepreneurs and managers, this movement is not limited to investors chasing yield or long-term financial assets. Alongside these, a distinct new market segment has taken root: high-income professionals working remotely, digital entrepreneurs, international creatives and managers of global companies who have severed the link between physical office presence and geographic residence.
HNWIs are not selling but ‘adding,’ building fluid portfolios to live and work across multiple cities in line with the trend of luxury nomadism. This behavior produces a fundamentally different demand from traditional real estate: not a second home used for two weeks in August, but a true year-round residential base equipped with proper workspaces, reliable connectivity, and genuine quality of life.
The 2026 Italy Market Report by Nomisma portrays a vibrant and dynamic luxury real estate market, strongly expanding with enormous appeal especially toward international investors and buyers, who represent 35% of total clientele. In the first five months of 2026, requests for financing from abroad for luxury properties increased by 63% compared to the same period in 2025.
You may also be interested in: What are the housing trends that will shape the real estate market over the next decade?
Who digital nomads buying in Italy really are
The term “digital nomad” covers a broader and more varied reality than the definition suggests. In the context of the Italian luxury real estate market, at least four distinct profiles can be identified.
The first is the qualified remote worker: an employee of a foreign company (often American, British or northern European) working remotely on a regular contract with a stable above-average income. For this profile, Italy represents a lifestyle choice: climate, culture, gastronomy, quality of social relationships. The typical property budget sits between 300,000 and 800,000 euros, with a preference for already-renovated and immediately habitable properties.
The second is the high-income international freelancer: consultant, designer, developer, copywriter or creative professional with clients across multiple countries and income above 50,000 to 80,000 euros per year. This profile has greater geographic flexibility and tends to choose destinations that combine authenticity, beauty and an already-established international community. The property budget can vary significantly, but the tendency is toward characterful properties, even ones to renovate, in locations not saturated by tourism.
The third is the “luxury nomad”: an entrepreneur or manager with consolidated wealth who maintains properties in multiple countries and alternates their presence among different residential bases throughout the year. This new wave of investors places decisive emphasis on standalone villas (53%), identifying discretion (78%) as the non-negotiable requirement for their assets. The budget exceeds one million euros and the Italian property is part of an international portfolio.
The fourth is the structural new resident: a person who has decided to relocate permanently to Italy, often attracted by the favourable tax regime, quality of life and a perception of Italy as a stable and secure country. Purchases by Italian citizens resident abroad who choose to return to the country are growing by 13%.
Italy’s digital nomad Visa: regulations and requirements in 2026
The digital nomad visa is a national type D visa, officially introduced by Law n. 25/2022 and made operational by the interministerial Decree of 29 February 2024, published in the Official Gazette on April 4th. It is designed for non-EU citizens who carry out highly qualified remote work, either as freelancers or as employees of foreign companies, while maintaining the centre of their economic activity outside Italy.
The visa allows legal residence in Italy for up to 12 months, with the option for renewal, without requiring a work permit or falling under national immigration quotas (Decreto Flussi).
The main requirements include:
- Demonstrable income: annual earnings exceeding three times the threshold established for healthcare ticket exemption (the mere possession of savings is not sufficient)
- Prior professional experience: at least six months of experience in the professional field to be pursued as a digital nomad or remote worker
- Contractual documentation: employment contract or binding work offer for remote workers
- Healthcare insurance: valid in Italy for the entire period of stay (standard travel insurance is not accepted)
- Housing solution: proof of a solid accommodation arrangement (short-term or temporary bookings are not accepted)
In 2026, the law has not changed substantially, but practical application has: controls are now stricter and documentation errors are the cause of most rejections.
From a fiscal perspective, digital nomads who transfer their residency to Italy can access the favourable regime for new residents (flat tax at 7% on foreign income in municipalities under 20,000 inhabitants, or a flat substitute tax of 100,000 euros per year on foreign income of any amount for HNWIs). The government is working to make Italy a stable destination for digital nomads and smart workers, especially in villages and mountain municipalities subject to depopulation, with both fiscal and contributory incentives for those who transfer residency to these areas.
What they look for: the ideal property features for the luxury remote worker
The luxury remote worker who chooses Italy as a residential base has precise and non-negotiable requirements that differ significantly from those of the tourist or the traditional second-home buyer.
The first requirement is ultra-fast and reliable connectivity. This is no minor detail: it is a structural requirement. A digital nomad working with international clients needs a stable fibre-optic connection, with sufficient speed for simultaneous HD video calls and large file uploads. In many Italian rural areas this was a problem until a few years ago, but the spread of fibre and new-generation satellite solutions has progressively eliminated this obstacle even in the most isolated villages.
The second is a dedicated working space. The home office is no longer a table in a corner of the living room: it is an autonomous room, quiet, with adequate natural lighting, ideally separated from the sleeping area to allow calls without disturbing family members. The adoption of the digital nomad visa is giving a significant boost to second-home purchases, especially in the sunniest parts of Europe, with demand oriented toward properties with spacious interiors and liveable outdoor areas.
The third is the quality of outdoor spaces: garden, terrace and pool, equipped outdoor area. For those working from home, the distinction between working space and regeneration space becomes fundamental. A masseria with a garden and pool is not a luxury: it is a wellbeing infrastructure that makes it possible to sustain productivity over the long term.
The fourth is an accessible but non-touristic location. The digital nomad seeks authenticity and quality of life, not crowded tourist hotspots. They prefer the village a few kilometres from the city to the Overcrowded beach resorts. They prefer authentic rural landscapes rather than urbanised coastline. This explains the growing demand in destinations such as the Valle d’Itria, the hills of the Salento and the villages of the Apulian hinterland.
Preferred destinations: villages, coastlines and structured countryside
The most sought-after destinations for luxury property purchases by international buyers remain Lombardy, Tuscany, Liguria, Puglia and Sicily, territories that express the best combinations of quality of life, landscape and accessibility.
In the specific context of remote working and digital nomadism, some destinations emerge with characteristics particularly suited to this segment.
Puglia is probably the Italian destination with the best balance between authenticity, landscape quality, accessibility (two international airports: Brindisi and Bari) and purchase costs still competitive compared to other regions of comparable prestige. Ostuni, Locorotondo, Cisternino, Martina Franca and the towns of the Valle d’Itria offer a concrete quality of life: local markets, craftsmanship, gastronomy, intact agricultural landscape, mild winters. The same architectural coherence, with masserie and trulli that lend themselves to the creation of quality home offices, makes it a destination structurally suited to the luxury digital nomad profile.
Sicily, particularly the area of Noto, Siracusa and Ortigia, intercepts a growing demand from American and northern European buyers seeking historic properties to renovate with budgets between 400,000 euros and one million, in cities with strong cultural identity and an already-established international community.
Central Italy (Umbria, Marche, Lazio) attracts those seeking proximity to Rome while maintaining a rural dimension, often with a more contained entry budget than Tuscany but comparable landscape quality.
How Raro Realty serves this segment in Puglia
Raro Realty has structured its portfolio and services to respond directly to the needs of the luxury digital nomad and the new international resident who chooses Puglia.
The masserie with integrable home office in Raro’s portfolio offer the combination this segment is looking for: spacious interiors, garden, pool, authentic architectural identity and renovation potential tailored to the buyer’s specific needs. Many of the available properties are located in accessible but uncrowded locations, in municipalities that benefit from the favourable tax regime of 7% on foreign income.
The Raro Villas property management service responds to the luxury nomad’s need to enhance the property value during periods of non-use: the property generates income through high-profile rentals during the seasons of non-use, without the owner having to manage anything operationally from a distance.
For those still in the evaluation phase of relocating to Italy, Raro Realty offers tailored advisory services that includes property selection, pre-purchase tax planning, due diligence management and coordination with the necessary professionals (lawyer, tax consultant, notary).
Italy has never been more attractive for those who want to work in the world and live well. The question is not whether it is worth it. It is where, how and with whom.
Contact Raro Realty for tailored advisory services on your relocation to Puglia or across Italy’s main prestigious destinations.
