EU moves to curb tourist rentals as pressure builds on Italy's cities

The European Union is set to lay out rules helping European cities to clamp down on short-term rentals such as Airbnb in a bid to tackle rising house prices, according to plans seen by AFP on Friday. The initiative, reported by The Local Italy, responds to growing pressure across the bloc from residents priced out of their own neighbourhoods by the explosion of holiday lets.

For Italy, the stakes are particularly high. Venice, Florence and Rome have become global symbols of overtourism, with short-term rental platforms blamed for hollowing out residential communities and inflating rents. The EU's move signals a coordinated response to a problem that has so far been left largely to individual municipalities, many of which have struggled to enforce local rules against well-resourced platforms.

The EU plan, according to The Local Italy's report on Saturday, is designed to give cities a clearer legal framework to regulate short-term lets, addressing the patchwork of national and local rules that has made enforcement difficult. Brussels has been under pressure from mayors across the continent, particularly in southern Europe, where tourism-dependent economies have seen housing costs spiral as investors convert residential properties into holiday accommodation.

Seen from the Abruzzo bureau, the debate over tourist rentals has a particular resonance. While the region's coastal towns along the Adriatic have long hosted summer visitors, the inner Apennines — the hill villages of L'Aquila province, the Gran Sasso and Majella national parks — have seen a quieter but significant growth in short-term lets. Properties in depopulated mountain towns are increasingly bought up as holiday homes or listed on rental platforms, sometimes leaving historic centres dark for much of the year and doing little to reverse the region's demographic decline.

The tension is familiar to those who follow Italy's mountain interior: tourism can bring income to villages that have lost jobs and young people, but short-term lets can also push up prices for the few remaining residents and hollow out communities further. The EU's proposed rules, if adopted, could give small municipalities in Abruzzo a tool they currently lack to balance these pressures.

The Local Italy noted that the plans were still at an early stage, with details expected to be fleshed out in the coming months. Whether they will extend beyond major cities to smaller towns — where enforcement capacity is often weakest — remains an open question. For the mayors of Italy's hill villages, the answer may determine whether the EU's housing agenda reaches the Apennines or stops at the city limits.

Foreign coverage of Italy's housing squeeze has tended to focus on the high-profile cases of Venice and Florence, where protests against mass tourism have drawn international attention. The EU's initiative suggests a recognition that the problem is not confined to those cities. Whether the rules will be flexible enough to address the very different dynamics of a mountain village and a canal city is a question that will matter well beyond Abruzzo.