Do you prefer to stay in hotels or Airbnbs when you travel in Italy?

If you prefer short-term rentals, there are some changes you need to be aware of.

I'm Katie, founder of Untold Italy, and we help people find their own version of Italy through our podcast, app, services and tours.

And this is our weekly travel update on June the 9th, 2026.

So here's what's happening. There is real tension between

tourism and housing in Italy and it's playing out differently city by city. Florence, Venice,

Bolzano, Bologna, Milan and Rome are all at various stages of introducing restrictions on

short-term rentals like Airbnb and VRBO under pressure from local citizens who are

concerned that the influx of short-term accommodation is fundamentally changing their way of life.

Now Florence is furthest along. It ban new tourists letts in its UNESCO protected historic centre

back in May 2025 and this means that they will not allow any more

properties to be used for short-term rentals. This week, the City Council voted to expand

that ban to more residential neighbourhoods from June the 20th, with the block on new authorisations

running until at least 2028. Venice has also had a two-track system since October 24, with some properties capped at

120 rental days per year, and Rome is still working through proposed measures, but regulations

are reportedly in the works.

There is no nationwide policy right now, but city by city, the picture is changing fast and the legal situation for

individual short-term rental properties is not always visible to you when you are booking.

The Italian and national government is pushing back hard on these local moves, calling the

restrictions penalising and excessive, but the cities are ultimately in control.

So here's my take.

I prefer hotels when I'm on vacation.

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