Search for "aree idonee" today and most of what you find is out of date. The rule those pages were built on has been repealed, and the ministerial decree that set its criteria has been cut back by the administrative courts. What you actually need to know is which procedure applies now.
Last updated: · Also in Italian: Aree idonee: cosa resta e cosa è cambiato
| What | Rule | Reference |
|---|---|---|
| Framework in force | the Consolidated Renewables Act (Testo Unico sulle rinnovabili) | Legislative Decree 190/2024 |
| The previous aree idonee rule | repealed in November 2025, its rules moved into the new framework | art. 20, Legislative Decree 199/2021 |
| Current rules on onshore aree idonee | art. 11-bis, introduced by Decree-Law 175/2025 and confirmed by Law 4/2026 | Decree-Law 175/2025, Law 4/2026 |
| Authorization regimes | free activity (attività libera), PAS, Autorizzazione Unica | Legislative Decree 190/2024 |
| Simplified procedure | key time limits of 30, 45 or 60 days | Legislative Decree 190/2024 |
| Autorizzazione Unica | services conference within 120 days | Legislative Decree 190/2024 |
| Aree idonee by law | a base set identified by national law | national framework |
| Further aree idonee | identified by each Region and autonomous Province by its own law | regional law |
The aree idonee rules were written in 2021 and implemented by ministerial decree in June 2024. The decree was challenged before the administrative courts and partly annulled, and in the meantime the whole subject was absorbed into a Consolidated Act that reorganised it. As a result, the explanatory material online describes at least three different frameworks, often without saying which date it refers to.
So the useful question is not where a plant counts as suitable. It is which authorization regime applies to it today, and how much time that regime allows.
The Consolidated Act distinguishes three administrative regimes. Which one applies, and with which time limits, depends on the project and on the consents it needs.
What matters for a project schedule is not the time limit itself but the fact that it does not run continuously. These time limits can be suspended when further documents, an environmental impact assessment (VIA) or an appropriate assessment (valutazione di incidenza) are needed. A time limit that is formally met can contain months of waiting.
National law identifies a base set of aree idonee by law. Each Region and autonomous Province must then identify further aree idonee by its own law, in line with national principles and renewable capacity targets.
It follows that a project's location must always be assessed on both levels: the national framework and the law of the Region where it sits. That is why two identical projects a few kilometres apart, but in different Regions, can find themselves on routes that differ by months. Where each Region stands is in the region-by-region guide.
The subject has been the object of rulings that narrowed the Regions' room for moratoria. In a ruling of March 2025, the Constitutional Court declared unconstitutional a regional law that temporarily suspended proceedings. The principle that follows, useful to developers, is that a general suspension of time limits is not an instrument the Regions have available.
MitOS, by Ariadne Labs, derives the permitting route from the rules themselves. Change one input of the project and the route is recalculated, with each requirement carrying the legal reference it comes from. When the rules change, as they just have in Italy, the route changes, not a document someone has to remember to update. All deadlines land on the same 90-day horizon, with alerts that rise while there is still time to act.
Ask for a short, focused demo on the real stages of your projects: the permitting route, with the legal reference next to every step.
No. It was repealed in November 2025, and its main rules moved into the Consolidated Renewables Act (Legislative Decree 190/2024).
The key time limits can be thirty, forty-five or sixty days, depending on the case.
As a rule the services conference lasts one hundred and twenty days, subject to suspensions.
Both levels: national law identifies a base set, and the Regions and autonomous Provinces identify more by their own laws.
This page summarises provisions for information and does not replace legal or permitting advice on a specific project. Only the official publication in the Gazzetta Ufficiale, regional laws and the acts of the competent administrations are authoritative.
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