Garages in Trieste: prices by area, taxes and the rules

In Trieste's historic centre a square metre of garage costs more than a square metre of flat. OMI, the property market observatory run by Italy's revenue agency, gives a lock-up garage (box) there €3,400–4,900 per square metre in the first half of 2026, against €2,500–3,100 for an ordinary flat.

A 15 m² box in the centre is therefore €51,000–73,500 at OMI values. Before you buy one, check three things: what it costs in your area, the tax if it comes in a separate deed, and whether the law lets it be sold apart from a flat at all.

In short

• Prices: from €950–1,350/m² for a box on the Karst plateau to €3,400–4,900 in the historic centre (OMI, first half 2026).
• Buy it in the same deed: as the garage of your prima casa it pays 2%, but a separate deed has a €1,000 minimum tax. In our example that is €1,000 instead of €231.
• One per category: the relief and the main-home exemption from ILIA cover one garage (C/6), one canopy (C/7) and one storeroom (C/2).
• Some garages cannot be sold alone: those built under the 1989 parking law can change hands only as the garage of another home in the same comune.
• A non-resident pays ILIA on it: in Trieste 1.06% a year of the cadastral value.

What does a garage cost in Trieste?

OMI publishes, every six months, a minimum and a maximum per zone, per square metre of gross area. These are the values for a box in average condition, next to those for an ordinary flat in the same zone.

Zone (OMI, first half 2026)	Flat, €/m²	Box, €/m²
Historic centre (B2)	2,500–3,100	3,400–4,900
Town centre (B1)	1,800–2,300	2,250–3,100
San Vito (C1)	1,950–2,600	2,100–2,900
Scorcola (C5)	2,100–2,750	2,000–2,900
Gretta – Barcola – Costiera (D3)	2,150–3,100	2,000–2,800
Cologna – Roiano (C3)	1,750–2,300	1,800–2,500
Chiadino – San Giovanni (C4)	1,750–2,450	1,750–2,350
San Giacomo – Servola (C2)	1,650–2,150	1,550–2,100
Opicina (D2)	1,800–2,500	1,350–1,950
Karst villages (R1)	1,750–2,250	950–1,350

In the two central zones the garage is dearer per square metre than the flat above it. On the Karst plateau it is a little over half. A covered parking space is cheaper again: €1,150–1,600 at Barcola, €750–1,000 at Opicina.

OMI's figures describe a zone, not your garage. Its own manual says they do not replace a valuation of the single property.

Is a garage a better investment than a flat?

On OMI's figures it yields more gross rent per euro. In the historic centre OMI gives a box €16.8–25.2 per square metre a month in rent, and a flat €8.5–12.1.

Our arithmetic, pairing the bottom with the bottom and the top with the top: about 5.9–6.2% a year gross for the box, against 4.1–4.7% for the flat. Before tax, ILIA, condominium fees and empty months, and with a smaller pool of tenants.

How much tax do I pay when I buy a garage?

It depends on whether the garage is the pertinenza, the accessory, of a home you buy as your prima casa, and on whether it comes in the same deed.

Worked example: a box with a cadastral income (rendita) of €100, bought from a private seller, taxed on cadastral value (prezzo-valore). The figures are ours; the coefficients and rates are the law's.

Case	Taxable value	Registration tax
In the same deed as your prima casa	€100 × 1.05 × 110 = €11,550	2%: €231 more on the deed
Later, separately, as its pertinenza	€11,550	2% would be €231: you pay the €1,000 minimum
Without the relief	€100 × 1.05 × 120 = €12,600	9%: €1,134

Each deed also pays €50 of mortgage tax and €50 of cadastral tax. The €1,000 floor applies to the tax on the deed: in the same deed as the flat, where the tax is already above it, the garage adds only its 2%.

The relief can still apply to a garage bought later, in a separate deed, as long as it serves the home you bought with it. It covers one unit per category: C/6 for garages and boxes, C/7 for canopies, open or closed, C/2 for storerooms and cellars. For everything else on the deed, see purchase taxes in Italy.

Can I buy a garage without buying a flat?

Usually yes, but not always. The law that sets the limit is article 9 of the 1989 parking law (Law 122 of 1989).

• Garages built by owners under that law, under a building or on its ground floor, as the pertinenza of its units: they can be sold only if, in the same deed, they become the garage of another home in the same comune.
• Garages built on land of the Comune, under a surface right of up to 90 years: they cannot be sold apart from the home they are tied to, on pain of nullity, unless the agreement with the Comune allows it or the Comune authorises the sale.
• Parking spaces that the planning law required in new buildings (one square metre for every ten cubic metres of building): since a change in force from December 2005 they carry no tie to any flat and can be sold on their own.

The building permit and the deed say which case applies. In Trieste the ownership, and any surface right, also appear in the Libro fondiario: see the Trieste land register.

What does a garage cost every year?

ILIA, the regional property tax that took over from IMU across the region in 2023, is levied on 160 times the cadastral income, raised by 5%.

If you are resident in Trieste and the garage is the pertinenza of your main home, it pays nothing, unless the home is in a luxury category. The exemption covers one unit per category.

If you are not resident, or the home is a second home, the garage pays 1.06% in Trieste. With a rendita of €100: €100 × 1.05 × 160 = €16,800, and 1.06% of that is €178.08 a year. The reduced 0.70% for a first second home never covers pertinenze. Year by year, see owning in Trieste.

What to do now

• Set the asking price against the zone's OMI range, per square metre of gross area.
• Ask for the cadastral record (visura): category C/6 or C/7, rendita, surface.
• Ask the seller under which permit the garage was built, and whether it is tied to a flat.
• Buying the flat too? Put the garage in the same deed and declare it a pertinenza.
• Check the Libro fondiario entry: ownership, or a surface right with its end date.

Frequently asked questions

What is the price of a garage in Trieste?

OMI's figures for January to June 2026 run from €950–1,350/m² on the Karst plateau to €3,400–4,900/m² in the historic centre. A 15 m² box in the centre comes to €51,000–73,500.

Can a foreigner buy just a garage in Italy?

Yes, under the usual rules on who can buy, unless the garage is legally tied to a flat. Garages built under the 1989 parking law, or on Comune land, often are.

Do I pay 2% or 9% tax on a garage in Italy?

2% if it is the pertinenza of a home bought as prima casa, one per category; otherwise 9%. In a separate deed the tax can never be less than €1,000.

Do I pay ILIA on a garage in Trieste?

Not if it is the pertinenza of your main home in Trieste and you are resident. Otherwise, as a non-resident or for a second home, yes: 1.06% a year of the cadastral value.

Where this guide stops

It gives no value for a specific garage, does not cover VAT purchases from builders, renovation tax breaks for new garages, or residents' parking permits in the street. For the deed, the notary; for taxes, the commercialista.

If you own a garage or a parking space in Trieste, in the centre each of its square metres can fetch more than one of the flat it serves: sell it with the flat, or on its own where the law allows. Request a confidential valuation, in English or German.

These are the rules, not tax advice: on your position the commercialista, and for the deed the notary, have the last word. Write to richieste@triestevillas.com or WhatsApp +39 331 8940822.