With ruling No. 186 of 16 December 2025, the Italian Constitutional Court declared the constitutional challenges brought by the Presidency of the Council of Ministers against the Tourism Act of the Region of Tuscany (Regional Law No. 61/2024) to be partly unfounded and partly inadmissible, thereby confirming the overall validity of the regulatory framework.
The Court’s main holdings are summarized below:
- Increase in hotel accommodation capacity (Article 22, paragraph 6): The provision allowing hotels to increase their accommodation capacity by up to 40% through the association of residential units located within 200 meters is legitimate. The attribution to municipalities of the power to set more restrictive limits is consistent with their urban planning functions and does not infringe the principles of reasonableness, proportionality or freedom of economic initiative.
- Permitted use for non-hotel accommodation activities (Article 41, paragraph 3): The rule limiting non-hotel accommodation activities to properties with a tourist-accommodation designated use, excluding residential properties, is consistent with Article 3 of the Constitution (principle of equality), given that such activities are organized and carried out on an entrepreneurial basis.
- Transitional regime (Article 144, paragraph 3): The transitional provision postponing the application of Article 41, paragraph 3 until 1 July 2026, under which both residential and tourism-accommodation properties may continue to be used until that date, finding it lawful and not discriminatory.
- Restrictions on the cumulative accommodation capacity of multiple facilities within the same building (Article 41, paragraph 4): The provision limiting the number of rooms and the overall accommodation capacity where the same operator manages multiple facilities (such as guesthouses, B&Bs and historic residences) within the same building does not infringe the freedom of economic initiative, as it aims to prevent circumvention of the size limits set by law.
- Requirement of entrepreneurial management (Articles 42–45): The obligation to operate non-hotel accommodation facilities with residential characteristics under an entrepreneurial management model is legitimate, as it concerns the modalities for carrying out accommodation activities and falls within the regional legislative competence in the field of tourism.
- Restrictions on short-term tourist rentals (Article 59): the provision granting high-tourism-density municipalities and provincial capitals the power to identify zones and limits for short-term tourist rentals, subjecting such activities to the issuance of a five-year authorization, is consistent with the Constitution, as it falls within the matters of territorial governance and tourism.
The full text of the sentence is available here.