Heating in Italy: dates by climate zone, costs, bonus

Italian heating runs by climate zone: Milan and Turin from 15 October, Rome from 1 November, Naples from 15 November. Hours, 20 C, boiler, bonus.

In Italy the heating is switched on by the calendar of the municipality's climate zone, not by the weather, as set by DPR 74/2013. In Milan, Turin and Bologna (zone E) the season starts on 15 October, in Rome, Florence and Genoa (zone D) on 1 November, in Naples and Bari (zone C) on 15 November and in Palermo (zone B) on 1 December. Homes may be heated to no more than 20 C plus a 2 C tolerance. Below are the legal tables (checked on normattiva.it on 30.09.2026), who is responsible for the boiler, what people pay according to community reports, and how to get the bonus sociale. This is not legal advice.

In September 2026 heating came up in Russian-language chats about Italy roughly three times as often as a year earlier: 58 messages against 18 in September 2025.

In short: what the law says

Dates and hours depend on the municipality's climate zone (art. 4 DPR 74/2013); heating may run between 5:00 and 23:00.
Temperature: in homes, an average of no more than 20 C plus a 2 C tolerance (art. 3).
Outside the season heating is allowed only when the weather justifies it, for at most half the usual hours (art. 4).
The mayor can extend or shorten the season and the hours by ordinance (art. 5).
The 2022 cuts (15 days, 1 hour and 1 degree less) applied to the 2022-2023 season only.
The boiler in a flat is the responsibility of the occupant, tenants included (D.Lgs. 192/2005).

The calendar by climate zone

Zone	Heating period	Hours per day	Example cities
A	1 December - 15 March	6	Lampedusa and Linosa
B	1 December - 31 March	8	Palermo, Catania, Messina, Reggio Calabria
C	15 November - 31 March	10	Naples, Bari, Cagliari, Lecce, Sanremo
D	1 November - 15 April	12	Rome, Florence, Genoa, Savona, Pisa, La Spezia
E	15 October - 15 April	14	Milan, Turin, Bologna, Venice, Trieste, Verona, Parma, Bergamo, Como, Padua, Brescia, Trento
F	no limits	no limits	Cuneo and mountain municipalities

The zone follows the municipality's degree-days in the DPR 412/1993 table: Milan 2404, Rome 1415, Naples 1034, Cuneo 3012. If your town is not listed, check its zone in that table or on the municipality's website, which is also where a mayor's ordinance appears if heating may start earlier in a cold autumn.

The hours are a daily cap on the system, not a promise of warmth: in buildings with central heating the condominium decides when within the 5:00-23:00 window it runs, which is why newcomers find the radiators cold at night.

Central or your own: centralizzato and autonomo

Riscaldamento centralizzato is the building's shared boiler room. The condominium sets the season and hours within the law, costs go through the spese condominiali, and at year end they are settled by the meters on the radiators (ripartitori). The tenant votes at the meeting on heating matters instead of the owner. How the fees and the settlement work is in condominio: fees and house rules.
Riscaldamento autonomo is your own gas boiler (caldaia) in the flat: you switch it on, but the zone calendar and hours legally apply to you too, and the gas bill is in the contract holder's name. How to move the gas contract into your name is in utilities: voltura and subentro.
Teleriscaldamento is district heating; it exists only in some cities, and chat members ask about it as a rarity.

Per the community (about 10 messages in 2025-2026), buildings are moving from shared boiler rooms to individual boilers, and central systems run strictly to the building's timetable.

Boiler, libretto and checks: what falls on the tenant

Under D.Lgs. 192/2005 (annex A, point 42) the person responsible for the heating system of a single dwelling is its occupant, on whatever basis - so a tenant too; for a central system it is the condominium administrator. Art. 7 of DPR 74/2013 requires the boiler to be serviced by a qualified firm at the frequency set by the installer or manufacturer, and a libretto di impianto - the system's logbook where every check is recorded - must be kept.

Who pays for the annual service is decided by the lease. The chats mention individual bills: one boiler check cost about 122 euro, and another lease explicitly put the annual service on the tenant. Before signing, ask when the boiler was last checked and ask to see the libretto. What else to check in a lease is in the rental contract.

What people pay: chat reports (September 2025 - September 2026)

These are individual accounts, not tariffs; the bill depends on size, energy class (classe energetica in the listing), heating type and supplier:

What	Reported cost
Gas heating in a flat	about 120-130 euro a month
Gas for a whole winter in one home	about 1,300 euro
Condominium with central heating (listings near Milan)	about 130-150 euro a month, water included
Pellet stove in a house	40-60 euro a month, about 20 bags
Portable gas heater (stufa a gas)	about 25 euro per cylinder

A few themes that come back every year:

Air conditioning as a heater - about 70 messages, peaking in September 2026. A split unit works as a heat pump and yields several kilowatts of heat per kilowatt of electricity; the chats debate whether gas or AC plus solar panels pays off.
Mould and damp - one of the most frequent complaints in old buildings, by the sea, in Venice and Turin. Chat members advise airing the rooms and not leaving any room entirely unheated: cold walls grow mould faster.
Cold by Russian standards: many Italian families keep homes at 18-20 C and switch the heating off at night; warm clothes for home are advice the chats repeat every autumn.

The overall budget for utilities and housing is in prices in Italy, and you can estimate your city in the tool:

Cost of living: 29-city budgetsPick a city, household and housing - a rough monthly budget with rent, utilities, groceries and transport, each line source-labeled.

Bonus sociale and other gas discounts

Bonus sociale (ARERA) is a discount on gas and electricity applied automatically when the household's ISEE is no more than 9,796 euro (up to 20,000 euro with 4 or more children), for 12 months. The catch for tenants: if the contract is in the landlord's name, the bonus is not granted; condominium gas supplies do count. So moving the contract into your name pays off with a low ISEE. How to get an ISEE is in ISEE and DSU.
2026: according to an ARERA press release of 19 March 2026, existing bonus holders get an extra 115 euro payment. For households without the bonus and with an ISEE up to 25,000 euro, ARERA decision 238/2026 introduced a voluntary retailer discount for 2026-2027, offered only by suppliers that opt in.
The "protected" tariff: since January 2024 the regulated gas tariff remains only for "vulnerable" customers (over 75, receiving the gas bonus sociale, disabled under law 104/92, living in emergency housing). Everyone else picks a supplier on the free market.

Other allowances and discounts are collected in bonuses and benefits.

Condominio: fees and house rules - central heating and the year-end settlement.
Utilities: voltura, TARI - gas and electricity in your name.
The rental contract - who pays for the boiler and repairs.
Renting a flat in Italy - what to look at when choosing a home.
Prices in Italy - the monthly budget line by line.
ISEE and DSU - the certificate the bonus sociale depends on.

Official sources

DPR 16 April 2013 no. 74 (season, hours, temperature, mayors): normattiva.it
DPR 412/1993, annex A (climate zones of municipalities): normattiva.it
D.Lgs. 192/2005 (person responsible for the system): normattiva.it
DM 383/2022 (cuts for the 2022-2023 season only): mase.gov.it
Bonus sociale: arera.it
End of the regulated gas tariff: arera.it

Checked 30.09.2026. This is not legal advice: mayors' ordinances can shift the season dates, and the chat amounts are individual reports.

Frequently asked questions

When is the heating turned on in Italy?

Under DPR 74/2013 it depends on the climate zone of the municipality: zone E (Milan, Turin, Bologna, Venice) from 15 October to 15 April, zone D (Rome, Florence, Genoa) from 1 November to 15 April, zone C (Naples, Bari) from 15 November to 31 March, zone B (Palermo) from 1 December to 31 March. Zone F (for example Cuneo) has no limits. The mayor can shift the dates by ordinance. This is not legal advice.

How many hours a day can heating run, and at what temperature?

Under DPR 74/2013, from 6 hours a day in zone A to 14 hours in zone E, within the 5:00-23:00 window; zone F has no limit. In homes the average temperature may not exceed 20 C plus a 2 C tolerance. The 2022 cuts (15 days, 1 hour and 1 degree less) applied to the 2022-2023 season only. This is not legal advice.

Who is responsible for the boiler in a rented flat?

Under D.Lgs. 192/2005 the person responsible for the heating system of a single dwelling is its occupant, on whatever basis, so a tenant too; for a central building system it is the condominium administrator. A libretto di impianto is mandatory, and checks follow the frequency set by the installer or manufacturer. Who pays for servicing is set by the lease. This is not legal advice.

How much does heating cost in Italy in winter?

There is no single figure. In the 2025-2026 chats people reported about 120-130 euro a month for gas in one flat, about 1,300 euro for a whole winter in another home, 40-60 euro a month for pellets in a house, and listings with condominium fees of about 130 euro a month including central heating. It all depends on size, energy class and heating type. These are community reports, not tariffs.

Is there a discount on gas for heating?

According to ARERA the bonus sociale is applied automatically with an ISEE up to 9,796 euro (up to 20,000 euro with 4 or more children). It is not granted if the gas contract is in the landlord's name; supplies through a condominium do count. For households with an ISEE up to 25,000 euro there is a voluntary retailer discount for 2026-2027 under ARERA decision 238/2026. This is not legal advice.

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