Single compendium in general

The discipline of the compendium is identified by Legislative Decree 99/2004 as amended and
supplemented by Legislative Decree 101/2005, introduced the figure of the single compendium. Such
compendium replaces the former “minimum cultivation unit.”
The Italian legislature has extended to the whole country, the tax benefits provided by Art.
5-bis, paragraphs 1 and 2 of Law 97/1994 for land located in the territories of mountain communities.
The said article is, in fact, expressly referred to by the 2nd paragraph of Art. 5-bis of Legislative Decree.
99/2004.
The current legislative framework (ref. Legislative Decree 101/2005) provides for the application of the aforementioned
tax benefits “to the transfer for any reason of agricultural land to those who undertake
to establish a single compendium and cultivate or conduct it as a direct farmer or
professional agricultural entrepreneur for a period of at least ten years after the transfer,” with the
Provision that the “land and its appurtenances, including buildings, constituting the compendium
unique, are considered indivisible units for ten years from the time of incorporation and during
such period may not be fractionated as a result of transfers due to death or acts between
alive.”
In addition, it was stipulated that “The establishment of the single compendium is done by a declaration made
by the purchasing or transferee party in the deed of purchase or transfer.”
The rationale of the aforementioned legislation, as reflected in the explanatory report to Legislative Decree. 99/04 is that
To contribute to the process of modernization of agriculture sectors, consistent with the
Community regulations, avoiding the excessive fractionation of land ownership, which occurs
especially in succession. The legislature sought to ensure the structural strengthening of the
agricultural enterprises in order to make them more competitive.
Our legislature has tried to go beyond the concept of the minimum cultivation unit in Art. 846
C.C., emphasizing the productive aspect of the business.
In essence, the new framework allows the unique compendium to be established by taking advantage of a
particularly favorable tax regime, and establishes the nullity of deeds between living persons and the
testamentary provisions that have the effect of splitting the estate, dictating a
Special rules on succession involving agricultural land.
The need to safeguard the integrity of the fund was prioritized at the expense of mechanisms
successors rooted in the agricultural world. These systems tended essentially to protect the interests
of the family and equality among co-heirs and led to the division of property at the
hereditary division.
Often in the past, the Italian legislature has made attempts to make inroads into the traditional system by enacting a series of special law regulations.
An initial attempt to curb the fragmentation of land ownership had been made with the
Comprehensive Land Reclamation Act of 1933, which provides for compulsory transfers, albeit for reclamation purposes.
Subsequently there were:
– The law of June 3, 1940 no. 1078 which provides rules to prevent the fractionation of farm units assigned to direct peasant farmers;
– The law12 May 1950 no. 230 that provided measures for the development of the Sila Plateau and the contiguous Ionian territories;
– Law May 291967 no. 379 which provided amendments to the land reform regulations;
– The law of May 3, 1982 no. 203 which provides rules on agrarian contracts.
This tendency to focus on the production aspect of the business had also been taken up by the jurisprudence of the Civil Cassation, which in its United Sections ruling no. 6123 of Oct. 18, 1986, considered a discriminating element in the resolution of the conflict between a plurality of direct cultivators owning different lands, all bordering on the rustic fund offered for sale, for the purpose of exercising the right of first refusal and redemption under Art. 7, paragraph 2, of l. Aug. 14, 1971 no. 817, the assessment of the territorial size of the direct-cultivation enterprise, giving preponderance
“to the company that best realizes the needs for land consolidation, business development and the establishment of technically and economically efficient production units.”

Attorney Chiara Roncarolo

Attorney Maurizio Randazzo