Warning signs
- 1
No CIN on an Italian listing
Short-term rentals in Italy must show their CIN in the listing. An apartment without one is a red flag.
- 2
The CIN points to another province
A CIN starts with IT followed by the six-digit ISTAT code of the municipality; its first three digits are the province (058 is Rome, 015 Milan, 048 Florence). A Rome apartment with a code from another province is using someone else's number.
- 3
A malformed number
Too short, a wrong prefix, or text instead of a code (“license on request”).
- 4
The same number on several listings
A registration number belongs to one property. If a search finds it on listings in different places, at least one of them is fake.
- 5
No registration number in Spain, Portugal, France or Greece
These countries – or many of their cities – also require a number for holiday rentals: Spain's national registry, Portugal's AL number, France's numéro d'enregistrement, Greece's AMA.
- 6
The host won't share it
A legitimate host has no reason to hide a number they're legally required to display.
What to do
- Find the license or registration number in the listing details – usually near the end of the description or in the house rules.
- For Italy, check that the province digits match the city.
- Search the number in quotes on Google – it should lead to this property only.
- Italian CIN codes can be looked up in the Ministry of Tourism's national database (BDSR).
- A free StayDetective check validates the CIN structure and province automatically.
What our check looks at
- Presence of Italy's CIN on the listingfree check
- CIN province code vs. the claimed locationfree check
- Registration number on holiday rentals in Spain, Portugal, France and Greecefree check
Questions
Does a valid license number mean the listing is safe?+
No. A hijacked listing can display the original property's genuine number. The license is one check among many – that's why the full report combines it with photos, reviews and the map.
Why does the province code matter so much?+
Because it's hard to fake consistently. Scammers copy a working CIN from another listing, and that listing is often somewhere else in Italy. A Rome apartment with a Naples code is a mismatch anyone can verify.