The bidet in an Italian bathroom

Why removing the bidet could cost you: Italy's bathroom rule explained for foreign home buyers and owners

toilet and bidet

Italy is the only country in the world where the bidet is, in effect, a legal requirement. For the many international buyers who have purchased a home in Italy, and who often renovate the bathroom to match the habits of their home country, ripping out the bidet may seem like a purely aesthetic choice. In reality, it can have serious legal consequences, up to and including the loss of the property's certificate of habitability (agibilità) and, with it, the possibility to legally rent the property to tourists.

What the law actually says 

Italian bathroom

The reference norm is Ministerial Decree of 5 July 1975 (D.M. Sanità 5 luglio 1975), which sets the minimum health and hygiene standards for residential buildings. The decree states that every home must have at least one bathroom equipped with the following sanitary fixtures: a WC (toilet), a bidet, a bathtub or a shower and a washbasin. In other words: at least one bathroom in every home, let’s say the main bathroom, or the only one if there is just one, must contain all four elements. Additional bathrooms are free to be configured however the owner likes: a second bathroom with only a WC and washbasin is perfectly legal, and there is no obligation to duplicate the bidet.

combination WC-bidet

Local building regulations set by each municipality may add further requirements to minimum room dimensions, distances between fixtures, ventilation, but they cannot lower this national standard. Some municipal regulations do allow flexibility in very small units (e.g. studio apartments), accepting integrated solutions such as a combination WC-bidet fixture in place of two separate sanitary appliances, but these are exceptions, not the rule.

A uniquely Italian obligation

No other country mandates the bidet. France, where the fixture was invented, long ago abandoned it from new homes; Portugal and Spain have it culturally widespread but not legally required. Italy is alone in making it part of the minimum legal equipment of a home, which is why the bidet is found in virtually every Italian home, and why its absence is immediately noticed by surveyors, notaries and municipal technicians.

What happens if you remove it

Removing the bidet during a renovation may seem harmless, but the consequences can surface at the worst possible moments: 

• Loss of habitability requirements. The home no longer meets the minimum hygiene standards required for the certificate of habitability (agibilità). If the property was built or certified after 1975, the difference from the original approved project constitutes an irregularity.
• Problems when selling or renting. When selling, the bank's surveyor or the technician preparing the building-regularity report may flag the missing fixture, forcing the seller to restore it or apply for a retrospective permit (sanatoria) before the sale can close. In a short or long term rental, an Italian tourist or tenant could contest the missing habitability requirements.
• Refused or blocked permits. Any renovation project filed with the municipality that shows a bathroom without the required fixtures can be rejected or delayed until the design is corrected. 

The hidden sting for holiday rentals: the CIN

This is where a seemingly minor design choice turns into a major business problem. Since 2024, every property in Italy offered for short-term or tourist rental must obtain a National Identification Code (CIN, Codice Identicativo Nazionale) from the Ministry of Tourism. To operate legally, the owner must ile a certified notice of commencement of activity (SCIA, Segnalazione Certificata di Inizio Attività) with the local one-stop business desk (SUAP). The catch is, to file the SCIA and obtain the CIN, the property must meet the habitability and hygiene requirements, including the minimum bathroom fixtures. A home that has lost its habitability status because the bidet was removed cannot obtain the CIN. Without a CIN, the property cannot be advertised or rented as a tourist accommodation, and the municipal authorities can impose fines and order the activity to cease.

For foreign buyers who purchased an Italian home precisely with the intention of renting it out on short term rental platforms, removing the bidet can therefore mean losing the entire rental business, not just a fixture.

Practical advice

If you are renovating a bathroom in Italy and you do not want a bidet, keep these points in mind: 

1. Keep at least one fully equipped bathroom. Every additional bathroom can be simplified, but one bathroom in the home must always have WC, bidet, shower or bathtub, and washbasin.
2. If space is the issue, ask about integrated solutions. A combined WC-bidet unit, or the specific derogations provided by some municipal building regulations for very small units, may satisfy the law without a separate bidet.
3. If your house is for personal use only and you really want to remove it, keep the plumbing connections (hot and cold water supply and drain) capped in place, so the bidet can be reinstated quickly and cheaply if a surveyor or the municipality requires it. This makes it far easier to demonstrate and restore compliance.
4. Check with a local geometra or architect before the works, not after. The municipal building regulation of your specific town determines exactly what is allowed, and a professional can confirm in advance whether your renovation plan preserves the habitability requirements.

The bidet may not be part of your culture, but in Italy it is part of the law. Keeping it, or at least keeping the option to put it back, is a small design concession that protects the legal status, the market value and, for short term rentals, the very viability of your Italian property investment.

(pictures: Villeroy & Boch)