Forget cryptocurrencies, gold or government bonds. The “new” investment is called land. Nothing to do with some financial devilry to save the planet, but simply the return to an ancient good that is being rediscovered full of economic prospects. Land was once part of a daughter’s dowry or a coveted inheritance from a wealthy parent. Little by little, however, they have been forgotten, especially those close to the coast which were considered worthless before the building speculation driven by the tourism boom, because they were intended for grazing.
I know the case of the Costa Smeralda area sold to the Aga Khan at rock-bottom prices compared to those he would have achieved later. Nobody imagined the enormous real estate potential of the future. Something similar, i.e. the revaluation of the asset, is also happening today except that now there is awareness of the earning prospects. The new green energy business (biogas and agrivoltaic) is pushing the prices of agricultural land in Italy which, for the first time in twenty years, beat inflation, with a trend reversal destined to last.
More and more investors are purchasing land to use for the production of renewable energy. A challenge favored by the possibility of excellent earnings and determined by the European Union’s decarbonisation objectives: covering 42.5 percent of energy consumption with renewable sources by 2030 and achieving climate neutrality by 2050.
The race for renewables on agricultural land began on 8 November 2021, when the government chaired by Mario Draghi issued the so-called Energy Decree, which was intended to stimulate the production of energy from green sources. The act provided for a series of subsidies for the construction of energy plants from clean sources, gave the green light to a simplified procedure for authorizations and set the deadline for establishing “homogeneous principles and criteria for the identification of surfaces and areas suitable and unsuitable for installation” of the plants at 180 days from its approval.
Immediately after the publication, requests poured in to the Ministry of the Environment. Everyone is hunting for the new goose that lays the golden eggs. And prices started to rise. The phenomenon initially affected Southern Italy, Sardinia, Sicily and Puglia. But in recent times requests have grown in the Po Valley and in particular in Emilia-Romagna, where connection plans stand at 10 gigawatts.
This is also why last year the price of land in general exceeded inflation at a national level by around 0.2 percent, reaching around 1 percent. We are not talking about a speculative asset and the percentage may appear modest, but given that it is a safe haven asset not subject to rapid fluctuations, the data is significant.
Furthermore, it should be considered that the value is an average between areas that have very different prices and trends. The point is made by Crea’s 2025 report which indicates the average price per hectare at 22,400 euros, the result of the 47,100 euros paid in the North-East, the approximately 35,200 euros in the North-West (where the greatest increase in prices was recorded, +2.3 percent) and the values in the Centre-South and the Islands, respectively under 16 thousand and 9 thousand euros. Sales rose by 4 percent, with peaks of 9 percent in central Italy.
The cost of land depends on numerous factors: if it is used as pasture or is covered by a forest it is worth little, but if instead it is cultivated with vineyards with quality grapes it can reach stellar prices. As in the Langhe, where the Barolo rows reach up to 2.3 million per hectare, the DOC ones in the Caldaro lake area, in Alto Adige, at 1.1 million. The same price of the Bolgheri Doc, now at the same level, still in Tuscany, as Montalcino and its Brunello vineyards for which the ceiling of one million euros per hectare is broken.
The DOCGs of Valdobbiadene are no exception, the historical cradle of Prosecco Superiore, where prices can reach up to 500 thousand euros per hectare. Among the most valuable agricultural land there are also the apple orchards of Trentino in Val Venosta with peaks of 450 thousand to 750 thousand euros per hectare. As well as in the Albenga plain, where those employed in horticulture can earn up to 500 thousand euros. The agricultural land that is least worth economically according to Crea’s analysis, however, is that of the pastures in the province of Catanzaro (between one thousand and 2 thousand euros per hectare).
There are also other factors that determine the price. In the North there is a greater presence of land in flat and irrigated areas, but also the highest rate of urbanization and, consequently, consumption of agricultural land, which reduces the supply of land, which is often not sufficient to satisfy demand. In the inland and mountain areas, however, there is great availability on the part of elderly farmers and companies in economic difficulty which is not reflected on the market.
The report states that “the influence on prices of some phenomena connected to climate change and the diffusion of plants for the production of renewable energy is evident”. Then it is underlined that «the land market scenario appears moderately positive despite the uncertainty that arises from increasingly extreme and harmful climatic events and consequently from the tendency towards a reduction in the profitability of production».
Then there is the chapter of uncultivated land, equal to one and a half million hectares. «Prices are rising and demand exceeds supply. Land is not a high-yield investment, it is low risk, it is safe and it is a safe haven asset” underlines the author of the report, Andrea Arzeni. «And while in recent years investment was being eroded by inflation, now there is a change that should continue for a long time. What emerges as the main novelty is the interest of foreign funds in some areas, such as the iconic landscapes of Piedmont and Tuscany for non-agricultural but status purposes”.
But it is not just finance that focuses on the most beautiful and therefore economically promising areas. Young people have also rediscovered agriculture as a job opportunity. According to an analysis by Coldiretti on Istat data, in the second quarter of 2025, workers under 35 in the fields increased by 18 percent compared to the same period of the previous year, reaching 122 thousand today.
And there is also another non-marginal fact: over a third of the agricultural businesses created in the last five years have an owner under 35 years of age. Alongside traditional activities such as crop management, harvesting and breeding, roles emerge linked to precision agriculture, the digital management of production processes, territorial marketing and sustainable agritourism.
This is how “digital farmers” are born who use drones to monitor crops, agricultural big data experts who optimize water resources, and agronomists who make biodiversity an important economic lever.
Despite this breath of fresh air, agriculture continues to have the highest percentage of older workers. «There are essentially three difficulties for the new generations: access to land, knowledge and credit. A young farmer who has no or little land and wants to ask for a loan must provide banks with guarantees that he doesn’t have and so often for a start-up he relies financially on the shoulders of his parents” Enrico Parisi, national delegate of Coldiretti Giovani, confirms to Panorama.
The solution? «Create an agricultural microcredit, i.e. a loan with a budget of 30-40 thousand euros that gives the young person the opportunity to start his own company and have a repayment period of three years available. It would be an important breath of fresh air for the entire sector. Then there is the issue of generational change which must be addressed with adequate policy tools.”
Yet, amidst a thousand difficulties and obstacles, a revolution in agriculture is underway and the land, which was once just hard work, can become a vision and future for investors and young people.
