Short-term rental platforms, led by the dominant player Airbnb, have transformed the economy, customs and character of cities. The dynamics are turbulent and not always transparent, and it is fair to ask, among other things: who really runs Airbnb in the city? To help answer this and other questions, the Airmap project provides data on the use of Airbnb in major Italian cities.
AirMAP was developed in response to the need to fill a gap in the information available regarding the expansion and historical evolution of short-term rentals facilitated by Airbnb in Italy. Institutional databases are often fragmented or incomplete, making it difficult for public decision-makers to assess the true scale of the phenomenon. The project aims to overcome these limitations by utilising datasets from AirDNA.
The FULL research centre has developed a bespoke database covering sixteen urban contexts, with the aim of producing a systematic and comparative mapping of the phenomenon, and has engaged and coordinated research teams from leading Italian universities, each dedicated to a specific city. For the first time, a range of diverse urban settings are being analysed using the same methodological approach, enabling a scientific comparison between different contexts. A report covering the whole of Italy has been produced, along with one for each of the following cities:
- Northern Italy: Bergamo, Genoa, Milan, Padua, Turin, Trieste, Venice.
- Central Italy: Bologna, Florence, Rome.
- Southern Italy and the Islands: Bari, Cagliari, Catania, Naples, Palermo, Reggio Calabria.
The analysis is structured across three geographical levels, derived from the relevant Local Labour Market System (Sistema Locale del Lavoro – SLL): the metropolitan capital (CM), the other municipalities within the SLL (OM), and the entire SLL as a single aggregate. The reports combine aggregated annual data (2017–2024) and monthly data for the most recent year (2024), including supply and demand indicators such as nights booked, beds, active units, average nightly rate, occupancy rate and revenue per unit and per host. The analysis also includes the spatial classification of listings in OM municipalities and CM cities.
A specific section is devoted to the professionalisation of the accommodation offering, through the classification of hosts into three categories: small hosts (1–2 properties managed), medium hosts (3–10 properties) and large hosts (10 or more properties). Finally, each report includes a thematic appendix compiled by the local research group, aimed at interpreting specific local dynamics.
Research groups involved:
- BARI – Mariella Annese, Fabrizio Di Alessandro, Gianfranco Viesti (Politecnico Bari)
- BOLOGNA – Alessandro Bozzetti, Silvia Bartolucci (UniBologna)
- CAGLIARI – Abir Benfradj, Michele Campagna, Laura Tolu (UniCagliari)
- CATANIA – Eliana Fischer, Teresa Graziano, Laura Saija (UniCatania)
- FLORENCE – Marco Bellandi, Alice Calamandrei, Giulia Chiara Ceresa, Valentina D’Ippolito, Federico Martellozzo, Camilla Perrone, Massimo Tofanelli (UniFirenze)
- GENOA – Lorenzo Barbanera, Emanuele Cinti, Igor Costarelli, Niccolò Morelli, Francesca Zagagni (UniGenova)
- MILAN – Silvia Mugnano, Valeria Marina Borodi, Riccardo Ramello (University of Milano-Bicocca)
- NAPLES – Gaia del Giudice, Cristina Mattiucci (UniNapoli – Federico II), Cecilia Pasquinelli (UniNapoli Parthenope)
- PADUA – Francesco Mauro, Lorenza Perini, Michelangelo Savino (UniPadova)
- PALERMO – Chiara Giubilaro, Marco Picone (UniPalermo)
- REGGIO CALABRIA – Benedetta Chiaro, Angelo Chiaro, Gabriella Pultrone (UniReggio Calabria)
- ROME – Antonia Astore, Carlo Cellammare (UniRoma – Sapienza), Luca Tricarico (CNR)
- TRIESTE – Elena Marchigiani, Valentina Novak, Andrea Peraz (UniTrieste)
- VENICE – Matteo Basso, Gianfranco Pozzer (IUAV), Giacomo-Maria Salerno (UniSiena)
The project was presented at a conference in Turin on 22 May 2026, and the reports are available in the RESOURCES section of the website.
