Published on 7 April 2026
FIRST SECTION
Application no. 6361/22
Saverio TERSIGNI and Others
against Italy
lodged on 14 January 2022
communicated on 16 March 2026
SUBJECT MATTER OF THE CASE
The application concerns the expropriation of the applicants’ land, and the judicial proceedings brought by the applicants with a view to obtaining compensation higher than that offered by the authorities.
By a temporary occupation order issued in December 1970, the Ministry of Transport ordered the occupation of the applicants’ land for the purpose of constructing an “Institute for Railway Research”. The expropriation decree of 19 November 1973 determined the provisional amount of compensation (indennità provvisoria) based on the market value of the land, which was calculated at approximately lire 500 per square metre. The applicants challenged the amount of compensation in 1974. The judicial proceeding lasted 46 years, as a result of the annulment by the Court of Cassation of several decisions of the Court of Appeal, which did not take into account the real market value of the property at the time of expropriation.
During the proceedings, Legislative Decree no. 333/1992 (converted into law no. 359/1992) entered into force, providing, in Article 5 bis, for a reduction of compensation calculated on the basis of the market value, applicable to pending proceedings. By two Constitutional Court judgments nos. 348 and 349 of 24 October 2007, Article 5 bis was declared unconstitutional.
By judgment of 21 June 2016 the Court of Appeal awarded the applicants the full market value of the land, equal to approximately EUR 1.00 per square metre. The amount was increased to reflect indexation and accrued interest (the so-called presumptive greater damage – “maggior danno presuntivo” – pursuant to Article 1224, paragraph 2, of the Civil Code). However, the claims for additional damage (exceeding the presumptive greater damage) and for compensatory interest (Article 1499 of the Civil Code), both calculated with reference to the market value of the land at the time of payment of compensation, were dismissed as unproven. This judgment was upheld in final instance by the Court of Cassation on 21 July 2021.
Payment was made in 2019. However, the Institute for Railway Research was never built and the land was instead sold in 2007 to a private company for a price of EUR 8.91 per square metre.
Invoking Article 1 of Protocol No. 1 to the Convention, the applicants complain that the compensation was paid 45 years after the occupation of the land and was calculated without considering the market value of comparable properties at the time of payment. It also failed to take into account the price at which the land was sold to private investors in 2007, which was about 900% higher than the compensation paid to the applicants several years later. Additionally, the compensation was not adjusted for additional damages pursuant to Article 1224, paragraph 2, of the Civil Code. They further claim that there was no public interest basis for the expropriation of their land, given that the planned infrastructure project was never built, and the expropriated land was sold to private investors.
QUESTIONS TO THE PARTIES
Have the applicants been deprived of their property in accordance with the requirements of Article 1 of Protocol No. 1 to the Convention? If so,
(i) did the deprivation of property impose an excessive individual burden on the applicants on account of the amount awarded to them as expropriation compensation (see Scordino v. Italy (no. 1) [GC], no. 36813/97, ECHR 2006 V) and the delay in paying the compensation, 45 years after the expropriation (see Kirilova and Others v. Bulgaria, nos. 42908/98 and 3 others, § 117, 9 June 2005)?
(ii) were the applicants made to bear a disproportionate and excessive burden on account of the failure to adjust the compensation awarded to them for inflation pursuant to article 1224, paragraph 2, of the Civil Code?
In replying to the foregoing questions, the parties are invited to specify:
(i) the market value of the land as established by the final domestic decision;
(ii) whether the value attributed to the land at the time of sale to a private investor has been taken into account in determining the amount of compensation;
(iii) the rate of inflation recorded for each year between the transfer of property to the final domestic decision establishing the amount of compensation (Chinnici v. Italy (no. 2), no. 22432/03, § 45, 14 April 2015) as well as the rate of statutory interest in force for each subsequent year;
(iv) the sums obtained by the applicants in relation to statutory interest for the same period;
(v) the sums corresponding to the adjustment for inflation in relation to the same period;
(vi) whether the applicants received any other sums, including in a form other than statutory interest and/or inflation adjustment, to compensate them for the passage of time.
APPENDIX
List of applicants:
No.
Applicant’s Name
Year of birth
Nationality
Place of residence
Represented by
1.
Saverio TERSIGNI
1942
Italian
Rome
Vezio PAGLIARINI
Rome
2.
Franca BUCCI
1933
Italian
Anguillara Sabazia
3.
Alessandro CATARCI
1977
Italian
Anguillara Sabazia
4.
Annunziata CRUCIANELLI
1945
Italian
Anguillara Sabazia
5.
Ezio CRUCIANELLI
1951
Italian
Anguillara Sabazia
6.
Maria Luisa CRUCIANELLI
1956
Italian
Anguillara Sabazia
7.
Pietro CRUCIANELLI
1953
Italian
Anguillara Sabazia
8.
Salvatore CRUCIANELLI
1948
Italian
Tarquinia
9.
Valentino CRUCIANELLI
1951
Italian
Anguillara Sabazia
10.
Bruno DE TOTIS
1951
Italian
Anguillara Sabazia
11.
Fausta DE TOTIS
1949
Italian
Anguillara Sabazia
12.
Rosa DOMINICI
1936
Italian
Anguillara Sabazia
13.
Carolina FRANCOCCI
1964
Italian
Anguillara Sabazia
14.
Cesare FRANCOCCI
1948
Italian
Anguillara Sabazia
15.
Clementina FRANCOCCI
1939
Italian
Anguillara Sabazia
16.
Costanza FRANCOCCI
1943
Italian
Anguillara Sabazia
17.
Emanuele FRANCOCCI
1982
Italian
Anguillara Sabazia
18.
Marcello FRANCOCCI
1961
Italian
Anguillara Sabazia
19.
Gabriella LANCELLOTTI
1962
Italian
Anguillara Sabazia
20.
Lauretta LANCELLOTTI
1958
Italian
Anguillara Sabazia
21.
Patrizia LANCELLOTTI
1955
Italian
Anguillara Sabazia
22.
Paola MOCHI
1953
Italian
Anguillara Sabazia
23.
Paolo MOCHI
1958
Italian
Anguillara Sabazia
24.
Francesco PELLICCIONI
1940
Italian
Trevignano
25.
Paolo PELLICCIONI
1956
Italian
Anguillara Sabazia
26.
Alfredo SANTONI
1982
Italian
Anguillara Sabazia
27.
Germana TAFFETTANI
1949
Italian
Anguillara Sabazia
28.
Fulvio TRENTA
1966
Italian
Roma
29.
Maurizia TRENTA
1963
Italian
Roma