Unsold auctions: Udine is Italy’s standout case, with 1,060 failed attempts

By the addicta editorial team · Published on 11/07/2026 · Updated on 19/10/2026 · 3 min read

There is one Italian province where court auctions go unsold more than anywhere else in the country. It is not Rome, it is not Milan: it is Udine. The figures from the addicta platform are clear: 1,060 auction attempts that came to nothing, against 274 in Rome and 251 in Perugia, second and third in the ranking. On its own, Udine accounts for about one seventh of the 7,259 failed attempts recorded across Italy. At the moment there are 503 auctions for sale in Udine with the starting price already reduced.

How the mechanism works

What happens when an auction goes “unsold”? Simple: nobody turns up to bid. And this is where the mechanism kicks in that makes these lots interesting. When the sale comes to nothing, the judge — or the sale delegate — sets a new one, usually with a starting price reduced by 25%. If the second attempt also fails, a third starts, even lower. And so on. For an asset the appraisal valued at €200,000, by the third unsold attempt the starting price may have fallen to around €100,000: half, for the very same asset. In Udine this happens again and again — the site shows lots labelled “3× deserta”, meaning they have gone unsold three times.

What is really for sale

Be careful, though: we are not (only) talking about villas and flats. Scrolling through the Udine lots, many are modest goods — furniture, equipment, machinery, tools, kitchenware — often without even a photo. Stuff that at first glance looks like “junk”. And that is exactly the point: these are goods the general public ignores, and precisely for that reason they go unsold again and again, sending the starting price plummeting. But those with a good nose, or who know the trade — the craftsman, the restaurateur, the small business owner — can recognise the machine or tool that is worth far more than the price it has fallen to. And the starting price, by now cut to the bone, is within anyone’s reach: you do not need large amounts of capital to take part.

The advantage is threefold

They are auctions that have already gone unsold. Competition has already proved thin: the probability of winning the lot is, in practice, higher than in a crowded auction. You can win from home. This is the part few people know: many of these sales are online, and when the format is asynchronous you do not have to log in at a set time or raise your hand in a courtroom. You upload your bid online within a window of days and wait for the outcome. In practice, you can take home an asset from an auction without leaving home. The risk is easier to read. In court auctions the biggest unknown is always “what am I really buying?”. Here the AI analysis of the appraisal report summarises dozens of pages of technical and legal language and highlights the critical points — mortgages, occupation, irregularities, costs — before you make a bid.

In conclusion

This is not easy money, let us be clear. A court auction remains a serious procedure: deposits, timescales, real risks, and it must be studied lot by lot (appraisal report, sale format, costs). But for those who are patient and know what they are looking for, the province of Udine is today one of the most interesting showcases in Italy: lots of failed attempts, falling prices and everything out in the open. The opportunity is not for everyone — but it is within everyone’s reach.

The figures: provinces with the most unsold auction attempts

Historical data — source: addicta.it. National total: 7,259 failed attempts · 16,351 active auctions on the platform. Data read on 11 July 2026: active auctions change constantly, so check the latest figures before publication. Court auctions involve real risks (deposits, costs, condition of the asset, timescales): always assess the appraisal report and the conditions of the individual lot.