Monthly observatory · official data
Bankruptcies and judicial liquidations in Italy: the observatory month by month
In brief: from January to September 2026, Italian courts opened 7,346 judicial liquidations (liquidazione giudiziale), the procedure that replaced bankruptcy (fallimento) on 15 July 2022: up 4.1% compared with the same months of 2025. In September 2026 alone, new procedures were 665. The figures come from court registers published by the Ministry of Justice, with details for each of the 140 courts.
The figures for the month
- Judicial liquidations opened in September 2026
- 665
- +1.1% compared with September 2025
- Opened from January to September
- 7,346
- +4.1% on the same months of 2025
- Petitions for judicial liquidation since January
- 13,647
- Applications filed with the court by creditors, debtors or the public prosecutor: −2.6% on 2025
- Over-indebtedness procedures (sovraindebitamento) opened since January
- 4,340
- Families, professionals and small businesses that cannot be declared bankrupt: +4.4% on 2025
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Trend since 2019
Each bar is one month. Lighter bars are provisional. The August dip recurs every year: compare it with the same month in previous years before reading it as good news.
| Year | Procedures opened | Petitions filed | Compared with the previous year |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2019 | 11,035 | 30,328 | |
| 2020 | 7,538 | 22,984 | −31.7% |
| 2021 | 8,875 | 23,199 | +17.7% |
| 2022 | 7,094 | 17,017 | −20.1% |
| 2023 | 7,714 | 15,940 | +8.7% |
| 2024 | 9,022 | 17,629 | +17% |
| 2025 | 9,896 | 18,806 | +9.7% |
| 2026 (January–September, provisional) | 7,346 | 13,647 |
2019 is the last year before the pandemic: 11,035 procedures opened. In 2020, partly because bankruptcy petitions were suspended between 9 March and 30 June (art. 10 of D.L. 23/2020), they fell to 7,538. Since then they have risen again, to 9,896 in 2025: still 10.3% lower compared with 2019.
Until 15 July 2022 the procedure was called bankruptcy (fallimento, under the 1942 Bankruptcy Law, legge fallimentare). Since that day it is judicial liquidation (liquidazione giudiziale) under the Business Crisis and Insolvency Code (Codice della crisi d'impresa e dell'insolvenza, D.Lgs. 14/2019). The Ministry adds the two together, so the series can be compared year on year.
Your court
Choose the court in your area or in your clients' area: see how many judicial liquidations it has opened since January, how this compares with 2025, and where it ranks among the 140 Italian courts.
Roma
Court of Appeal district of Roma
- Judicial liquidations opened from January to September 2026
- 809
- Same months of 2025
- 671 (+20.6%)
- Petitions filed since January
- 1,329
- Over-indebtedness procedures opened since January
- 99
1° of 140 by number of procedures opened
Last 12 months
Courts explored: 0
| # | Court | Opened 2026 | Same months 2025 | Change |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Roma | 809 | 671 | +20.6% |
| 2 | Milano | 597 | 552 | +8.2% |
| 3 | Torino | 278 | 244 | +13.9% |
| 4 | Napoli | 175 | 128 | +36.7% |
| 5 | Bergamo | 157 | 133 | +18% |
| 6 | Monza | 145 | 133 | +9% |
| 7 | Brescia | 144 | 205 | −29.8% |
| 8 | Bari | 142 | 127 | +11.8% |
| 9 | Napoli Nord | 126 | 104 | +21.2% |
| 10 | Bologna | 112 | 113 | −0.9% |
Where they are rising most
- Pisa42 → 106 (+152.4%)
- Salerno31 → 54 (+74.2%)
- Nola57 → 95 (+66.7%)
- Udine34 → 50 (+47.1%)
- Trani71 → 98 (+38%)
Where they are falling most
- Lodi48 → 29 (−39.6%)
- Santa Maria Capua Vetere70 → 43 (−38.6%)
- Avellino45 → 30 (−33.3%)
- Novara58 → 39 (−32.8%)
- Parma90 → 62 (−31.1%)
Courts with at least 30 procedures opened in the same months of 2025, ranked by increase.
Regions
The source here is different: Unioncamere and InfoCamere count the judicial liquidations entered in the Registro delle imprese (Business Register), by region of the company's registered office. Data are published every six months; the latest available half-year is first half of 2026.
Darker = more procedures opened
| Region | first half of 2026 | first half of 2025 | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Lombardia | 1,036 | 1,030 | +0.6% |
| Lazio | 844 | 812 | +3.9% |
| Campania | 478 | 434 | +10.1% |
| Toscana | 417 | 391 | +6.6% |
| Veneto | 368 | 389 | −5.4% |
| Piemonte | 355 | 347 | +2.3% |
| Emilia-Romagna | 343 | 467 | −26.6% |
| Puglia | 320 | 322 | −0.6% |
| Sicilia | 279 | 295 | −5.4% |
| Marche | 145 | 113 | +28.3% |
| Liguria | 124 | 118 | +5.1% |
| Abruzzo | 110 | 109 | +0.9% |
| Calabria | 101 | 146 | −30.8% |
| Umbria | 71 | 82 | −13.4% |
| Friuli-Venezia Giulia | 69 | 45 | +53.3% |
| Sardegna | 66 | 106 | −37.7% |
| Trentino-Alto Adige | 56 | 49 | +14.3% |
| Basilicata | 22 | 18 | +22.2% |
| Molise | 22 | 9 | +144.4% |
| Valle d'Aosta | 4 | 4 | unchanged |
| Italy | 5,230 | 5,286 | −1.1% |
In first half of 2026 the region with the most procedures is Lombardia (1,036), followed by Lazio (844) and Campania (478). The sharpest increase among regions with at least 50 cases is in Marche (+28.3%).
Which companies end up in judicial liquidation
The profile of the companies that opened a judicial liquidation in first half of 2026, from the Unioncamere-InfoCamere observatory. They are mostly small companies: on average 7 employees and 2.3 million euro of production value.
By sector of activity
- Wholesale and retail trade1,103 · 22.1%
- Construction1,049 · 21%
- Manufacturing861 · 17.3%
- Accommodation and food service489 · 9.8%
- Transport and storage360 · 7.2%
- Administrative and support services235 · 4.7%
- Real estate216 · 4.3%
- Professional, scientific and technical activities193 · 3.9%
- Other service activities115 · 2.3%
- Telecommunications and IT91 · 1.8%
Calculated on the 4,987 companies that declared their activity.
By number of employees
- fino a 1 employees808 · 37%
- 2-5 employees709 · 32.5%
- 6-9 employees283 · 13%
- 10-19 employees240 · 11%
- 20-49 employees109 · 5%
- 50-99 employees22 · 1%
Calculated on the 2,181 companies that declared their number of employees.
By legal form
- Capital companies (società di capitali)4,248 · 81.2%
- Sole traders (imprese individuali)463 · 8.9%
- Partnerships (società di persone)356 · 6.8%
- Other forms (cooperatives, consortia)163 · 3.1%
Calculated on all 5,230 companies.
69.6% of companies have at most 5 employees, and 81.2% of procedures involve capital companies (società di capitali), namely srl and spa: the counterparties you most often extend credit to.
All business crisis procedures
Judicial liquidation is only the last stage. Before it there are tools with which the company tries to save itself: negotiated settlement procedure (composizione negoziata), agreements with creditors, composition with creditors (concordato). A client who opens one is a signal to follow, even if the company has not failed.
| Procedure | first half of 2024 | first half of 2025 | first half of 2026 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Negotiated settlement procedure (composizione negoziata)art. 12 e ss. CCII | 454 | 875 | 897 |
| Simplified composition with creditors (concordato semplificato)art. 25-sexies CCII | 43 | 63 | 83 |
| Debt restructuring agreements (accordi di ristrutturazione dei debiti)art. 57 CCII | 163 | 168 | 167 |
| Preventive composition with creditors (concordato preventivo)artt. 84 e ss. CCII | 490 | 511 | 451 |
| Judicial liquidationart. 121 e ss. CCII | 4,222 | 5,286 | 5,230 |
| Compulsory administrative liquidation (liquidazione coatta amministrativa)art. 293 e ss. CCII | 111 | 254 | 290 |
| Total | 5,483 | 7,157 | 7,118 |
| Procedure | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Negotiated settlement procedure (composizione negoziata)art. 12 e ss. CCII | 499 | 594 | 1,048 | 1,776 |
| Simplified composition with creditors (concordato semplificato)art. 25-sexies CCII | 25 | 69 | 85 | 143 |
| Debt restructuring agreements (accordi di ristrutturazione dei debiti)art. 57 CCII | 339 | 335 | 326 | 348 |
| Preventive composition with creditors (concordato preventivo)artt. 84 e ss. CCII | 870 | 678 | 762 | 895 |
| Judicial liquidationart. 121 e ss. CCII | 6,888 | 7,685 | 9,203 | 9,869 |
| Compulsory administrative liquidation (liquidazione coatta amministrativa)art. 293 e ss. CCII | 205 | 222 | 236 | 439 |
| Total | 8,826 | 9,583 | 11,660 | 13,470 |
- Negotiated settlement procedure (composizione negoziata)
- Confidential negotiation with creditors, assisted by an independent expert appointed by a commission at the Chamber of Commerce.
- Simplified composition with creditors (concordato semplificato)
- Proposal for liquidation after a failed negotiated settlement procedure.
- Debt restructuring agreements (accordi di ristrutturazione dei debiti)
- Agreement with creditors representing at least 60% of the claims, approved by the court.
- Preventive composition with creditors (concordato preventivo)
- Plan proposed to creditors and approved by the court, to continue the business or to liquidate it.
- Judicial liquidation
- The procedure that replaced bankruptcy: the trustee sells the assets to pay the creditors.
- Compulsory administrative liquidation (liquidazione coatta amministrativa)
- Liquidation ordered by the administrative supervisory authority, almost always for cooperatives and consortia.
Italy and the rest of Europe
Eurostat compares countries with an index of bankruptcy declarations. It does not count procedures but measures their trend: here, the change compared with the same quarter of the previous year.
In Q3 2026 the bankruptcy index in Italy is up 12.7% compared with a year earlier.
The most recent European Union figure is for Q2 2026: +3.7%.
Q3 2026 compared with a year earlier
- Estonia+90%
- Romania+62.3%
- Italy+12.7%
- Finland+11.8%
- Poland+7%
- Lithuania+6.9%
- Austria+4.1%
- Luxembourg+3.5%
- Sweden+3.4%
- Spain+2.3%
- Croatia+1.9%
- France+1.6%
- Greece+0.7%
- Portugalunchanged
- Icelandunchanged
- Netherlands−1.6%
- Norway−4.5%
- Czechia−6.3%
- Belgium−8%
- Denmark−8.2%
- Slovenia−10%
- Hungary−20.5%
- Bulgaria−22.1%
- Cyprus−25%
- Latvia−34.3%
- Slovakia−38.9%
Italy, Q3 2026: change by sector
- All market activities+12.7%
- Industry+9%
- Construction+8.4%
- Trade+32.7%
- Transport and storage+25%
- Accommodation and food service+23.4%
- Information and communication−29.8%
- Finance, real estate, professional services+2.9%
- Education, health and other services−16.1%
Test yourself: how well do you know business crisis in Italy?
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In which region were the most judicial liquidations opened in first half of 2026?
What to do with your clients and suppliers
Statistics tell you how high the risk is in general. To know whether it concerns the company you are dealing with, look at that company itself, before delivering goods or signing.
- Before invoicing or signing, check whether the company has protests (protesti) or insolvency proceedings in progress.
- If the client is new or the amount is high, look at the accounts, shareholders, directors and the estimated operating credit line (fido operativo) in the full report.
- If you have worked with them for years, set up periodic monitoring: crises also arrive in long-standing relationships.
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Sources and method
- Ministry of Justice (Ministero della Giustizia), Directorate-General for Statistics: monthly court monitoring, SIECIC register. For judicial liquidations opened we count procedures entered in the enforcement phase (fase esecutiva, after the opening judgment), added to bankruptcies under the former law; for petitions we count entries in the declaratory phase (fase dichiarativa). Last reading of the file: 11 November 2026.
- Unioncamere and InfoCamere: Business crisis observatory (Osservatorio crisi d'impresa), half-yearly, from the Registro delle imprese (Business Register). Regions, sectors, employees and legal forms are transcribed from the observatory's infographics; the sums match the published totals.
- Eurostat: quarterly index of bankruptcy declarations (sts_rb_q), non-seasonally adjusted data. Last update of the source: 11 November 2026.
The sources count in different ways, so the numbers do not match case by case: the Ministry counts procedures entered in the courts, Unioncamere counts entries in the Business Register by company seat. At the totals they do reconcile: in 2025, 9,896 for the Ministry and 9,869 for Unioncamere.
There are no estimates, projections or invented scores: every figure on this page comes from one of the three official sources. Where a source does not publish a figure, the figure is not shown here.
National monthly series from 2019 and data by court, semicolon-separated, openable with Excel.
How to cite this data
Veryfy, Bankruptcy and judicial liquidation observatory (Osservatorio fallimenti e liquidazioni giudiziali), based on data from the Ministry of Justice, Unioncamere-InfoCamere and Eurostat, updated to September 2026. https://www.veryfy.eu/en/osservatorio-fallimenti-liquidazioni
Frequently asked questions
How many judicial liquidations were there in Italy in 2026?
From January to September 2026 Italian courts opened 7,346 judicial liquidations, up 4.1% compared with the same months of 2025. The figure comes from the Ministry of Justice and is provisional until the end of the year.
How many companies went bankrupt in Italy in 2025?
In 2025 the courts opened 9,896 judicial liquidations and bankruptcies according to the Ministry of Justice; Unioncamere and InfoCamere, which count entries in the Business Register, record 9,869.
What is the difference between bankruptcy and judicial liquidation?
It is the same procedure under a new name: since 15 July 2022 the Business Crisis and Insolvency Code (Codice della crisi d'impresa e dell'insolvenza, D.Lgs. 14/2019) has replaced bankruptcy (fallimento) under the 1942 law with judicial liquidation. A trustee (curatore) appointed by the court sells the company's assets and distributes the proceeds to creditors.
Which sectors have the most bankruptcies?
In first half of 2026 trade recorded 1,103 judicial liquidations, construction 1,049 and manufacturing 861: together they make up 60.4% of the companies whose sector is known (source: Unioncamere-InfoCamere).
How often is the observatory updated?
Court data come out every month, around the 15th of the following month; data by region and sector every six months; the European comparison every three months. The date of the latest update is at the top of the page.
How can I tell whether a client is in judicial liquidation?
Insolvency procedures are entered in the Registro delle imprese (Business Register). With Veryfy's Negatività check you enter the company's VAT number (partita IVA) and see protests and proceedings in progress, for 5.90€ with no subscription.