Nuova Sabatini: the interest subsidy for machinery and software

Picture a ten-person furniture workshop in the Brianza that has found the CNC machine it needs: €150,000, delivery in eight weeks. The owner calls her bank, agrees the loan and signs the purchase order that same afternoon. She has just lost the Nuova Sabatini, a state contribution that could have been worth more than €10,000. Her mistake was timing. Sign anything before you apply and the project is out.

Timing is only the first trap. In the next few minutes: who qualifies in 2026, how the contribution is worked out, what to do with your bank or leasing company, and the other slips that sink applications. New to funding? Start from our beginner’s map from zero to a first round.

What is the Nuova Sabatini, in plain words?

You buy a machine with a bank loan or a leasing contract. The Ministry of Enterprises and Made in Italy (MIMIT) then pays you a contribution equal to the interest on a five-year loan of the same size, at a fixed rate the rules set. The circular calls it a contributo in conto impianti: money towards a plant or equipment purchase.

Keep two payments apart. The loan is an ordinary one, at the bank’s own rate, and you repay it in full. The contribution is a separate transfer from the ministry to you. It works like a grant: you don’t repay it, unless the ministry revokes it because a rule was broken.

Who can apply, and what can you buy?

Any micro, small or medium company registered in the Registro delle Imprese, with an operating site in Italy, that isn’t in liquidation or insolvency and isn’t a company in difficulty under EU rules. Financial and insurance activities are excluded.

The assets: new machinery, plants, industrial and commercial equipment and other tangible goods for production, plus hardware, software and digital technologies. Two labelled categories get a higher rate. Industry 4.0 assets are those on the lists attached to the 2017 circular (annexes 6/A and 6/B). Green investments, open since 1 January 2023, are new machinery and plants with low environmental impact, backed by an environmental certification.

What’s out: land, buildings and civil works, used or regenerated goods, assets under construction, items below €516.46 (unless several are grouped on one invoice of at least that amount), and costs such as training, taxes, legal fees, utilities and advertising. Suppliers must also declare in writing that the goods are brand new.

How is the Nuova Sabatini contribution calculated?

The ministry takes your investment, imagines a five-year loan for the same amount and calculates the interest on it at a fixed annual rate. That figure is your contribution. The rate depends on what you buy.

Type of investment	Annual rate used	What counts
Ordinary	2.75%	New machinery, equipment, hardware and software for production
Industry 4.0	3.575%	Tangible and intangible assets on annexes 6/A and 6/B of the 2017 circular
Green (since 1 January 2023)	3.575%	New machinery and plants with low environmental impact and an environmental certification

The loan itself runs from €20,000 to €4 million per company, for up to five years, and can cover 100% of the eligible investment. It can be a bank loan or financial leasing. With leasing, the lessee exercises the purchase option when signing, with effect from the end of the lease. Later applications count towards the same €4 million ceiling.

Take a company investing €100,000 in an ordinary machine. The circular doesn’t print the repayment schedule behind its conventional calculation, so what follows is our own arithmetic, not an official figure. With standard five-year schedules the contribution comes out at roughly €7,500 to €8,500. For a 4.0 or green asset at 3.575%, roughly €9,800 to €11,000. Ask your bank for the official simulation before you decide.

How do you apply, step by step?

1. Pick a bank or a leasing company and give it the application together with your loan request. Do this before you order, sign or pay anything.
2. The lender checks your documents and asks MIMIT to reserve the funds. Once MIMIT confirms they’re available, the lender approves the loan and sends its resolution to the ministry.
3. MIMIT issues the concession decree within 30 days of receiving the list of approved loans. It sets out the eligible investment and the payment schedule.
4. You sign the loan and buy the asset, finishing the investment within 12 months of the loan contract. The lender pays the loan out in one go within 30 days of signing, or, for leasing, within 30 days of delivery or testing, whichever comes later.
5. Once the goods are fully paid for, you file the payment request on the MIMIT platform, at most 120 days after the final deadline for completing the investment.
6. MIMIT pays the contribution in annual tranches within six years of completion. If the loan is €200,000 or less, it can arrive in a single payment.

When does the money actually arrive?

After you’ve spent yours. The loan pays the supplier, and the ministry’s contribution reaches you only once the investment is finished and the request is filed. On bigger loans it comes in yearly instalments. Think of it as a refund, and plan your cash flow without it.

Which mistakes cost people the contribution?

• Starting too early. A project counts as started with a binding contract or purchase order, an invoice, or any payment, deposit included. If that happens on or before the day you file, the circular’s penalty is total revocation.
• Missing the clocks: twelve months from the loan contract to finish, then 120 days to file the payment request. Late on either and the contribution is revoked in full.
• Buying the wrong thing. Used or regenerated machinery, civil works and small items under €516.46 don’t qualify.
• Moving the asset. Diverting it from its use within three years of completion can also lead to revocation.
• Forgetting the supplier’s declaration that the goods are brand new.

Is the counter open in 2026?

Yes. MIMIT’s page, updated on 14 September 2026, shows the counter open, with about €1.2 billion available for the Nuova Sabatini and about €77 million for its sibling measure, Nuova Sabatini Capitalizzazione. The 2026 budget law refinanced the measure with €650 million for 2026 and 2027.

One change is pending. A decree of 18 June 2025 adapted several incentives to the obligation to insure businesses against damage from natural disasters. MIMIT writes that the Nuova Sabatini will be aligned by a further interministerial decree, “attualmente in fase di finalizzazione”, still being finalized. The rules in this guide come from the coordinated circular on the ministry’s site, updated on 11 December 2023, so read the MIMIT page again the week you file.

The Capitalizzazione sibling is for SMEs that strengthen their capital while they invest. Its rates are 5% for micro and small companies and 3.575% for medium ones.

How does it fit with other incentives?

The loan can carry a Fondo di garanzia guarantee of up to 80%, which helps when the bank wants more security: our guide to the Italy SME guarantee fund covers cover and costs. Machinery isn’t the only cost the state helps with. Research spending has the R&D tax credit, companies that develop patents or software should look at the Patent Box, and founders under 35 have their own list in grants for founders under 35.

A young innovative startup will also want our Smart&Start Italia guide. If you’re still weighing debt against equity, how to raise capital for a startup in Italy lays out the options, and to compare everything with your own plan there’s our public funding service.

Your checklist before you talk to the bank

• Check your size and sector: micro, small or medium, and not financial or insurance.
• List what you’ll buy, brand new, with a quote for each item and none under €516.46 on its own.
• Decide whether it’s ordinary, 4.0 or green: it sets the rate.
• Ask your bank or leasing company whether it handles the Nuova Sabatini and how it files.
• Don’t sign orders, accept invoices or pay deposits until the application is filed.
• The day you sign the loan, write both clocks in your calendar: 12 months to finish, 120 days to file.
• Plan your cash flow as if the contribution arrived last.

This article is general information, not legal or tax advice. Rules change: check the MIMIT page and the current circular, or ask a professional, before you apply.