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Italy: Evangelical church loses appeal against hefty tax bill because building doesn’t look traditional

Italy: Evangelical church loses appeal against hefty tax bill because building doesn’t look traditional
Leonardo De Chirico
ET staff writer
ET staff writer
27 April, 2025 2 min read

The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) has ruled against an appeal from an Italian Evangelical church that was told it needed to look more ‘conventional’.

The church, Breccia di Roma, based in Rome, has been told it must  pay tens of thousands in taxes or make ‘structural modifications’ to their place of worship to satisfy the authorities’ demands that their space look more like ‘a conventional church’.

Breccia di Roma had to take its appeal to the ECHR after Italian authorities classified its place of worship as a ‘shop’ due to its non-traditional appearance. 

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