L'azione di retratto agrario. Contributo allo studio della tutela d'accertamento.

This monograph offers a systematic reconstruction of the agrarian redemption action, treating redemption as a paradigmatic instance of potestative rights. In the absence of unequivocal statutory guidance, the analysis examines whether the transfer of ownership follows from the redeemer’s unilateral, receptitious declaration, or instead requires a judicial ruling pursuant to Article 2908 of the Italian Civil Code. It then assesses the implications of these competing accounts for the structure of the proceedings (declaratory versus constitutive) and, more generally, for the concretisation of legal protection. On this basis, the monograph clarifies the nature and relief sought in the action, asking whether judicial ascertainment should bear directly on the transfer effect and what function, in concrete terms, the judgment performs within the remedial scheme. A dedicated section criticises the prevailing line of authority — often grounded in a substitution-based view— according to which the exercise of the power produces a retroactive subrogation within the contractual relationship. The analysis highlights the artificiality of this approach and the operational difficulties it entails where the acquisitive effect is framed as a progressively formed legal configuration and, consequently, where the court’s finding is inevitably “partial” vis-à-vis the completion of the acquisition. The monograph then examines the effects of singular succession in the disputed right, with particular attention to the operation of Article 111 of the Italian Code of Civil Procedure in transfers occurring while proceedings are pending. In conclusion, it addresses the allocation of the burden of proof in redemption proceedings and the tendency in practice toward a strict application of the requirements governing the pre-emption scheme.