The Monza Grand Prix also sends short-term rents soaring Airbnb searches up 25%, hosts earning more, and a Lombardy of small towns worth 60 million

An apartment with windows overlooking the Monza Cathedral or a sixteenth-century farmhouse a few kilometres from the racetrack. These are just two of the listings that appear when searching for a place to sleep on Sunday, 6 September, when the green light will signal the start of the Italian Grand Prix, a reflection of what happens to properties in Brianza on this occasion. According to Airbnb, as reported in a piece by Monza Today, searches by Italian users looking to stay in Monza during the race weekend have increased by 25% compared to last year, when the GP weekend took place between 5 and 8 September 2025.

In 2025, the median annual earnings of a host in the city rose by 14%, from around €3,400 to around €3,780. Monza, too, is learning on this occasion that a calendared event can turn an apartment into a kind of seasonal product — one that, over a weekend like this, generates more income than a tenant would pay in a month. And this is far from an isolated case. Lombardy ranks first in the country for spending generated by travellers in municipalities with fewer than 30,000 inhabitants, according to the Observatory on Distributed Tourism in Italy, with €60.1 million in 2025.

After Italians, the most numerous guests at the GP are Americans, followed by French, Swiss and German visitors those who can reach Lombardy by car from neighbouring countries, as well as those who make an intercontinental journey just to attend the race. One in three stays, moreover, involves groups of friends and families, which goes a long way towards explaining the variety of accommodation on offer.

The risk falls on those who stay

Demand, meanwhile  despite some visitors choosing to sleep in Monza itself in order to keep soaking up the Grand Prix atmosphere even after leaving the circuit  has inevitably already spilled beyond the city's boundaries. In Vimercate, for example, searches by users have more than doubled compared to 2025, and the town is suddenly being presented as a strategic yet relaxed base from which to combine days in the grandstands with a taste of Brianza. If, in the language of the market, this outcome might represent a genuine lever for boosting the area's property value, for those looking for a home to live in on a permanent basis, it is far less romantic.

The risk posed by these events is that, once landlords have had a taste of rental income with no tenants and no long-term commitments, no one may want to go back to a standard four-plus-four-year lease. In Milan, the phenomenon affects individual neighbourhoods; from Monza to the lakes, it affects entire provinces and every new date circled in red on the calendar pushes a little further the boundary of areas where a normal rental is still possible.