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Cannot think of any instance buying land in Italy without going through a Notaio. Full Stop.

�������� law requires that the passage of beni immobili - ie property and immovable goods is conducted by a notaio who works for the state.  It is impossible to buy or sell such beni without using a notaio.  

To divide the land into the bit you want and the bit your neighbour wants, you do need to use a geometra before you get to the notaio. The geometra will survey the land, plot it and present the changes to the catastal office; at this point the newly divided two bits of land are still in the ownership of the original seller, of course. It would be reasonable for the seller to ask you and your neighbour to bear the costs of the geometra's fees and the costs to the catastal office, so you need an idea of how much the geometra will charge for the work. (You could buy the whole bit of land yourself, and do the frazionamento later. It would be worth enquiring from the notaio the imposte (stamp duty) payable on purchasing small bits of land - these taxes are huge - and enquire whether doing the purchase before or after the frazionamento would make any difference to the total payable.)

Thanks to you all for your responses.  Having spoken to the other interested party since posting this originally, if the owner will sell, I will likely look to buy the land, therefore avoiding the need for the geometra to divide, and then come to an agreement with him to maybe rent the piece he wants from me, or grant him a right of passage across the land.  ( he already has access, just wants a more practical access than the one that exists for him presently).  Will let you know what happens if the ability to purchase comes about.

if you still need a notary or a geometra in alessandra just send me a private message, I can give you the details of who I used. We are in Mu monferrato, whereabouts are you?   Paola