Grants and funding for artisans in Emilia-Romagna: how to find your way

In Emilia-Romagna, calls for artisan businesses are published mainly through two channels: the regional business portal, which collects all regional funding in a single list filterable by status, and the Chambers of Commerce, which publish their own calls every year. Before you download the PDF and spend the afternoon on it, check three things: whether you fall within the eligible beneficiaries, whether the expense you have in mind is on the list of eligible costs, and from what date that expense counts as valid. If even one answer is no, close the tab: you have just saved yourself two days.

Where the calls are actually published

The regional portal gathers all funding on a single page, with keyword search and a status filter. There are four statuses: aperto (open, the deadline for applying is still active), in corso (ongoing, the deadline has passed but the procedure is still running), chiuso (closed, procedure concluded) and programmato (planned, announced but applications cannot yet be submitted). "Programmato" is the most useful of all: it is the only moment when you have time to prepare instead of scrambling.

The second channel is the Chamber of Commerce. Bologna keeps its calls on a dedicated grants page, where open and closed calls sit in the same list: as of 25 August 2026 the open ones include, among others, the Voucher Doppia Transizione 2026, the call on safety services and systems, the compensation scheme for businesses disrupted by major roadworks, and the call on self-produced renewable energy. If your business is based in another province, look for the same section on your own Chamber's website.

• Region: larger budgets, more formal procedures, a wider pool of applicants.
• Chamber of Commerce: smaller amounts, reserved for businesses in the Chamber's district, short application windows. For a small workshop this is often the first place to look.
• Municipality: calls on shopfronts, historic centres, signage. They appear on the municipal notice board, and not always anywhere else.
• Trade association: CNA and Confartigianato pass calls on to their members and help with the paperwork. If you are already a member, see also the association agreements.

The three questions that rule out almost every call

1. Who can apply

The article on beneficiaries is a hard filter: either you qualify or you do not. It usually combines four requirements.

• Size: almost always micro, small and medium enterprises under the European definition. A sole trader normally qualifies.
• Location: many Chamber calls require the registered office to be in the Chamber's district, and in some cases that the investment itself be made in that territory. These are two different requirements: read them separately.
• Registrations: the business register and, for businesses meeting the criteria of the Italian framework law on craft trades no. 443/1985, the Register of Artisan Businesses, where registration is compulsory.
• Compliance: a valid social security clearance certificate (DURC) and no insolvency proceedings. Check the DURC in advance, not on the day you apply.

2. What is eligible, and above all what is not

This is where the most expensive mistake happens: people read the list of eligible costs and assume it covers their case too. The list is exhaustive. And at the end of the article there is almost always a mirror list of excluded costs, which nobody reads and which later decides whether you get paid.

• VAT: almost always excluded, unless it is genuinely non-deductible for the business.
• Ordinary running costs (rent, utilities, everyday raw materials): normally out.
• Supplies from partners, family members or connected companies: almost always excluded.
• Used goods, leasing, self-invoicing: allowed only if the call says so explicitly.
• Cash payments, or any payment that cannot be traced: out, with no exceptions.
• Consultancy: check whether the supplier must meet requirements of their own (years in business, listing in a register, independence from the applicant).

3. From what date the expense counts

Every call has two different calendars: the window for submitting the application, and the window in which costs are eligible. They almost never coincide. An order signed or an invoice paid even a few days before the start date makes that cost unreportable, and there is no way to fix it afterwards.

What a call actually looks like

A real example shows the structure better than any explanation. The Voucher Doppia Transizione 2026 from the Bologna Chamber of Commerce, exactly as written on the official page as of 25 August 2026:

• Who: micro, small and medium enterprises with their registered office in the district of the Bologna Chamber of Commerce, carrying out the investment in the Bologna metropolitan area.
• Budget: 600,000 euro allocated to the initiative.
• When costs count: incurred and paid from 8 July 2026 until 31 May 2027.
• When to apply: applications from 10 to 17 September 2026.

A little over a week to apply, almost eleven months to spend. That is the typical pattern: a narrow application window and a wide spending window. Anyone who opens the Chamber's page once a month gets there in time; anyone waiting to be told about it often does not.

De minimis, the ceiling few people check

Almost all Chamber grants and many regional calls are awarded under the de minimis regime: there is an overall ceiling on the public aid a single business can receive over a three-year period. Regulation (EU) 2023/2831, in force since 1 January 2024, sets it at 300,000 euro. For a craft workshop that is a high figure, but the ceiling is not really the point: it applies to the "single undertaking", so it includes connected companies, and it covers aid received in any form, not just capital grants. Check the Italian national State aid register before you declare anything: it is the public tool used to verify the cumulation of benefits and, for de minimis aid, whether the ceiling has been exceeded. The declaration in your application is a self-certification: fill it in with the real numbers.

Planning the spending so it survives the reporting stage

You win the application by writing it; you collect the grant by reporting it. Half an hour of order at the start saves months of chasing later.

1. Get your quotes before you submit, using the same wording for each item that you will use in the project.
2. Pay with traceable instruments in the business's name: bank transfer from the company account, never cash or a personal card.
3. Insist on invoices with itemised descriptions. "Miscellaneous services" is an invoice that can be challenged.
4. Keep one folder per call: the PDF of the call, the submitted application, quotes, invoices, payment receipts, bank statements.
5. Put the reporting deadline in your calendar the same day you receive the award letter. That is where already-approved grants get lost.

A grant is not a business model

A call covers part of one investment, once. It does not cover the months when the workshop is empty. While you follow the calls, it is worth working on the part that depends only on you: how much revenue the space you already have can generate.

Workshops are the most direct route, and they have one advantage no call has: they do not depend on an application window. You choose the date, you publish it when you need it, and the same day produces revenue, contacts and material to publish. On Handsome, a Maker who opens the studio in the months with no call:

• pays 0% commission on the workshop takings: Handsome keeps no percentage of the price you set;
• receives the payment directly into their own Stripe account, with the transfer to their bank released a few days after the event;
• fills the empty months whenever they decide to: the page and the calendar are theirs, and a date published in February does not wait for any administrative deadline;
• sells Handsome gift cards, valid 12 months on any workshop on the platform and working like a wallet, since the leftover balance stays on the card if the experience costs less: money in today for a date in the future;
• hooks into local markets when the season starts again, with QR ticketing for ticketed events instead of paper lists;
• has marketing tools and dedicated consulting when a date is struggling to fill.

The 0.50 euro booking Guarantee is charged per seat and is already included in the round figure the customer sees: the price shown is the price paid, with nothing added on top. Handsome invoices it to you once a month, and only for events that actually took place.