Dear All. Thank you for your responses. Your help is

We sold in pounds, so it can be done. The official rate had to be used on the day and written in the deeds in Euro. 

To me it seems a no brainer, but it depends on how you feel and can you afford to have to pay out more if things are not quite right or indeed lose your money? But I think either could still happen with a solicitor. Have you checked the house agrees with the official plans and who is down as owners? If not, I'm sure modi or Ugo can tell you how to do so. Being able to choose the notary would be perhaps a bit safer? 

I tend to agree with Steve, in that a bilingual Notary seems more suitable. It is not clear if you are employing a bilingual lawyer in addition to the obligatory Notary or if indeed the Notary is the bilingual lawyer.

The Geometra will be able to look at the Visura Catastale and deduce the owner in 2 seconds. Even though the official document of ownership is the previous "Atto" or title deed.

For €25k I assume the property is quite small so the geometra will also be able to tell you in 2 seconds if the Scheda Catastale corresponds to the built reality.

Important to avoid any illegal building or irregular bureaucracy  - often carried out in innocence by previous owner - but will land the new owner with expensive solutions to implement.

Thank you for your comments.  I have now been in touch with a very helpful bilingual Notary in Naples.  I found his details on the UK Government website which has useful information about Italy.  So I just need the Seller to agree & hopefully we will be the proud owners of a property in Italy in the not too distant future.  Covid-19 is having a major impact on this process.  Yesterday's announcement by the UK Govt & last week's announcement by the Italian Govt about having a negative Covid-19 test means we will probably cancel our trip at the end of this month.

I would agree with others here. Just usual common sense on checking the officially registered boundaries and structure aligns with what you physically expect to see. Campania lovely and underrated beyond the coast.