Does anyone know about grants for property renovation?

It depends where you live.  Some comunes/provinces have local schemes, others not.  Some are funded by banks at preferential interest rates.  Some are European funding under POS schemes or Regional European (3rd world) funding.  

I concur with Ram. For designated "deprived areas" or buildings of a particular historical nature its possible that EU funding could be available but I've always been told that this goes to the comune first and is administered by them. I'm no expert though. It could be that you are referring to various schemes that I've seen promoted in the past whereas capital expenditure on a holiday letting business through a perceived loophole in the UK tax regime is deductible from UK income tax. If I remember correctly there were fairly onerous conditions to meet and there would be a claw back on any sale. I never really studied these schemes closely as they would not affect me and I've no idea whether they ever worked (work) or not. Someone else on here may know.

taking into account all the variables because things can be different from region to region.One could be a non italian national and have access to a grant PROVIDING that you were a permanent resident ,tax paying/social security paying in Italy.Eventual grants are always discretionary on the part of the regional government,excluding agriturismo which is directly linked to farming status, there are grants for B & b's and what are called country houses.Most regions have this info on their institutional web sites,the Marche does it may even have the info in english assome parts of their web site have a language mode.The fact of having to be a permanent tax paying resident is not a racial pregiudice but in any eventuality of non conformity of the numerous laws involved allows the public authorities to get you or get their money back which would be objectively difficult in the case of foreign owners not permanently residing and tax paying in the country.The fact is in Italy ALL businesses/enterprizes are considered as such and consequently VAT is ALWAYS payable there is no VAT free business level in Italy as there is for example in the UK.in order to have a business in Italy you have to obviously be a permanent resident and classified for VAT in order to get access to the available EU and or Italian grants for such activities.I have the impression that some estate agents deliberately mislead their clients /buyers into thinking that they can easily accede to such grants in order to achieve their house sales.A lot of people take residency when buying a property in order to lower their tax rate on the purchase even though they are not actually living here full time this is not sufficient to gain access to grants and the authorities are, all be it slowly "waking up" to this phenomenum, which in the long term for some could have quite heavy consequences.If on the other hand you are living here full time/working and paying taxes then it shouldn't prove too difficult to be eligible for financial aid.  

Sebastiano is absolutely right - it is not just a case of asking for money and being given it.  For any European funding, it comes through the region and a bando is issued with all the relevant details.  You must use a consulente to fill in the paperwork and preference is usually given to under 35 female 'imprenditrice'.  For any sort of business you will have to be resident in the region, and have a company opened and running by teh date of the issue of the bando.  For local funding its a bit different, there are funds for doing up your facade so as not to disgrace the neighbourhood - or for B&B (per bed space) etc.  They all require residency in the comune, with the exception of the preferential mortgages/loans from banks like Monte dei Paschi which can be got for second homes.    Perhaps in Tuscany there is a sportello unico at the comune for some funding, but to be honest, it is nearly all alot more effort than it is worth with no guaranteed result.  In Siracusa (Ortigia) there is/was funding for interior and exterior of properties, but it all ran out 7 years ago, and it is still being distributed and the graduatoria is still existent.  On the other hand Ragusa has a local scheme for case vacanze that is ongoing, with money available to restore the fabric of buildings.  As I said, it all depends where you live as to what is available.   Some estate agents will blithely say that there are grants available, but they omit to tell you its a soul destroying 10 years process.   The reality is not to purchase a property if you are reliant on possible funding.  You will always have to match the funding with a healthy bank balance, even if it is at fondo perduto - and the checks are ever more stringent.