Coast and lakes
10 coastal towns open in November
Ten towns: what each is best for, what a home costs, and the catch. A square meter runs from €380 in Maruggio to €8,600 in Positano.
Coastal comuni whose November is marked open in the visiting calendar, not shuttered for the season. 10 towns shown, ranked by recognitions held.
Table no. 34 · Ranked by residents · 10 towns
Most of coastal Italy performs a disappearing act in late autumn: shutters down, chairs stacked, arrivederci a maggio. The exceptions are towns with a life beyond the beach season.
Each of these keeps its November open in our visiting calendar, meaning the restaurants, bars and shops carry on for the residents. The sea is still there; the crowd is not.
- 1.Tramonti4,186 residentsSalerno · CampaniaBest for a day out from Salerno. It is 38 min by car.38 min from Salerno · homes €980 to €1,350 a m² in the centerThe inland side of the Amalfi Coast, thirteen hamlets on the Lattari slopes producing wine and an exported pizza dough.
- 2.Roseto Capo Spulico1,883 residentsCosenza · CalabriaBest for a wine weekend. It belongs to the national association of wine towns.1 h 33 min from Taranto · homes €520 to €720 a m² in the centerA castle on a rock above the Ionian, in a village that began as a satellite of Sybaris in the seventh century BC.
- 3.Positano3,677 residentsSalerno · CampaniaBest for a World Heritage site. UNESCO lists a site in the comune.54 min from Salerno · homes €5,800 to €8,600 a m² in the centerThe vertical village of the Amalfi Coast, terraced houses climbing four hundred meters to the Lattari ridge under an eighteenth-century majolica dome.The catch: Homes in the center cost up to €8,600 a m².
- 4.Capalbio3,710 residentsGrosseto · TuscanyBest for olive oil. It belongs to the national association of olive oil towns.1 h 48 min from Rome · homes €1,950 to €2,700 a m² in the centerA walled hilltop borgo at 217 meters in the southern Maremma, donated to the Abbey of Tre Fontane by Charlemagne.
- 5.Levanto5,050 residentsLa Spezia · LiguriaBest for a long lunch. A food guide lists La Sosta di Ottone III here.1 h 12 min from Genoa · homes €3,100 to €4,400 a m² in the centerThe sixth Cinque Terre, a beach town and Cittaslow at the gateway of the national park, with a surf break and a striped Gothic church.
- 6.Maruggio5,158 residentsTaranto · PugliaBest for a walk through the old town. It is on the list of Italy's most beautiful villages.44 min from Taranto · homes €380 to €570 a m² in the centerA fortified Borghi più Belli borgo on a low Ionian hill in Taranto province, built around a Knights of Malta commanderie that ran the Order's southern Italian affairs for six centuries.
- 7.
Campiglia Marittima12,301 residentsLivorno · TuscanyBest for a soak. The comune has thermal baths.1 h 7 min from Livorno · homes €1,350 to €1,750 a m² in the centerA walled hilltop borgo above the Val di Cornia, where the Rocca tower watches a mining landscape worked from the Etruscans to 1976. - 8.Vieste13,279 residentsFoggia · PugliaBest for walks in a national park. Part of the comune lies in a national park.1 h 49 min from Foggia · homes €1,400 to €2,000 a m² in the centerThe Gargano headland of whitewashed alleys on a white limestone cliff, with the 25-meter Pizzomunno sea stack standing on the beach.The catch: The nearest airport, Bari, is 2 h 55 min away by road.
- 9.
Piombino32,367 residentsLivorno · TuscanyBest for a trip without a car. The train stops in the commune.1 h 17 min from Livorno · homes €1,100 to €1,700 a m² in the centerA promontory port facing Elba across the channel, founded by refugees from Etruscan Populonia and now the Tuscan archipelago's ferry capital. - 10.Senigallia43,863 residentsAncona · MarcheBest for everyday life on foot. Nine of the ten everyday services we look for are mapped within 500 meters of the center.41 min from Ancona · homes €1,700 to €2,500 a m² in the centerThirteen kilometers of fine sand on the Adriatic, hometown to a chef and a photographer whose names carry beyond the region.
THREE OF THE TOP TEN ARE IN TUSCANY
We write letters from the Italian towns we visit: the town, what is worth eating there, and when to turn up. It is free, and you can leave whenever you like.