Campania · Salerno
Agropoli
The gateway commune of the Cilento, a Byzantine acropolis on a promontory taken by the Saracens in 882 as a base for raids on Salerno.
Picked by Peter Benei
Letter to come
Why Agropoli is on our list
It holds Bandiera Blu and Spighe Verdi.
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Visiting
- Best time
- May–Sep
- By car
- 1 h 6 min from Salerno
- By train
- Station in the comune
- Population
- 21,311
- J13°
- F15°
- M16°
- A18°
- M23°
- J28°
- J31°
- A31°
- S28°
- O23°
- N19°
- D15°
- Best
- Hot or crowded
- Quiet
- Mostly closed
Daytime air temperature, averages for 2020–2024. The sea is warmest in August at 29° and coldest in February at 15°. Weather data by Open-Meteo.com.
Going to the sea? How to find the free beaches in Italy.
Why come
Agropoli is the northern gate of the Cilento coast, a promontory between two bays forty kilometers south of Salerno. The name itself, akropolis, was given by the Byzantines who fortified the high point during the Greco-Gothic war between 535 and 553. In 882 the Saracens took the town and turned it into a rabat, a trenched stronghold from which they raided as far as the walls of Salerno until they were dislodged from the Garigliano camp in 915.
The Angevin-Aragonese castle still stands on the highest point, a triangular plan with three circular towers and a moat, built on the original Byzantine foundations. Below the castle, the centro storico runs in stone stairways down to the small fishing port. Modern Agropoli has 21,000 residents, a Bandiera Blu beach, the Spighe Verdi mark for agro-environmental quality, and Cilento National Park status that links it inland to the Mediterranean Diet biosphere.
How to get there
From Naples (NAP), about 1 h 49 min by car.
Bari (BRI) is about 3 h 42 min away.
By car from the center of Salerno 1 h 6 min, Naples 1 h 49 min or Bari 3 h 45 min.
There is a railway station in the comune, so you can arrive without a car.
Coming from Naples?
Coming by train into Salerno? Agropoli is about 1 h 9 min away by road.
Every town within reach of Naples airport.
First time driving in Italy? Read our complete manual.
What to see
Castello Angioino-Aragonese
Triangular castle with three circular towers and a moat, built on sixth-century Byzantine foundations and remodelled by the Angevins and Aragonese.
Centro storico sul promontorio
Old town on the headland, stone stairways from the castle down to the fishing port, with the seventeenth-century Porta arch and tight whitewashed alleys.
Chiesa dei Santi Pietro e Paolo
Sixteenth-century mother church inside the centro storico, rebuilt after war damage, dedicated to the patrons celebrated each 29 June.
Spiaggia di Trentova
Crescent of fine sand south of the headland, framed by macchia mediterranea cliffs, Bandiera Blu water and part of the Cilento marine protected area.
Cilento, Vallo di Diano e Alburni National Park
UNESCO Mediterranean Diet biosphere reserve linking the coast at Agropoli to the inland Alburni mountains and the Vallo di Diano interior.
From the guides
Where to eat
Not our picks, but places the guides put their name to: a Michelin star, a Gambero Rosso fork, a Slow Food snail, a Michelin Key for the hotels. Worth a table, a counter, or a night when you pass through.
Vecchio Saracino Carola 1801Ristorante
Vecchio Saracino Carola 1801 holds a Gambero Rosso listing.
Before you sit down: how to order at a restaurant, how to spot a tourist trap, what aperitivo is and how the Italian bar works.
Living here
Could you live here?
Agropoli meets 1 of our 3 rules for a small town.
- 21,311 people, above our sweet spot of 5,000 to 20,000: big enough that it can split into neighborhoods.
- Salerno, a city of 126,000, is 1 h 6 min by car. Further than our 30 to 60 minutes, a long way for the hospital visit or the monthly shopping.
- A station of its own. Trains are the overlooked way to get around Italy: no parking, straight into the center.
The rules come from our series Where to Move in Italy, written from the places we have lived: Part 1, The End of the Road · Part 2, The Small Town · Part 3, The City · Part 4, The Postcard · Part 5, The Other Half. The towns we would pick are in Part 6, The Best Towns.
- Population 21,311, up 0.3% since 2015
- Nearest city Salerno, 1 h 6 min drive
- Train station in the comune
- A national health service hospital in the comune · how healthcare works in Italy
- Homes in the center: €1,500 to €1,950 per m² to buy, €4.20 to €6.30 per m² a month to rent
All the numbers Common questions, designations, lists and sources.
More about living here
- Remote
- Pharmacy in town
- High school within a 30-minute drive
- Full fibre reaches 88% of homes
- Primary school in the comune
- Earthquake zone 3, low hazard
- Naples airport (NAP), 1 h 49 min drive, the nearest with scheduled flights
- Regional capital Naples, 1 h 49 min drive
If you are moving here
Who lives here
7% of residents are foreign citizens, most often from Ukraine, Romania and Poland, against 9% across Italy. 29 of them come from English-speaking countries or western and northern Europe, mostly Germany and the United Kingdom. There are 218 people over 65 for every 100 children under 15, against 216 across Italy. 35% of homes have no resident, holiday homes and empty ones counted together, against 27% across Italy. Salerno province ranks 90th of 107 in Il Sole 24 Ore's quality of life ranking for 2025.
Health and schools
The nearest emergency room is in Roccadaspide, 17 km as the crow flies. The nearest major one is in Salerno, 40 km away. The nearest children's emergency room is in Salerno, 40 km away. The nearest IB school is St. Stephen's School, 271 km as the crow flies. The nearest school listed as international is École Francaise de Naples Alexandre-Dumas, 85 km away.
Information, not medical advice. Confirm with a professional.
Taxes
A home that is not your main one pays 1.06% a year in property tax, charged on the cadastral value rather than the price. A main home pays none unless it is in a luxury category. The town adds 0.8% to your income tax, with nothing due on income under €7,500. 7% pensioner tax: check before you count on it. The limit rose to 30,000 people in April 2026 and guidance is still to come. The regime is for someone with a foreign pension who has lived abroad for five years: 7% on foreign income, for ten years.
Information, not tax advice. Confirm with a professional.
What it costs
The average household in Campania spends about €1,800 a month, €650 of it on food, against about €2,170 across Italy. A family of three pays about €328 a year for water, on the Campania average.
Climate and risk
It is in climate zone C, on a scale from A, the warmest, to F, the coldest, and heating may run from November 15 to March 31, up to 10 hours a day, unless the mayor changes it. 5% of residents live in a zone the national maps rate high for floods, 7% in a high or medium one. 4% live in a zone rated high or very high for landslides.
These shares cover the whole comune, not any one street. Check an address on IdroGEO.
Moving from abroad? Which visa you need. Sources: ISTAT, the Ministry of Health, ISPRA, the Finance Ministry, the Ministry of Enterprise, Poste Italiane, the comuni, the IB, International Schools Database, Il Sole 24 Ore, Cittadinanzattiva.
Known for
ANGEVIN CASTLE
Triangular fortress with three circular towers on sixth-century Byzantine foundations, the postcard outline of the Cilento gateway.
SARACEN RABAT
Taken by the Saracens in 882 and turned into a trenched stronghold for raids on Salerno until they were driven from the Garigliano in 915.
BANDIERA BLU
Blue Flag water quality, with Trentova beach south of the headland inside the Cilento marine protected area.
CARCIOFO DI PAESTUM
The commune lies inside the Carciofo di Paestum IGP production zone.
Common questions
- What is Agropoli known for?
- Agropoli is the gateway commune of the Cilento, a Byzantine acropolis on a promontory taken by the Saracens in 882 as a base for raids on Salerno.
- Where is Agropoli?
- Agropoli is a comune in the province of Salerno, in Campania, at 24 meters above sea level.
- What is the nearest airport to Agropoli?
- The nearest airport with scheduled flights is Naples (NAP), about 1 h 49 min by car.
- Can you get to Agropoli without a car?
- Yes. There is a railway station in the comune, so you can arrive by train.
- How long is the drive from Salerno to Agropoli?
- About 1 h 6 min by car.
- When is the best time to visit Agropoli?
- Best in May–Sep. July is the warmest month, averaging 31 degrees, and December the wettest, with about 15 rain days.
- Which other towns are like Agropoli?
- Piombino, Pompei and Bacoli.
- How many people live in Agropoli?
- 21,311 residents, by ISTAT's count on 1 January 2025.
- Is Agropoli a good place to live?
- By the rules in our Where to Move in Italy series, Agropoli is a small town that meets 1 of our 3 rules. The nearest city, Salerno, is 1 h 6 min away by car. There is a national health service hospital in the comune. Full fibre reaches 88% of homes.
Tags & data designations · numbers · sources
Recognized as
Landscape
The numbers
- Elevation: 24 m
- Population: 21,311
- Surface area: 32.77 km²
These figures were compiled from public directories: ISTAT, OpenStreetMap and Wikidata, and from the official listings of the guides named on this page. Town details change; verify with official sources before you travel.
The ranked lists
Lists Agropoli appears in
- The best towns you can reach by train in the province of SalernoSalerno provinceby train6 towns · smallest 2,410 residents
- The best beach towns in the province of SalernoSalerno provinceclean beach7 towns · smallest 2,410 residents
- The best beach towns you can reach by train in CampaniaCampaniaclean beachby train7 towns · smallest 2,410 residents
- The best coastal towns inside a national park in CampaniaCampaniacoastalinside a park9 towns · smallest 2,410 residents
- The best towns you can reach by train that sit inside a national park in CampaniaCampaniainside a parkby train9 towns · smallest 2,410 residents
Similar
Towns like Agropoli
What all six share with Agropoli: on the Tyrrhenian coast · over 10,000 people · near sea level · have a railway station in the comune
The letter
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