Campania · Napoli
Bacoli
A town twenty kilometers west of Napoli, the Roman Bauli, where a cistern fed the imperial fleet at Miseno.
Picked by Peter Benei
Letter to come
Visiting
- Best time
- May–Sep
- By car
- 31 min from Naples
- By train
- Station in the comune
- Population
- 24,988
- J13°
- F14°
- M15°
- A18°
- M22°
- J27°
- J31°
- A31°
- S27°
- O22°
- N18°
- D15°
- Best
- Hot or crowded
- Quiet
- Mostly closed
Daytime air temperature, averages for 2020–2024. The sea is warmest in August at 28° 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
Bacoli sits at thirty meters on the western lobe of the Campi Flegrei, looking onto Lake Miseno and its headland across the Bay of Pozzuoli. The Romans called it Bauli. In the late Republic and early Empire it was a resort lined with the villas of senators and emperors, and the fleet base nearby, the Classis Misenensis, was the largest in the Mediterranean.
Most of that infrastructure is still here, scattered through the residential blocks that now fill the town, so that a cistern or a cistern complex turns up between apartment buildings rather than in an isolated park. The town's two promontories divide its Roman past between them: the harbor side toward Miseno, where the fleet and its water supply were based, and the Baia side, where the villas and the later Aragonese castle stand. Bacoli is also an active geothermal zone, and bradyseism, the slow rise and fall of the Campi Flegrei coastline, is still measurable here, the same force that put the Roman villas at Baia underwater. What survives above ground and what has sunk below the sea are the same story of ground that will not stay still.
How to get there
From Naples (NAP), about 35 min by car.
Rome Fiumicino (FCO) is about 3 h 4 min away.
By car from the center of Naples 31 min or Salerno 1 h 17 min.
There is a railway station in the comune, so you can arrive without a car.
Coming from Naples?
Coming by train into Napoli Centrale? Bacoli is about 32 min away by road.
Every town within reach of Naples airport.
First time driving in Italy? Read our complete manual.
What to see
Piscina Mirabilis
Forty-eight cross-shaped pillars hold up the roof in rows, the scale meant to be walked through rather than read about, still standing among the residential blocks that have grown up around it.
Cento Camerelle
Second cistern complex four hundred meters from the Piscina Mirabilis, on two superimposed levels, locally called the Prisons of Nero.
Castello Aragonese di Baia
Late-fifteenth-century Aragonese fortress on the Baia promontory, since 1993 the seat of the Museo Archeologico dei Campi Flegrei.
Capo Miseno
Headland on the western tip of the Bay of Napoli, with the natural harbor below it and a panoramic walk out to the lighthouse.
Parco Archeologico Sommerso di Baia
Submerged Roman villas visited by glass-bottom boat or snorkel tour, sunk beneath the water over centuries rather than built there.
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.
CaracolRistorante
One Michelin star for Caracol, along with two Gambero Rosso forks (83/100) and a place in L'Espresso's Top 300.
Aguglia osteria di mare 2021Ristorante
Aguglia osteria di mare 2021 has a Gambero Rosso listing to its name.
Hosteria BugiardaRistorante
Hosteria Bugiarda has one Gambero Rosso fork (78/100) to its name.
2 more places the guides name in Bacoli
Il Testardo - Locanda AtipicaRistorante
A Gambero Rosso listing, at Il Testardo - Locanda Atipica.
Riccio RestaurantRistorante
Riccio Restaurant holds a spot in the Michelin Guide.
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?
Bacoli meets 1 of our 2 rules for a small town.
- 24,988 people, above our sweet spot of 5,000 to 20,000: big enough that it can split into neighborhoods.
- Pozzuoli, a city of 75,375, is 16 min by car. Closer than our 30 to 60 minutes: handy for everything, so check the town still keeps a life of its own.
- 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 24,988, down 6% since 2015
- Nearest city Pozzuoli, 16 min drive
- Train station in the comune
- Nearest national health service hospital Pozzuoli, 6 km as the crow flies · how healthcare works in Italy
- Homes in the center: €1,800 to €2,750 per m² to buy, €6.00 to €9.20 per m² a month to rent
All the numbers Common questions, designations, lists and sources.
More about living here
- Commuter belt
- Pharmacy in town
- High school within a 30-minute drive
- Full fibre reaches 65% of homes
- Primary school in the comune
- Earthquake zone 2, medium hazard
- Naples airport (NAP), 35 min drive, the nearest with scheduled flights
- Regional capital Naples, 31 min drive
If you are moving here
Who lives here
2% of residents are foreign citizens, most often from Ukraine, China and Romania, against 9% across Italy. 33 of them come from English-speaking countries or western and northern Europe, mostly the United States, the United Kingdom and Germany. There are 210 people over 65 for every 100 children under 15, against 216 across Italy. 22% of homes have no resident, holiday homes and empty ones counted together, against 27% across Italy. Naples province ranks 104th of 107 in Il Sole 24 Ore's quality of life ranking for 2025.
Health and schools
The nearest emergency room is in Pozzuoli, 6 km as the crow flies, and it is a major one. The nearest children's emergency room is in Naples, 15 km away. The nearest IB school is St. Stephen's School, 179 km as the crow flies. The nearest school listed as international is The International School of Naples, 8 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. 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. In Naples, the provincial capital, in September 2026, an espresso cost €1.25, a meal in a pizzeria €11.02 and a man's haircut €18.55.
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. 2% of residents live in a zone the national maps rate high for floods. 7% 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.
This is a thermal town: terme operate here.
Known for
PISCINA MIRABILIS
Largest Roman cistern in the western Empire, seventy by twenty-five by fifteen meters, built to supply fresh water to the imperial fleet at Misenum.
MISENUM
Base of the Classis Misenensis, the largest Roman fleet in the Mediterranean, now a frazione of Bacoli with a natural harbor and Roman ruins.
BRADYSEISM
Active geothermal phenomenon raising and lowering the Campi Flegrei coastline; underwater Roman ruins at Baia are the visible result.
Common questions
- What is Bacoli known for?
- Bacoli is a town twenty kilometers west of Napoli, the Roman Bauli, where a cistern fed the imperial fleet at Miseno.
- Where is Bacoli?
- Bacoli is a comune in the province of Napoli, in Campania, at 30 meters above sea level.
- What is the nearest airport to Bacoli?
- The nearest airport with scheduled flights is Naples (NAP), about 35 min by car.
- Can you get to Bacoli without a car?
- Yes. There is a railway station in the comune, so you can arrive by train.
- How long is the drive from Naples to Bacoli?
- About 31 min by car.
- When is the best time to visit Bacoli?
- Best in May–Sep. July is the warmest month, averaging 31 degrees, and November the wettest, with about 16 rain days.
- Which other towns are like Bacoli?
- Pompei, Vico Equense and Piano di Sorrento.
- How many people live in Bacoli?
- 24,988 residents, by ISTAT's count on 1 January 2025.
- Is Bacoli a good place to live?
- By the rules in our Where to Move in Italy series, Bacoli is a small town that meets 1 of our 2 rules. The nearest city, Pozzuoli, is 16 min away by car. The nearest national health service hospital is in Pozzuoli, 6 km as the crow flies. Full fibre reaches 65% of homes.
Tags & data designations · numbers · sources
Recognized as
Landscape
The numbers
- Elevation: 30 m
- Population: 24,988
- Surface area: 13.47 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 Bacoli appears in
- The best towns that eat well within 45 minutes of NaplesNear Napleswithin 45 mineats well6 towns · smallest 23,647 residents · closest 16 min away
- The best towns inside a nature park that eat well in the province of NapoliNapoli provinceinside a parkeats well7 towns · smallest 12,213 residents
- The best towns you can reach by train within 45 minutes of NaplesNear Naplesby trainwithin 45 min7 towns · smallest 23,647 residents · closest 16 min away
- The best towns with a serious restaurant that eat well within 90 minutes of NaplesNear Napleswithin 90 minserious restauranteats well8 towns · smallest 6,368 residents · closest 24 min away
- The 9 best towns with a serious restaurant in the province of NapoliNapoli provinceserious restaurant9 towns · smallest 6,722 residents
- The 9 best towns you can reach by train in the province of NapoliNapoli provinceby train9 towns · smallest 12,213 residents
Featured on
Bacoli appears on this themed pick from our Collections:
Similar
Towns like Bacoli
What all six share with Bacoli: over 10,000 people · near sea level · have a railway station in the comune
Pompei
Province: Napoli
both on the Tyrrhenian coast
Vico Equense
Province: Napoli
both on the Tyrrhenian coast
Piano di Sorrento
Province: Napoli
both on the Tyrrhenian coast
Fondi
Province: Latina
both on the Tyrrhenian coast
Minturno
Province: Latina
both on the Tyrrhenian coast
Ercolano
Province: Napoli
44 min apart by road
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