Abruzzo · Pescara
Caramanico Terme
A 650-meter Majella spa village at the confluence of the Orfento and Orta rivers.
Picked by Peter Benei
Letter to come
Why Caramanico Terme is on our list
It holds Borghi più belli d'Italia.
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Visiting
- Best time
- All year
- By car
- 1 h 1 min from Pescara
- Population
- 1,727
When to visit
Best · All year
- J9°
- F12°
- M12°
- A15°
- M20°
- J26°
- J30°
- A29°
- S24°
- O20°
- N14°
- D10°
- Best
- Hot or crowded
- Quiet
- Mostly closed
Daytime air temperature, averages for 2020–2024. Weather data by Open-Meteo.com.
Why come
The name carries the Lombard arimannia, a settled clan of the late Middle Ages, and the town grew under the D'Aquino family in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, when the main religious buildings went up. Terme was added to the name in 1960, recognising what had been known and used since at least 1576, when the friar Serafino Razzi wrote of a sulphur spring said to cure the chest.
The village sits between Monte Morrone and the Majella, with the historic core on the hilltop above and the spa lower down, closer to the meeting of the two rivers. The abbey stands apart from both, five kilometers out, a separate outpost from the town it belongs to. What holds the place together is the water: a medieval settlement, a fourteenth-century noble family's building program, and a twentieth-century name change all trace back to the same springs first written about in 1576.
How to get there
From Rome Fiumicino (FCO), about 2 h 34 min by car.
Ancona (AOI) is about 2 h 36 min away.
By car from the center of Pescara 1 h 1 min or Ancona 2 h 31 min.
Coming by train into Pescara Centrale? Caramanico Terme is about 1 h 3 min away by road.
First time driving in Italy? Read our complete manual.
What to see
Abbazia di San Tommaso Becket
Romanesque, standing unfinished since work stopped, the walls left mid-build over the older pieve beneath. The distance from the center keeps it apart from the rest of the town's sights, reached on its own.
Chiesa di Santa Maria Maggiore
Fifteenth-century church with a Gothic exterior and an ogival portal showing the Coronation of the Virgin dated 1476.
Terme di Caramanico
The spa complex built around the two springs, with treatment programs for respiratory, ENT, skin and joint conditions organized across the site today.
Valle dell'Orfento
Marked trails follow the river below through beech forest, climbing the gorge behind the village toward the exposed rock of the western wall.
Chiesa di San Domenico
Smaller centro-storico church with a pointed-arch doorway, on the route down the village toward the valley floor.
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.
Locanda del BaroneRistorante
A Michelin Bib Gourmand, at Locanda del Barone.
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?
Caramanico Terme is at the end of the road.
- A village of 1,727. The nearest town of 5,000 people, Manoppello, is 49 min away: past our 15-minute rule, which makes this the end of the road.
- Chieti, a city of 48,403, is 51 min by car. Inside our 30 to 60 minutes: close for the services, far enough to keep its own life.
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 1,727, down 13.3% since 2015 (Italy's emptying towns)
- Nearest city Chieti, 51 min drive
- Nearest national health service hospital Sulmona, 12 km as the crow flies · how healthcare works in Italy
- Homes in the center: €550 to €820 per m² to buy, €2.60 to €3.90 per m² a month to rent
All the numbers Common questions, designations, lists and sources.
More about living here
- Remote
- Pharmacy in town
- Nearest high school over ~30 minutes away
- Full fibre reaches 97% of homes
- Primary school in the comune
- Earthquake zone 1, Italy's highest hazard
- Pescara airport (PSR), 59 min drive, the nearest with scheduled flights
- Regional capital L'Aquila, 1 h 52 min drive
If you are moving here
Who lives here
4% of residents are foreign citizens, most often from Romania, North Macedonia and the United States, against 9% across Italy. 26 of them come from English-speaking countries or western and northern Europe, mostly the United States and the United Kingdom. There are 406 people over 65 for every 100 children under 15, against 216 across Italy. 65% of homes have no resident, holiday homes and empty ones counted together, against 27% across Italy. Pescara province ranks 40th of 107 in Il Sole 24 Ore's quality of life ranking for 2025.
Health and schools
The nearest emergency room is in Sulmona, 12 km as the crow flies. The nearest major one is in Terni, 120 km away. The nearest children's emergency room is in Pescara, 37 km away. The nearest IB school is St. Stephen's School, 129 km as the crow flies. The nearest school listed as international is Canadian College Italy, 33 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: this town qualifies, 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 Abruzzo spends about €2,120 a month, €540 of it on food, against about €2,170 across Italy. A family of three pays about €533 a year for water, on the Abruzzo average. In Pescara, the provincial capital, in September 2026, an espresso cost €1.55, a meal in a pizzeria €10.62 and a man's haircut €19.36.
Climate and risk
It is in climate zone E, on a scale from A, the warmest, to F, the coldest, and heating may run from October 15 to April 15, up to 14 hours a day, unless the mayor changes it. The national maps show no residents in a high or medium flood zone. 8% 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
SULPHUR SPRINGS
La Salute and Gisella springs, sulphurous mineral water documented since 1576, treating respiratory, skin and joint conditions.
VALLE DELL'ORFENTO
Deep beech-forest gorge cut into the Majella, the main hiking gateway into the park's western wall.
SAN TOMMASO BECKET
Unfinished 1202 abbey to Thomas of Canterbury five kilometers out of town, built over a ninth-century pieve.
Common questions
- What is Caramanico Terme known for?
- Caramanico Terme is a 650-meter Majella spa village at the confluence of the Orfento and Orta rivers.
- Where is Caramanico Terme?
- Caramanico Terme is a comune in the province of Pescara, in Abruzzo, at 650 meters above sea level.
- What is the nearest airport to Caramanico Terme?
- The nearest airport with scheduled flights is Pescara (PSR), about 59 min by car.
- How long is the drive from Pescara to Caramanico Terme?
- About 1 h 1 min by car.
- When is the best time to visit Caramanico Terme?
- Any month of the year works. July is the warmest month, averaging 30 degrees, and May the wettest, with about 13 rain days.
- Which other towns are like Caramanico Terme?
- San Casciano dei Bagni, Fiuggi and Cascia.
- How many people live in Caramanico Terme?
- 1,727 residents, by ISTAT's count on 1 January 2025.
- Is Caramanico Terme a good place to live?
- By the rules in our Where to Move in Italy series, Caramanico Terme is at the end of the road: the nearest town of 5,000 people, Manoppello, is 49 min away. The nearest city, Chieti, is 51 min away by car. The nearest national health service hospital is in Sulmona, 12 km as the crow flies. Full fibre reaches 97% of homes.
Tags & data designations · numbers · sources
Landscape
The numbers
- Elevation: 650 m
- Population: 1,727
- Surface area: 84.99 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 Caramanico Terme appears in
- The 6 prettiest villages with a serious restaurant within 90 minutes of PescaraNear Pescarawithin 90 minserious restaurantprettiest villages6 towns · smallest 1,058 residents · closest 48 min away
- The best hidden towns inside a national park that eat well within 90 minutes of PescaraNear Pescarainside a parkwithin 90 mineats wellhidden6 towns · smallest 659 residents · closest 48 min away
- The best towns inside a national park that have a serious restaurant in AbruzzoAbruzzoinside a parkserious restaurant7 towns · smallest 659 residents
- The prettiest small villages that eat well within 90 minutes of PescaraNear Pescarawithin 90 mineats wellprettiest villagessmall7 towns · smallest 1,058 residents · closest 44 min away
- The prettiest villages that eat well in AbruzzoAbruzzoeats wellprettiest villages7 towns · smallest 1,058 residents
- The best hidden towns with a serious restaurant that eat well within 90 minutes of PescaraNear Pescarawithin 90 minserious restauranteats wellhidden8 towns · smallest 659 residents · closest 26 min away
Similar
Towns like Caramanico Terme
San Casciano dei Bagni
Province: Siena
both spa towns · both under 3,000 people
Fiuggi
Province: Frosinone
both spa towns · both high up, between 600 and 1,000 metres
Cascia
Province: Perugia
both under 3,000 people · both high up, between 600 and 1,000 metres
Monte Santa Maria Tiberina
Province: Perugia
both under 3,000 people · both high up, between 600 and 1,000 metres
Acquasanta Terme
Province: Ascoli Piceno
both spa towns · both under 3,000 people
Introdacqua
Province: L'Aquila
both under 3,000 people · both high up, between 600 and 1,000 metres
The letter
Caramanico Terme is on our list. Its letter is still to come.
We are writing about all 1,000 of these towns, one at a time, in a free letter: the photo, what is worth eating, and when to turn up. That is our mission. Sign up and you will be there when Caramanico Terme comes up. By Peter & Sophia, from Turin.
The nearest town we have written up is Scheggino, 114 km away. Read its letter →
Paid plans, the moving year and the books are on the membership page.