Marche · Pesaro e Urbino
Carpegna
A Montefeltro mountain town under Monte Carpegna, home of the DOP prosciutto and the seventeenth-century Carpegna family seat.
Picked by Peter Benei
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Visiting
- Best time
- May–Oct
- By car
- 1 h 7 min from Rimini
- Population
- 1,708
- J7°
- F10°
- M10°
- A13°
- M18°
- J24°
- J28°
- A27°
- S22°
- O17°
- N11°
- D8°
- Best
- Hot or crowded
- Quiet
- Mostly closed
Daytime air temperature, averages for 2020–2024. Weather data by Open-Meteo.com.
Why come
The town sits at 748 meters on the southern slope of the peak that anchors the Montefeltro between the Marche, Emilia-Romagna and the Republic of San Marino. That position, mountain above and cured-meat trade below, has held the same shape since the family that governs from the palazzo first took the territory: over a thousand years of continuity on one slope, with the pigs of Lombardy, Emilia and the Marche brought here specifically for the dry air that the altitude provides. The park that surrounds the town extends that same relationship between height and character.
Its beech, hornbeam and oak enclose the ruins of a planned town abandoned in the seventeenth century, a settlement that failed where Carpegna's did not. The mountain, in other words, has been the constant: it gives the air that cures the meat, the slope that the family built on, and the forest that outlasted a rival town founded in its shadow.
How to get there
From Rimini (RMI), about 1 h 24 min by car.
Ancona (AOI) is about 1 h 47 min away.
By car from the center of Ancona 1 h 59 min or Perugia 2 h.
Coming by train into Rimini? Carpegna is about 1 h 7 min away by road.
Every town within reach of Rimini airport.
First time driving in Italy? Read our complete manual.
What to see
Palazzo dei Principi Carpegna Falconieri
Designed by Giovanni Antonio De' Rossi for Cardinal Gaspare di Carpegna, built 1675 to the late 1690s, still owned by the descendants of the family. The building survived a fire and the strong 1781 earthquake.
Monte Carpegna
At 1,415 meters, the central peak of the Montefeltro, with summit pastures and a beech-and-hornbeam forest covering the slopes.
Parco Interregionale del Sasso Simone e Simoncello
Cross-border natural park between Marche and Emilia-Romagna, named for the two limestone monoliths that rise from the forest floor. Beech, hornbeam and oak cover the ground between them.
Sasso Simone
Limestone monolith inside the park, with the ruins of the Medici Città del Sole, the planned town founded by Cosimo I in 1565 and abandoned by 1673.
Living here
Could you live here?
Carpegna is at the end of the road.
- A village of 1,708. The nearest town of 5,000 people, Novafeltria, is 31 min away: past our 15-minute rule, which makes this the end of the road.
- Rimini, a city of 150,333, is 1 h 7 min by car. Further than our 30 to 60 minutes, a long way for the hospital visit or the monthly shopping.
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 1,708, up 1.4% since 2015
- Nearest city Rimini, 1 h 7 min drive
- Nearest national health service hospital Novafeltria, 14 km as the crow flies · how healthcare works in Italy
- Homes in the center: €710 to €1,000 per m² to buy, €2.70 to €3.60 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 98% of homes
- Primary school in the comune
- Earthquake zone 2, medium hazard
- Rimini airport (RMI), 1 h 24 min drive, the nearest with scheduled flights
- Regional capital Ancona, 1 h 59 min drive
If you are moving here
Who lives here
14% of residents are foreign citizens, most often from Nigeria, Senegal and Bulgaria, against 9% across Italy. 13 of them come from English-speaking countries or western and northern Europe. There are 231 people over 65 for every 100 children under 15, against 216 across Italy. 54% of homes have no resident, holiday homes and empty ones counted together, against 27% across Italy. Pesaro e Urbino province ranks 31st of 107 in Il Sole 24 Ore's quality of life ranking for 2025.
Health and schools
The nearest emergency room is in Urbino, 24 km as the crow flies. The nearest major one is in Rimini, 33 km away. The nearest IB school is International School of Rimini, 36 km as the crow flies.
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 is not in a qualifying area.
Information, not tax advice. Confirm with a professional.
What it costs
The average household in Marche spends about €2,480 a month, €620 of it on food, against about €2,170 across Italy. A family of three pays about €643 a year for water, on the Marche average.
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 medium flood zone. Under 1% 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
PROSCIUTTO
DOP since 1996, cured 16 months minimum on heavy pigs from Lombardy, Emilia and the Marche, in the dry mountain air at 748 meters.
PALAZZO CARPEGNA
Designed by Giovanni Antonio De' Rossi, built 1675-1697 for Cardinal Gaspare di Carpegna, still held by the family that has been here since the Middle Ages.
MONTE CARPEGNA
At 1,415 meters, the Montefeltro's anchor peak; Marco Pantani trained on its road climb, the Cippo Pantani marks the summit.
Common questions
- What is Carpegna known for?
- Carpegna is a Montefeltro mountain town under Monte Carpegna, home of the DOP prosciutto and the seventeenth-century Carpegna family seat.
- Where is Carpegna?
- Carpegna is a comune in the province of Pesaro e Urbino, in Marche, at 748 meters above sea level.
- What is the nearest airport to Carpegna?
- The nearest airport with scheduled flights is Rimini (RMI), about 1 h 24 min by car.
- How long is the drive from Ancona to Carpegna?
- About 1 h 59 min by car.
- When is the best time to visit Carpegna?
- Best in May–Oct. July is the warmest month, averaging 28 degrees, and May the wettest, with about 14 rain days.
- Which other towns are like Carpegna?
- Pennabilli, Calvello and Ormea.
- How many people live in Carpegna?
- 1,708 residents, by ISTAT's count on 1 January 2025.
- Is Carpegna a good place to live?
- By the rules in our Where to Move in Italy series, Carpegna is at the end of the road: the nearest town of 5,000 people, Novafeltria, is 31 min away. The nearest city, Rimini, is 1 h 7 min away by car. The nearest national health service hospital is in Novafeltria, 14 km as the crow flies. Full fibre reaches 98% of homes.
Tags & data designations · numbers · sources
Recognized as
Landscape
The numbers
- Elevation: 748 m
- Population: 1,708
- Surface area: 28.94 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 Carpegna appears in
Similar
Towns like Carpegna
What all six share with Carpegna: mountain-valley towns · under 3,000 people · high up, between 600 and 1,000 metres
Our guide
Our nearest guide, 72 km away
Umbria: the towns, when to go, how to get there
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