Campania · Salerno
Castellabate
A hilltown on a 280-meter Cilento ridge, with a Bandiera Blu beach below and the Benvenuti al Sud film.
Picked by Peter Benei
Letter to come
Why Castellabate is on our list
It holds Borghi più belli d'Italia and Bandiera Blu.
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Visiting
- Best time
- May–Sep
- By car
- 1 h 18 min from Salerno
- Population
- 8,706
- J12°
- F13°
- M14°
- A17°
- M21°
- J26°
- J30°
- A30°
- S26°
- O21°
- N17°
- D13°
- 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
Castellabate sits on a Cilento ridge about fifty kilometers south of Salerno, the hilltown above and the hamlets below strung along the same stretch of coast. Santa Maria, San Marco, Ogliastro Marina and Licosa run along the bay where the Saracens were defeated in 846 by a coalition of Naples, Amalfi, Sorrento and Gaeta, long before the castle on the ridge was ever built. The abbey that gave the hilltown its name lay inland from this shoreline history, so the place carries two separate pasts: a coastal one tied to the ninth-century battle, and an upland one tied to the twelfth-century abbot's foundation.
The commune today counts about nine thousand residents and holds together as a Bandiera Blu community inside the Cilento, Vallo di Diano and Alburni National Park, with the promontory to the south marking the edge of the protected marine area. The borgo above keeps the stone and the views, the hamlets below keep the bay and the beaches, and the two halves of Castellabate read less as a single town than as an upper and lower settlement joined by the ridge between them.
How to get there
From Naples (NAP), about 2 h 1 min by car.
Bari (BRI) is about 3 h 54 min away.
By car from the center of Salerno 1 h 18 min, Naples 2 h 1 min or Bari 3 h 57 min.
Coming by train into Salerno? Castellabate is about 1 h 20 min away by road.
First time driving in Italy? Read our complete manual.
What to see
Castello dell'Abate
Castle begun on 10 October 1123 by Saint Costabile Gentilcore, fourth abbot of the Trinità della Cava, gave the village its name as Castrum Abbatis.
Centro storico di Castellabate
Hilltop borgo at 280 meters, one of I Borghi più belli d'Italia, stone alleys around the castle and views down to the bay and the promontory beyond.
Basilica Pontificia di Santa Maria de Gulia
Twelfth-century mother church at Santa Maria di Castellabate, raised to pontifical basilica in the twentieth century, with a wooden statue of the Madonna.
Punta Licosa
Promontory and small offshore island named after the Siren Leucosia of Greek legend, at the heart of the Santa Maria di Castellabate marine protected area.
Cilento, Vallo di Diano e Alburni National Park
UNESCO World Heritage park and biosphere reserve, with the Monte Stella ridge inland of Castellabate and the marine protected area along its coast.
Living here
Could you live here?
Castellabate meets 1 of our 2 rules for a small town.
- 8,706 people, inside our sweet spot of 5,000 to 20,000: a real town, still one community.
- Salerno, a city of 126,000, is 1 h 18 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 8,706, down 0.6% since 2015
- Nearest city Salerno, 1 h 18 min drive
- Nearest national health service hospital Agropoli, 9 km as the crow flies · how healthcare works in Italy
- Homes in the center: €1,350 to €1,800 per m² to buy, €4.40 to €6.50 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 99% of homes
- Primary school in the comune
- Earthquake zone 3, low hazard
- Naples airport (NAP), 2 h 1 min drive, the nearest with scheduled flights
- Regional capital Naples, 2 h 1 min drive
If you are moving here
Who lives here
6% of residents are foreign citizens, most often from Romania, Ukraine and Tunisia, against 9% across Italy. 63 of them come from English-speaking countries or western and northern Europe, mostly Germany, the United Kingdom and the United States. There are 220 people over 65 for every 100 children under 15, against 216 across Italy. 58% 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, 25 km as the crow flies. The nearest major one is in Salerno, 46 km away. The nearest children's emergency room is in Salerno, 46 km away. The nearest IB school is St. Stephen's School, 273 km as the crow flies. The nearest school listed as international is École Francaise de Naples Alexandre-Dumas, 87 km away.
Information, not medical advice. Confirm with a professional.
Taxes
A home that is not your main one pays 1.05% 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 0.4% 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 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. 2% of residents live in a zone the national maps rate high for floods. 18% 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
ABBOT'S CASTLE
Castle built from 1123 by Saint Costabile Gentilcore, abbot of the Trinità della Cava, around which the hilltown grew and to which it owes its name.
BENVENUTI AL SUD
Setting of the 2010 Luca Miniero film that turned the village into a national reference for southern Italian hospitality and stereotype reversal.
BANDIERA BLU
Blue Flag bay between Santa Maria and the promontory to the south, inside the Cilento protected marine area, with sand and clear water below the borgo.
Common questions
- What is Castellabate known for?
- Castellabate is a hilltown on a 280-meter Cilento ridge, with a Bandiera Blu beach below and the Benvenuti al Sud film.
- Where is Castellabate?
- Castellabate is a comune in the province of Salerno, in Campania, at 280 meters above sea level.
- What is the nearest airport to Castellabate?
- The nearest airport with scheduled flights is Naples (NAP), about 2 h 1 min by car.
- How long is the drive from Salerno to Castellabate?
- About 1 h 18 min by car.
- When is the best time to visit Castellabate?
- Best in May–Sep. July is the warmest month, averaging 30 degrees, and December the wettest, with about 15 rain days.
- Which other towns are like Castellabate?
- Anacapri, Capalbio and Ascea.
- How many people live in Castellabate?
- 8,706 residents, by ISTAT's count on 1 January 2025.
- Is Castellabate a good place to live?
- By the rules in our Where to Move in Italy series, Castellabate is a small town that meets 1 of our 2 rules. The nearest city, Salerno, is 1 h 18 min away by car. The nearest national health service hospital is in Agropoli, 9 km as the crow flies. Full fibre reaches 99% of homes.
Tags & data designations · numbers · sources
Recognized as
Landscape
The numbers
- Elevation: 280 m
- Population: 8,706
- Surface area: 37.43 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 Castellabate appears in
- The best beach towns in the province of SalernoSalerno provinceclean beach7 towns · smallest 2,410 residents
- The best hidden beach towns in CampaniaCampaniaclean beachhidden8 towns · smallest 2,410 residents
- The best coastal towns inside a national park in CampaniaCampaniacoastalinside a park9 towns · smallest 2,410 residents
- The prettiest villages within 90 minutes of SalernoNear Salernowithin 90 minprettiest villages10 towns · smallest 644 residents · closest 16 min away
Similar
Towns like Castellabate
What all six share with Castellabate: on the Tyrrhenian coast · between 3,000 and 10,000 people · hill towns
The letter
Castellabate 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 Castellabate comes up. By Peter & Sophia, from Turin.
The nearest town we have written up is Cerveteri, 306 km away. Read its letter →
Paid plans, the moving year and the books are on the membership page.