Marche · Macerata
Cingoli
The Balcone delle Marche at 631 meters, a hilltop borgo where on clear days the view runs from the Sibillini to the Croatian coast.
Picked by Peter Benei
Letter to come
Why Cingoli is on our list
It holds Borghi più belli d'Italia, Bandiera Arancione and Borgo dei Borghi.
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Visiting
- Best time
- Apr–Oct
- By car
- 52 min from Ancona
- Population
- 9,433
- J8°
- F11°
- M11°
- A14°
- M20°
- J26°
- J29°
- A29°
- S23°
- O19°
- N12°
- D9°
- Best
- Hot or crowded
- Quiet
- Mostly closed
Daytime air temperature, averages for 2020–2024. Weather data by Open-Meteo.com.
Why come
Cingoli sits at 631 meters on a hill above the Macerata province, thirty-five kilometers from Ancona and twenty-seven from Macerata. The town is known as the Balcone delle Marche for the belvedere that on a clear day takes in the Sibillini, the entire region, and the Croatian coast across the Adriatic. The site is older than its medieval walls: ancient Cingulum was founded and fortified in 63 BC by Titus Labienus, Julius Caesar's lieutenant, at his own expense, on the bones of an earlier Picene settlement.
The town held municipium status under Rome and became important again during the civil wars. Cingoli is the birthplace of Pope Pius VIII, Francesco Saverio Castiglioni, born here in 1761. Lorenzo Lotto painted the Madonna del Rosario altarpiece for the Dominican church here between 1537 and 1539, the work that still anchors the town's art holdings.
How to get there
From Ancona (AOI), about 40 min by car.
Rimini (RMI) is about 1 h 47 min away.
By car from the center of Ancona 52 min or Perugia 1 h 41 min.
Coming by train into Rimini? Cingoli is about 1 h 30 min away by road.
Every town within reach of Ancona airport.
First time driving in Italy? Read our complete manual.
What to see
Belvedere di Cingoli
The viewpoint that gives the town its Balcone delle Marche nickname, with views over the Macerata hills, the Sibillini and on clear days the Croatian coast.
Madonna del Rosario di Lorenzo Lotto
Altarpiece painted by Lorenzo Lotto between 1537 and 1539 for the Dominican church of San Domenico, the town's defining work of art.
Cattedrale di Santa Maria Assunta
Seventeenth-century cathedral begun in 1619, whose facade was started for the local-born Pope Pius VIII during his pontificate of 1829 to 1830.
Centro storico
Medieval walled hilltop with surviving stone gates, narrow streets and the noble palaces of the Cingoli families.
Lago di Castreccioni
Reservoir lake of around 200 hectares below the town, used for fishing, sailing and walking trails along the shore.
Living here
Could you live here?
Cingoli meets both of our rules for a small town.
- 9,433 people, inside our sweet spot of 5,000 to 20,000: a real town, still one community.
- Macerata, a city of 40,585, is 37 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 9,433, down 9.4% since 2015
- Nearest city Macerata, 37 min drive
- Nearest national health service hospital San Severino Marche, 12 km as the crow flies · how healthcare works in Italy
- Homes in the center: €700 to €1,100 per m² to buy, €2.80 to €4.10 per m² a month to rent
Weighing a move here? See the moving year.
All the numbers Common questions, designations, lists and sources.
More about living here
- In-between
- Pharmacy: none mapped
- High school within a 30-minute drive
- Full fibre reaches 87% of homes
- Primary school in the comune
- Earthquake zone 2, medium hazard
- Ancona airport (AOI), 40 min drive, the nearest with scheduled flights
- Regional capital Ancona, 52 min drive
If you are moving here
Who lives here
8% of residents are foreign citizens, most often from Romania, Morocco and North Macedonia, against 9% across Italy. 70 of them come from English-speaking countries or western and northern Europe, mostly Germany, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom. There are 287 people over 65 for every 100 children under 15, against 216 across Italy. 38% of homes have no resident, holiday homes and empty ones counted together, against 27% across Italy. Macerata province ranks 26th of 107 in Il Sole 24 Ore's quality of life ranking for 2025.
Health and schools
The nearest emergency room is in San Severino Marche, 12 km as the crow flies. The nearest major one is in Ancona, 31 km away. The nearest children's emergency room is in Ancona, 31 km away. The nearest IB school is International School of Rimini, 92 km as the crow flies. The nearest school listed as international is Marche International School, 39 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 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. In Macerata, the provincial capital, in September 2026, a man's haircut €24.41.
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. Under 1% of residents live in a zone the national maps rate medium for floods. 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
BALCONE DELLE MARCHE
Belvedere at 631 meters with views across the Marche to the Sibillini and, on clear days, the Croatian coast across the Adriatic.
LOTTO
Lorenzo Lotto painted the Madonna del Rosario altarpiece for the Dominican church here in 1537 to 1539.
POPE PIUS VIII
Francesco Saverio Castiglioni, born in Cingoli in 1761, served as pope from March 1829 until his death twenty months later.
Common questions
- What is Cingoli known for?
- Cingoli is the Balcone delle Marche at 631 meters, a hilltop borgo where on clear days the view runs from the Sibillini to the Croatian coast.
- Where is Cingoli?
- Cingoli is a comune in the province of Macerata, in Marche.
- What is the nearest airport to Cingoli?
- The nearest airport with scheduled flights is Ancona (AOI), about 40 min by car.
- How long is the drive from Ancona to Cingoli?
- About 52 min by car.
- When is the best time to visit Cingoli?
- Best in Apr–Oct. July is the warmest month, averaging 29 degrees, and May the wettest, with about 13 rain days.
- Which other towns are like Cingoli?
- Norcia, Arcevia and Mondavio.
- How many people live in Cingoli?
- 9,433 residents, by ISTAT's count on 1 January 2025.
- Is Cingoli a good place to live?
- By the rules in our Where to Move in Italy series, Cingoli is a small town that meets both of our rules. The nearest city, Macerata, is 37 min away by car. The nearest national health service hospital is in San Severino Marche, 12 km as the crow flies. Full fibre reaches 87% of homes.
Tags & data designations · numbers · sources
Landscape
The numbers
- Elevation: 631 m
- Population: 9,433
- Surface area: 148.2 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.
Similar
Towns like Cingoli
What all six share with Cingoli: inland, away from the coast · between 3,000 and 10,000 people
Our guide
Our nearest guide, 86 km away
Umbria: the towns, when to go, how to get there
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