Abruzzo · Pescara
Città Sant'Angelo
A hilltop borgo between the Vestina hills and the Adriatic, named for the Archangel and home to a Collegiata since 1353.
Picked by Peter Benei
Letter to come
Why Città Sant'Angelo is on our list
It holds Borghi più belli d'Italia, Cittaslow and Città del Vino.
Subscribe and you get Città Sant'Angelo's letter the day it comes out.
Visiting
- Best time
- Apr–Oct
- By car
- 25 min from Pescara
- Population
- 14,902
- J10°
- F13°
- M14°
- A16°
- M21°
- J26°
- J30°
- A29°
- S25°
- O21°
- N15°
- D12°
- Best
- Hot or crowded
- Quiet
- Mostly closed
Daytime air temperature, averages for 2020–2024. Weather data by Open-Meteo.com.
Why come
Città Sant'Angelo sits on a ridge, fifteen kilometers from Pescara and a clear day's walk from the Adriatic. The Vestini, an Italic Sabine tribe, held this ground before Rome; the medieval town that grew up here was called Castrum Sancti Angeli in the twelfth century and given its current name in 1528. By then it was one of the three major seats of the Penne-Atri diocese.
The Collegiata di San Michele Arcangelo, rebuilt in the fourteenth century, runs forty-seven meters along its fifteenth-century portico, the same length as the bell tower is tall. Its double organ holds 1,218 pipes and was restored in 2023 after nearly sixty years of silence. The Corso Vittorio Emanuele still threads the ridge between olive groves and vineyards, and the town holds four designations at once: Borghi più belli, Cittaslow, Città del Vino and Città dell'Olio. Few inland communes this close to the coast hold all four.
How to get there
From Ancona (AOI), about 1 h 51 min by car.
Rome Fiumicino (FCO) is about 2 h 42 min away.
By car from the center of Pescara 25 min or Ancona 1 h 47 min.
Coming by train into Pescara Centrale? Città Sant'Angelo is about 24 min away by road.
Every town within reach of Ancona airport.
First time driving in Italy? Read our complete manual.
What to see
Collegiata di San Michele Arcangelo
Fourteenth-century church with a forty-seven meter fifteenth-century portico, a 1326 portal, and the 1457 tomb of bishop Amico di Buonamicizia.
Campanile della Collegiata
Bell tower designed by Antonio da Lodi, finished in 1425, the same height as the portico is long.
Centro storico
Linear medieval ridge town stretched along the Corso Vittorio Emanuele, with palazzi and small churches from the fourteenth to eighteenth centuries.
Chiesa di San Francesco
Franciscan church and former convent on the corso at the heart of the centro storico, with an 1845 mosaic floor and a cloister.
Belvedere sull'Adriatico
Ridge viewpoints over the olive hills toward the sea, fifteen kilometers east at Pescara.
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.
Rosarubra ZenBistrot
Rosarubra Zen carries one Gambero Rosso table.
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?
Città Sant'Angelo meets our one rule for a small town.
- 14,902 people, inside our sweet spot of 5,000 to 20,000: a real town, still one community.
- Montesilvano, a city of 53,602, 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.
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 14,902, up 0.4% since 2015
- Nearest city Montesilvano, 16 min drive
- Nearest national health service hospital Atri, 10 km as the crow flies · how healthcare works in Italy
- Homes in the center: €660 to €1,100 per m² to buy, €2.50 to €4.50 per m² a month to rent
All the numbers Common questions, designations, lists and sources.
More about living here
- In-between
- Pharmacy in town
- High school within a 30-minute drive
- Full fibre reaches 96% of homes
- Primary school in the comune
- Earthquake zone 2, medium hazard
- Pescara airport (PSR), 35 min drive, the nearest with scheduled flights
- Regional capital L'Aquila, 1 h 26 min drive
If you are moving here
Who lives here
6% of residents are foreign citizens, most often from Romania, Morocco and Albania, against 9% across Italy. 43 of them come from English-speaking countries or western and northern Europe, mostly the United Kingdom, the United States and Germany. There are 163 people over 65 for every 100 children under 15, against 216 across Italy. 18% 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 Atri, 10 km as the crow flies. The nearest major one is in Terni, 115 km away. The nearest children's emergency room is in Pescara, 13 km away. The nearest IB school is Acorn International School, 145 km as the crow flies. The nearest school listed as international is Canadian College Italy, 41 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, with nothing due on income under €10,000. 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 D, on a scale from A, the warmest, to F, the coldest, and heating may run from November 1 to April 15, up to 12 hours a day, unless the mayor changes it. 2% of residents live in a zone the national maps rate high for floods, 14% in a high or medium one. 3% 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
COLLEGIATA
San Michele Arcangelo's fifteenth-century portico runs forty-seven meters, the same as the height of its bell tower.
OIL AND WINE
Olive groves and vineyards on the ridge supply Città dell'Olio and Città del Vino designations, both produced within the comune.
CITTASLOW
One of the founding Abruzzo Cittaslow communes, with a slow-food charter that keeps the corso pedestrian on summer evenings.
Common questions
- What is Città Sant'Angelo known for?
- Città Sant'Angelo is a hilltop borgo at 320 meters between the Vestina hills and the Adriatic, named for the Archangel and home to a Collegiata since 1353.
- Where is Città Sant'Angelo?
- Città Sant'Angelo is a comune in the province of Pescara, in Abruzzo.
- What is the nearest airport to Città Sant'Angelo?
- The nearest airport with scheduled flights is Pescara (PSR), about 35 min by car.
- How long is the drive from Pescara to Città Sant'Angelo?
- About 25 min by car.
- When is the best time to visit Città Sant'Angelo?
- Best in Apr–Oct. July is the warmest month, averaging 30 degrees, and May the wettest, with about 12 rain days.
- Which other towns are like Città Sant'Angelo?
- Penne, Montesarchio and Locorotondo.
- How many people live in Città Sant'Angelo?
- 14,902 residents, by ISTAT's count on 1 January 2025.
- Is Città Sant'Angelo a good place to live?
- By the rules in our Where to Move in Italy series, Città Sant'Angelo is a small town that meets our one rule. The nearest city, Montesilvano, is 16 min away by car. The nearest national health service hospital is in Atri, 10 km as the crow flies. Full fibre reaches 96% of homes.
Tags & data designations · numbers · sources
Landscape
The numbers
- Elevation: 320 m
- Population: 14,902
- Surface area: 62.02 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 Città Sant'Angelo appears in
- The best olive oil towns that eat well within 90 minutes of PescaraNear Pescaraolive oilwithin 90 mineats well6 towns · smallest 4,169 residents · closest 25 min away
- The best towns that live slowly in AbruzzoAbruzzoslow living6 towns · smallest 2,202 residents
- The best hill towns in the province of PescaraPescara provincehill town7 towns · smallest 851 residents
- The prettiest villages that eat well in AbruzzoAbruzzoeats wellprettiest villages7 towns · smallest 1,058 residents
- The 8 best hill towns that eat well within 90 minutes of PescaraNear Pescarahill townwithin 90 mineats well8 towns · smallest 4,169 residents · closest 25 min away
- The best wine towns in AbruzzoAbruzzowinehidden9 towns · smallest 440 residents
Similar
Towns like Città Sant'Angelo
What all six share with Città Sant'Angelo: inland, away from the coast · over 10,000 people · hill towns
The letter
Città Sant'Angelo 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 Città Sant'Angelo comes up. By Peter & Sophia, from Turin.
The nearest town we have written up is Scheggino, 103 km away. Read its letter →
Paid plans, the moving year and the books are on the membership page.