Abruzzo · Pescara
Città Sant'Angelo
A hilltop borgo between the Vestina hills and the Adriatic, named for the Archangel and known since 1352 as a Collegiata seat.
- Best time
- Apr–Oct
- By car
- 25 min from Pescara
- Population
- 14,795
Known for
COLLEGIATA
San Michele Arcangelo's thirteenth-century portico runs forty-seven meters, with a double organ of 1,218 pipes restored in 2023.
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.
When to visit
Best · Apr–Oct
- J10°
- F13°
- M14°
- A16°
- M21°
- J26°
- J30°
- A29°
- S25°
- O21°
- N15°
- D12°
- Best
- Hot or crowded
- Quiet
- Mostly closed
Daytime averages, 2020–2024. Weather data by Open-Meteo.com.
The festa: Michele, third Sunday of September
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 thirteenth century, runs forty-seven meters along its 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 carries four institutional signals at once: Borghi più belli, Cittaslow, Città del Vino, Città dell'Olio. Few inland communes this close to the coast hold all four.
The Sunday 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 every Sunday: the photo, the food, the festa. That is our mission. Sign up and you will be there when Città Sant'Angelo comes up. By Peter & Sophia, from Pietrasanta.
Read on
Città Sant'Angelo in our articles
The 6 best hill towns with a food festival in Abruzzo6 towns, Città Sant'Angelo among them.
The best towns that live slowly in Abruzzo6 towns, Città Sant'Angelo among them.
The best hill towns in the province of Pescara7 towns, Città Sant'Angelo among them.
The prettiest villages that eat well in Abruzzo7 towns, Città Sant'Angelo among them.
How to get there
From Ancona / Pescara (AOI), about 1h 51m by car.
Rimini (RMI) is about 3 hours away.
By car from the centre of Pescara 25 minutes, Ancona 1h 47m or Rome 2h 26m.
Coming by train into Pescara Centrale? Città Sant'Angelo is about 24 minutes away by road.
What to see
Collegiata di San Michele Arcangelo
Thirteenth-century church with a forty-seven meter portico, a 1326 portal, and a double organ of 1,218 pipes restored in 2023.
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 edge of the centro storico, with a Gothic portal and quiet cloister.
Belvedere sull'Adriatico
Ridge viewpoints over the olive hills toward the sea, fifteen kilometers east at Pescara.
The slow-trip planner
Building a trip? Find where Città Sant'Angelo fits in a slow Italy circuit.
Answer five questions. We will shape a geographically coherent slow trip from the 1,000 Italian towns most travelers skip. Yours to save and share.
We recommend
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.
Through the year
What happens here
Feasts and festivals that come back year after year. We give the month rather than the date, because the date moves and the month rarely does. Check with the source before you plan a journey around one.
Borgo diVino in tour a Città Sant'Angelofood festival
usually held in June. AbruzzoNews - Sagre in Abruzzo
Città Sant'Angelo Grape Festivalfood festival
usually held in September. sagritaly.com
Sagra dell'Uvafood festival
usually held in September. TrovaSagre
Uva Viva Uva - Città Sant'Angelofood festival
usually held in September. TrovaSagre
Living here
- Population 14,795
- In-betweeni
- Pharmacy in town
- High school within a 30-minute drive
- Nearest airport Ancona / Pescara, 1 h 51 min drive
- Regional capital L'Aquila, 1 h 26 min drive
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 known since 1352 as a Collegiata seat.
- 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?
- Ancona / Pescara (AOI), about 1h 51m by car.
- How long is the drive from Pescara to Città Sant'Angelo?
- About 25 minutes 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.
- Is there a sagra or a festival in Città Sant'Angelo?
- Yes. Borgo diVino in tour a Città Sant'Angelo, Città Sant'Angelo Grape Festival and Sagra dell'Uva, and 1 more we hold a source for. June is when the first of them falls.
- Which other towns are like Città Sant'Angelo?
- Penne, Montesarchio and Locorotondo.
- How many people live in Città Sant'Angelo?
- 14,795 at the 2023 count.
Tags & datadesignations · numbers · sources
The numbers
- Elevation: 320 m
- Population: 14,795
- 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.
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