Umbria · Perugia
Deruta
A hill town on the left bank of the Tiber, the maiolica capital of central Italy since the late thirteenth century.
Picked by Peter Benei
Letter to come
Why Deruta is on our list
It holds Borghi più belli d'Italia, Spighe Verdi and Città della Ceramica.
The nearest town with a letter is Bettona, No. 76, 15 min by car.
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Visiting
- Best time
- Apr–Oct
- By car
- 17 min from Perugia
- Population
- 9,530
- J11°
- F14°
- M15°
- A19°
- M24°
- J29°
- J34°
- A33°
- S27°
- O22°
- N16°
- D12°
- Best
- Hot or crowded
- Quiet
- Mostly closed
Daytime air temperature, averages for 2020–2024. Weather data by Open-Meteo.com.
Why come
Deruta sits fifteen kilometers south of Perugia, its hill rising above the Tiber on the river's left bank. The walled medieval core, organized around Piazza dei Consoli, occupies the high ground, while the lower town spreads along the old road linking Perugia to Rome. That road is where the workshops cluster, most of them family businesses running three or four generations deep, and it is also the route that carries traffic five kilometers south to the pilgrimage church, its walls built up over four centuries from votive tiles left by travelers on the same stretch of road.
The first documented kilns appear in the archaeological record in the late thirteenth century, and by the early sixteenth the town's workshops had developed the lustro finish that gave Deruta wares their metallic shine, along with the Bella Donna plates that paired painted portraits with flattering banderoles naming the women depicted. That convent complex, once a working monastery, now holds both the ceramics museum and, next door, the civic gallery with its Perugino and Alunno panels, so the town's religious architecture, its art collection, and its ceramics history sit under the same roof by accident of reuse rather than design. The upper town's churches and museums hold the record of what Deruta made and believed; the lower town's workshops are still making it.
How to get there
From Ancona (AOI), about 1 h 43 min by car.
Rome Fiumicino (FCO) is about 2 h 8 min away.
By car from the center of Perugia 17 min, Siena 1 h 40 min or Ancona 1 h 55 min.
Coming by train into Perugia? Deruta is about 17 min away by road.
Every town within reach of Ancona airport.
First time driving in Italy? Read our complete manual.
What to see
Museo Regionale della Ceramica
Holds over 6,000 pieces from medieval to modern, arranged through the convent's old cloister and cells.
Chiesa di San Francesco
Consecrated 1388 after earthquake reconstruction, Sienese 14th-century frescoes inside, Domenico Alfani Raphael-school panel above an altar.
Pinacoteca Comunale
Civic gallery with Perugino's Eterno and Saints Romano e Rocco, plus two altarpieces by Niccolò Alunno from the surrounding churches.
Centro storico
Walled medieval core organized around Piazza dei Consoli, lined with maiolica workshops still firing by hand.
Santuario della Madonna dei Bagni
Pilgrimage church 5 km south on the Tiber road, walls lined with hundreds of votive ceramic tiles spanning four centuries.
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.
I RodellaRistorante
I Rodella carries a spot in the Michelin Guide.
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?
Deruta meets our one rule for a small town.
- 9,530 people, inside our sweet spot of 5,000 to 20,000: a real town, still one community.
- Perugia, a city of 162,050, is 17 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 9,530, up 0.1% since 2015
- Nearest city Perugia, 17 min drive
- Nearest national health service hospital Perugia, 17 km as the crow flies · how healthcare works in Italy
- Homes in the center: €760 to €990 per m² to buy, €2.50 to €3.60 per m² a month to rent
All the numbers Common questions, designations, lists and sources.
More about living here
- Commuter belt
- Pharmacy: none mapped
- High school within a 30-minute drive
- Full fibre reaches 57% of homes
- Primary school in the comune
- Earthquake zone 2, medium hazard
- Perugia airport (PEG), 19 min drive, the nearest with scheduled flights
- Regional capital Perugia, 17 min drive
If you are moving here
Who lives here
10% of residents are foreign citizens, most often from Romania, Morocco and Bangladesh, against 9% across Italy. 10 of them come from English-speaking countries or western and northern Europe. There are 214 people over 65 for every 100 children under 15, against 216 across Italy. 17% of homes have no resident, holiday homes and empty ones counted together, against 27% across Italy. Perugia province ranks 37th of 107 in Il Sole 24 Ore's quality of life ranking for 2025.
Health and schools
The nearest emergency room is in Perugia, 17 km as the crow flies, and it is a major one. The nearest IB school is Viterbo International School, 68 km as the crow flies. The nearest school listed as international is Assisi International School, 16 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 is not in a qualifying area.
Information, not tax advice. Confirm with a professional.
What it costs
The average household in Umbria spends about €2,310 a month, €550 of it on food, against about €2,170 across Italy. A family of three pays about €677 a year for water, on the Umbria average. In Perugia, the provincial capital, in September 2026, an espresso cost €1.23, a meal in a pizzeria €12.04 and a man's haircut €20.47.
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, 3% 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
MAIOLICA
Continuous ceramic production since the late 13th century, with the lustro and Bella Donna styles defining its 16th-century peak.
OLDEST MUSEUM
Museo Regionale della Ceramica opened in 1898 inside the San Francesco convent, the first ceramics museum founded in Italy.
WORKSHOPS
Family-run botteghe still line the lower town along the Perugia-Rome road, firing and painting most pieces by hand.
Common questions
- What is Deruta known for?
- Deruta is a hill town at 218 meters on the left bank of the Tiber, the maiolica capital of central Italy since the late thirteenth century.
- Where is Deruta?
- Deruta is a comune in the province of Perugia, in Umbria.
- What is the nearest airport to Deruta?
- The nearest airport with scheduled flights is Perugia (PEG), about 19 min by car.
- How long is the drive from Perugia to Deruta?
- About 17 min by car.
- When is the best time to visit Deruta?
- Best in Apr–Oct. July is the warmest month, averaging 34 degrees, and May the wettest, with about 12 rain days.
- Which other towns are like Deruta?
- Spello, Torgiano and Bevagna.
- How many people live in Deruta?
- 9,530 residents, by ISTAT's count on 1 January 2025.
- Is Deruta a good place to live?
- By the rules in our Where to Move in Italy series, Deruta is a small town that meets our one rule. The nearest city, Perugia, is 17 min away by car. The nearest national health service hospital is in Perugia, 17 km as the crow flies. Full fibre reaches 57% of homes.
Tags & data designations · numbers · sources
Landscape
The numbers
- Elevation: 218 m
- Population: 9,530
- Surface area: 44.51 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 Deruta appears in
- The best hidden towns inside a nature park that eat well in UmbriaUmbriainside a parkeats wellhidden6 towns · smallest 2,493 residents
- The 7 best towns with a serious restaurant that sit inside a nature park in the province of PerugiaPerugia provinceinside a parkserious restaurant7 towns · smallest 5,312 residents
- The best hidden towns with a serious restaurant in the province of PerugiaPerugia provinceserious restauranthidden7 towns · smallest 1,537 residents
- The prettiest hidden villages with a serious restaurant within 90 minutes of PerugiaNear Perugiawithin 90 minserious restaurantprettiest villageshidden9 towns · smallest 1,421 residents · closest 19 min away
- The prettiest villages inside a nature park within 90 minutes of PerugiaNear Perugiainside a parkwithin 90 minprettiest villages9 towns · smallest 937 residents · closest 19 min away
- The best hidden hill towns with a serious restaurant within 90 minutes of PerugiaNear Perugiahill townwithin 90 minserious restauranthidden10 towns · smallest 1,137 residents · closest 19 min away
Near here, with a letter
- Written about. No. 76.
Bettona
Province: Perugia
A hill town at 353 meters between the Topino and Chiascio rivers, the only Etruscan settlement ever built east of the Tiber.
15 min by car
- Written about. No. 89.
Torgiano
Province: Perugia
A walled river town at 219 meters at the confluence of the Tiber and the Chiascio, the first DOC and DOCG zone in Umbria.
17 min by car
- Written about. No. 72.
Todi
Province: Perugia
A walled hill town at 398 meters on the Tiber, with Etruscan, Roman, and medieval rings stacked one above the other.
22 min by car
Our guide
Our nearest guide, 25 km away
Umbria: the towns, when to go, how to get there
The Umbria guide came out of the letter. Letters from the towns we visit. Free.
Read the guide: Two banks, no sea. 21 towns, the drive and train times, the months, where to eat and sleep.
Paid plans, the moving year and the books are on the membership page.