Abruzzo · Chieti
Fara San Martino
A pasta-making town, where the Verde river runs out of a two-meter slot in the Majella wall.
Picked by Peter Benei
Letter to come
Why Fara San Martino is on our list
It holds Bandiera Arancione, Borghi Autentici and Comuni Virtuosi.
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Visiting
- Best time
- Apr–Oct
- By car
- 1 h 5 min from Pescara
- Population
- 1,261
- J10°
- F13°
- M13°
- A16°
- M21°
- J26°
- J29°
- A29°
- S24°
- O20°
- N15°
- D12°
- Best
- Hot or crowded
- Quiet
- Mostly closed
Daytime air temperature, averages for 2020–2024. Weather data by Open-Meteo.com.
Why come
The name is Lombard: Fara meant a settled clan, and San Martino was added for the Benedictine abbey walled into the gorge above the village. The town sits on the eastern slopes of the Majella, the borgo built on the slope below the rock and the gorge cutting up behind it into the Valle Santo Spirito, which rises toward Monte Amaro. Upper valley and lower town are joined by the same water: the Verde emerges from the karst springs at the gorge's foot and has run the pasta mills along the river since the nineteenth century, Delverde arriving in 1967 and Cocco still shipping from the same valley today. A geography this narrow, a river this cold, and a name carried by a Lombard clan and a buried abbey: the town reads as a single system where the rock, the water and the work in the valley below are the same story told from different ends.
How to get there
From Ancona (AOI), about 2 h 44 min by car.
Naples (NAP) is about 2 h 49 min away.
By car from the center of Pescara 1 h 5 min, Ancona 2 h 41 min or Rome 2 h 48 min.
Coming by train into Pescara Centrale? Fara San Martino is about 1 h 8 min away by road.
First time driving in Italy? Read our complete manual.
What to see
Gole di San Martino
Walking from the borgo into the gorge takes ten minutes and drops the temperature by five degrees, the rock walls closing to the two-meter slot at the narrowest point.
Monastero di San Martino in Valle
Abbey ruins walled into the gorge above the village, buried by the 1818 flood and dug out again from 2009 onward.
Valle Santo Spirito
Long Apennine valley rising from the gorge toward Monte Amaro, the second-highest peak in the central Apennines.
Centro storico
Small medieval borgo of stone houses on the slope, with the Chiesa di San Remigio as the parish church and pasta mills along the river.
Sorgenti del Verde
Karst springs at the foot of the gorge, the cold water source that De Cecco, Delverde and Cocco have used since 1886.
Living here
Could you live here?
Fara San Martino is a village with a town close by.
- A village of 1,261, with Casoli (5,092 people) 14 min away for the shopping and a meal out. Our rule is a town within 15 minutes.
- Chieti, a city of 48,403, is 50 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 1,261, down 13.1% since 2015 (Italy's emptying towns)
- Nearest city Chieti, 50 min drive
- Nearest national health service hospital Lanciano, 21 km as the crow flies · how healthcare works in Italy
- Homes in the center: €455 to €680 per m² to buy, €2.00 to €2.90 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
- Remote
- Pharmacy in town
- Nearest high school over ~30 minutes away
- Full fibre reaches 99% of homes
- Primary school in the comune
- Earthquake zone 1, Italy's highest hazard
- Pescara airport (PSR), 1 h 15 min drive, the nearest with scheduled flights
- Regional capital L'Aquila, 2 h 13 min drive
If you are moving here
Who lives here
3% of residents are foreign citizens, most often from Romania, against 9% across Italy. There are 350 people over 65 for every 100 children under 15, against 216 across Italy. 48% of homes have no resident, holiday homes and empty ones counted together, against 27% across Italy. Chieti province ranks 62nd of 107 in Il Sole 24 Ore's quality of life ranking for 2025.
Health and schools
The nearest emergency room is in Lanciano, 21 km as the crow flies. The nearest major one is in Caserta, 112 km away. The nearest children's emergency room is in Pescara, 41 km away. The nearest IB school is St. Stephen's School, 144 km as the crow flies. The nearest school listed as international is Canadian College Italy, 22 km away.
Information, not medical advice. Confirm with a professional.
Taxes
A home that is not your main one pays 1% 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 between 0.6% and 0.8% to your income tax, depending on your income. 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.
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. The national maps show no residents in a high or medium flood zone. 15% 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
PASTA
De Cecco founded here in 1886, Delverde and Cocco still in operation; the town is called the world capital of dry pasta.
GOLE DI SAN MARTINO
Two-meter slot gorge cut into the Majella wall, with the Verde river running out at its base and the abbey ruins inside.
MAJELLA NATIONAL PARK
The eastern gateway into Majella park, with trails climbing 2,300 meters from the gorge to Monte Amaro's summit.
Common questions
- What is Fara San Martino known for?
- Fara San Martino is a pasta-making town at 440 meters, where the Verde river runs out of a two-meter slot in the Majella wall.
- Where is Fara San Martino?
- Fara San Martino is a comune in the province of Chieti, in Abruzzo.
- What is the nearest airport to Fara San Martino?
- The nearest airport with scheduled flights is Pescara (PSR), about 1 h 15 min by car.
- How long is the drive from Pescara to Fara San Martino?
- About 1 h 5 min by car.
- When is the best time to visit Fara San Martino?
- Best in Apr–Oct. July is the warmest month, averaging 29 degrees, and May the wettest, with about 17 rain days.
- Which other towns are like Fara San Martino?
- Archi, Poggiorsini and Aiello Calabro.
- How many people live in Fara San Martino?
- 1,261 residents, by ISTAT's count on 1 January 2025.
- Is Fara San Martino a good place to live?
- By the rules in our Where to Move in Italy series, Fara San Martino is a village with a town of 5,000 people within 15 minutes (Casoli, 14 min). The nearest city, Chieti, is 50 min away by car. The nearest national health service hospital is in Lanciano, 21 km as the crow flies. Full fibre reaches 99% of homes.
Tags & data designations · numbers · sources
Landscape
The numbers
- Elevation: 440 m
- Population: 1,261
- Surface area: 44.69 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 Fara San Martino
What all six share with Fara San Martino: inland, away from the coast · under 3,000 people · hill towns
The letter
Fara San Martino 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 Fara San Martino comes up. By Peter & Sophia, from Turin.
The nearest town we have written up is Scheggino, 132 km away. Read its letter →
Paid plans, the moving year and the books are on the membership page.