Marche · Pesaro e Urbino
Gabicce Mare
The northernmost Marche seaside on the Adriatic, where the coast meets the cliffs of the Parco del San Bartolo at the Romagna border.
Picked by Peter Benei
Letter to come
Why Gabicce Mare is on our list
It holds Bandiera Blu.
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Visiting
- Best time
- May–Sep
- By car
- 26 min from Rimini
- Population
- 5,436
- J10°
- F12°
- M14°
- A17°
- M21°
- J27°
- J30°
- A29°
- S25°
- O21°
- N15°
- D11°
- Best
- Hot or crowded
- Quiet
- Mostly closed
Daytime air temperature, averages for 2020–2024. The sea is warmest in August at 29° and coldest in January at 9°. Weather data by Open-Meteo.com.
Going to the sea? How to find the free beaches in Italy.
Why come
Gabicce Mare sits on the Adriatic at the northernmost point of the Marche, sixteen kilometers north of Pesaro and bordering Cattolica in Emilia-Romagna's province of Rimini. South of the beach, the cliffs of Monte San Bartolo rise abruptly, the only stretch of high coast between Trieste and the Conero, so the town marks the hinge where a long flat sand shore gives way to headland. Sixteenth-century maps placed the Romagna border further south than it runs today, taking in the upper hamlet inside what is now the park.
The archaeological record on the headland runs from the Neolithic at Monte Castellaro through a Roman site on the Via Flaminia to a lost Greek-origin port below the cliffs, layers of settlement stacked on the same few kilometers of high ground. The town is really two places joined by geography rather than one: a beach that belongs to the sand coast running north, and a cliff and ridge system that belongs to the rock coast running south. Nowhere else on this shore does the flat Adriatic strip end so abruptly against high ground.
How to get there
From Rimini (RMI), about 41 min by car.
Ancona (AOI) is about 58 min away.
By car from the center of Ancona 1 h 11 min or Bologna 1 h 35 min.
Coming from Bologna?
Coming by train into Rimini? Gabicce Mare is about 25 min away by road.
Every town within reach of Rimini airport.
First time driving in Italy? Read our complete manual.
What to see
Spiaggia di Gabicce Mare
Sand beach at the southernmost extension of the Riviera Romagnola strip, the family beach end of the upper Marche coast, backed by the town rather than the cliffs.
Parco Naturale del Monte San Bartolo
Cliffs, ridge and a run of Renaissance villas above the sea, with fossil fish embedded in the rock face.
Gabicce Monte
The hamlet climbs above the seafront rather than sitting on it, so the same stretch of coast reads differently from up here, the beach town below, the cliff line running south.
Vallugola e Colombarone
A lost Greek-origin port site and the archaeological remains of a late-Roman villa on the Via Flaminia, both reached within the park's grounds.
Fiorenzuola di Focara
A cliff-top medieval village reached inside the park, mentioned by Dante in Inferno XXVIII, once the marker of the historic Romagna-Marche border.
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.
Dalla GiocondaRistorante
Dalla Gioconda carries three Gambero Rosso forks (90/100), plus a place in L'Espresso's Top 300.
PosillipoRistorante
One Gambero Rosso fork (76/100) for Posillipo, and 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?
Gabicce Mare meets our one rule for a small town.
- 5,436 people, inside our sweet spot of 5,000 to 20,000: a real town, still one community.
- Pesaro, a city of 95,266, is 21 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 5,436, down 6.5% since 2015
- Nearest city Pesaro, 21 min drive
- Nearest national health service hospital Cattolica, 2 km as the crow flies · how healthcare works in Italy
- Homes in the center: €2,450 to €3,400 per m² to buy, €9.10 to €13.50 per m² a month to rent
All the numbers Common questions, designations, lists and sources.
More about living here
- Commuter belt
- Pharmacy in town
- High school within a 30-minute drive
- Full fibre reaches 98% of homes
- Primary school in the comune
- Earthquake zone 2, medium hazard
- Rimini airport (RMI), 41 min drive, the nearest with scheduled flights
- Market day Thursday, May to September
- Regional capital Ancona, 1 h 11 min drive
If you are moving here
Who lives here
9% of residents are foreign citizens, most often from Ukraine, Romania and Albania, against 9% across Italy. 16 of them come from English-speaking countries or western and northern Europe, mostly Germany. There are 324 people over 65 for every 100 children under 15, against 216 across Italy. 44% of homes have no resident, holiday homes and empty ones counted together, against 27% across Italy. Pesaro e Urbino province ranks 31st of 107 in Il Sole 24 Ore's quality of life ranking for 2025.
Health and schools
The nearest emergency room is in Riccione, 9 km as the crow flies. The nearest major one is in Rimini, 20 km away. The nearest IB school is International School of Rimini, 18 km as the crow flies.
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 at the 2025 rate, 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 is not in a qualifying area.
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.
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. 8% of residents live in a zone the national maps rate high for floods, 14% in a high or medium one. Under 1% 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
RIVIERA ROMAGNOLA
Northernmost Marche seaside, culturally part of the Riviera Romagnola continuum running up to Cervia, with a Bandiera Blu beach.
PARCO DEL SAN BARTOLO
1,600 hectares of cliff and ridge between Gabicce and Pesaro, established 1994, the only high coast of the central Adriatic.
GABICCE MONTE
Hilltop frazione above the beach with the wide view over both coasts, the Cattolica strip north and the San Bartolo cliffs south.
Common questions
- What is Gabicce Mare known for?
- Gabicce Mare is the northernmost Marche seaside on the Adriatic, where the coast meets the cliffs of the Parco del San Bartolo at the Romagna border.
- Where is Gabicce Mare?
- Gabicce Mare is a comune in the province of Pesaro e Urbino, in Marche, at 8 meters above sea level.
- What is the nearest airport to Gabicce Mare?
- The nearest airport with scheduled flights is Rimini (RMI), about 41 min by car.
- How long is the drive from Ancona to Gabicce Mare?
- About 1 h 11 min by car.
- When is the best time to visit Gabicce Mare?
- Best in May–Sep. July is the warmest month, averaging 30 degrees, and January the wettest, with about 10 rain days.
- Which other towns are like Gabicce Mare?
- Gradara, Numana and Sirolo.
- How many people live in Gabicce Mare?
- 5,436 residents, by ISTAT's count on 1 January 2025.
- Is Gabicce Mare a good place to live?
- By the rules in our Where to Move in Italy series, Gabicce Mare is a small town that meets our one rule. The nearest city, Pesaro, is 21 min away by car. The nearest national health service hospital is in Cattolica, 2 km as the crow flies. Full fibre reaches 98% of homes.
Tags & data designations · numbers · sources
Recognized as
Landscape
The numbers
- Elevation: 8 m
- Population: 5,436
- Surface area: 4.94 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 Gabicce Mare appears in
- The best hidden coastal towns in MarcheMarchecoastalhidden6 towns · smallest 3,762 residents
- The best towns with a serious restaurant in the province of Pesaro e UrbinoPesaro e Urbino provinceserious restaurant6 towns · smallest 4,162 residents
- The 9 best beach towns in MarcheMarcheclean beach9 towns · smallest 3,762 residents
- The 9 best towns inside a nature park in MarcheMarcheinside a park9 towns · smallest 1,648 residents
- The 10 best hidden towns with a serious restaurant in MarcheMarcheserious restauranthidden10 towns · smallest 3,762 residents
- The best coastal towns within two hours of BolognaNear Bolognacoastalwithin 2 hours10 towns · smallest 4,856 residents · closest 62 min away
Featured on
Gabicce Mare appears on this themed pick from our Collections:
Similar
Towns like Gabicce Mare
What all six share with Gabicce Mare: on the Adriatic coast · between 3,000 and 10,000 people · near sea level
The letter
Gabicce Mare 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 Gabicce Mare comes up. By Peter & Sophia, from Turin.
The nearest town we have written up is Gubbio, 70 km away. Read its letter →
Paid plans, the moving year and the books are on the membership page.