Abruzzo · Chieti
Guardiagrele
The 576-meter terrazza d'Abruzzo on the Majella's foothills, hometown of fifteenth-century goldsmith Nicola da Guardiagrele and seat of the Majella park.
Picked by Peter Benei
Letter to come
Why Guardiagrele is on our list
It holds Borghi più belli d'Italia and Cittaslow.
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Visiting
- Best time
- Apr–Oct
- By car
- 47 min from Pescara
- Population
- 8,250
- J9°
- F11°
- M12°
- A14°
- M19°
- J24°
- J28°
- A27°
- S23°
- O19°
- N14°
- D10°
- Best
- Hot or crowded
- Quiet
- Mostly closed
Daytime air temperature, averages for 2020–2024. Weather data by Open-Meteo.com.
Why come
Guardiagrele sits at 576 meters on the eastern Majella foothills, thirty kilometers from Pescara. Gabriele D'Annunzio called it the terrazza d'Abruzzo for the views over the mountains and valleys from its piazzas. Documented in an eleventh-century papal bull as a villa named Grele, the town grew through the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries as a stronghold of the Kingdom of Naples, with permission from the king to mint coins.
It produced the late medieval goldsmith Nicola Gallucci, known as Nicola da Guardiagrele (c.1385-c.1462), trained on Gothic and Tuscan models including Lorenzo Ghiberti, who left work in cathedrals across Abruzzo. The collegiate church of Santa Maria Maggiore, built at the start of the thirteenth century outside the walls and absorbed into the town in the centuries after, carries a fifteenth-century portal with a Coronation of the Virgin lunette by Nicola, now in the Duomo museum. Wrought-iron, copper and gold work still operate from workshops in the centro storico.
How to get there
From Ancona (AOI), about 2 h 28 min by car.
Rome Fiumicino (FCO) is about 2 h 44 min away.
By car from the center of Pescara 47 min or Ancona 2 h 23 min.
Coming from Rome?
Coming by train into Pescara Centrale? Guardiagrele is about 50 min away by road.
First time driving in Italy? Read our complete manual.
What to see
Collegiata di Santa Maria Maggiore
Thirteenth-century collegiate church with a massive bell tower, fifteenth-century portal, and the Nicola da Guardiagrele Coronation lunette in its museum.
Museo del Duomo
Cathedral museum holding Nicola da Guardiagrele's Coronation of the Virgin in Majella stone, his processional cross of 1431, and sacred works of the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries.
Botteghe del rame e del ferro battuto
Active copper and wrought-iron workshops in the centro storico, the surviving craft tradition that produced Nicola Gallucci in the late fourteenth century.
Terrazza d'Abruzzo
The viewpoints D'Annunzio named, with panoramas across the Majella valleys to the east and the Adriatic in clear weather.
Chiesa di San Francesco
Franciscan church founded in 1276 off the main corso, with a Gothic portal of around 1320 and a Baroque interior, and the relics of San Nicola Greco.
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.
Villa MaiellaRistorante
Villa Maiella carries one Michelin star, three Gambero Rosso forks (90/100), plus a place in L'Espresso's Top 300.
La Grotta dei RaselliRistorante
La Grotta dei Raselli has a Slow Food snail to its name.
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?
Guardiagrele meets both of our rules for a small town.
- 8,250 people, inside our sweet spot of 5,000 to 20,000: a real town, still one community.
- Chieti, a city of 48,403, is 33 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 8,250, down 9.4% since 2015
- Nearest city Chieti, 33 min drive
- Nearest national health service hospital Lanciano, 15 km as the crow flies · how healthcare works in Italy
- Homes in the center: €720 to €1,050 per m² to buy, €3.40 to €5.10 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
- Commuter belt
- Pharmacy in town
- High school within a 30-minute drive
- Full fibre reaches 96% of homes
- Primary school in the comune
- Earthquake zone 1, Italy's highest hazard
- Pescara airport (PSR), 54 min drive, the nearest with scheduled flights
- Market day Sunday
- Regional capital L'Aquila, 1 h 55 min drive
If you are moving here
Who lives here
6% of residents are foreign citizens, most often from Albania, Romania and Morocco, against 9% across Italy. 19 of them come from English-speaking countries or western and northern Europe, mostly the United Kingdom. There are 304 people over 65 for every 100 children under 15, against 216 across Italy. 33% 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, 15 km as the crow flies. The nearest major one is in Caserta, 124 km away. The nearest children's emergency room is in Pescara, 29 km away. The nearest IB school is St. Stephen's School, 147 km as the crow flies. The nearest school listed as international is Canadian College Italy, 15 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 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 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. 9% 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
NICOLA DA GUARDIAGRELE
Late medieval goldsmith and sculptor (c.1385-c.1462) trained on Ghiberti, who left work in cathedrals across the region.
SANTA MARIA MAGGIORE
Thirteenth-century collegiate with a fifteenth-century portal and Nicola's Coronation of the Virgin lunette in the Duomo museum.
COPPER AND IRON
Working botteghe in the centro storico carrying the wrought-iron, copper and goldsmith craft that defined the town through the Middle Ages.
Common questions
- What is Guardiagrele known for?
- Guardiagrele is the 576-meter terrazza d'Abruzzo on the Majella's foothills, hometown of fifteenth-century goldsmith Nicola da Guardiagrele and seat of the Majella park.
- Where is Guardiagrele?
- Guardiagrele is a comune in the province of Chieti, in Abruzzo, at 576 meters above sea level.
- What is the nearest airport to Guardiagrele?
- The nearest airport with scheduled flights is Pescara (PSR), about 54 min by car.
- How long is the drive from Pescara to Guardiagrele?
- About 47 min by car.
- When is the best time to visit Guardiagrele?
- Best in Apr–Oct. July is the warmest month, averaging 28 degrees, and May the wettest, with about 16 rain days.
- Which other towns are like Guardiagrele?
- Civitella del Tronto, Campli and Pianella.
- How many people live in Guardiagrele?
- 8,250 residents, by ISTAT's count on 1 January 2025.
- Is Guardiagrele a good place to live?
- By the rules in our Where to Move in Italy series, Guardiagrele is a small town that meets both of our rules. The nearest city, Chieti, is 33 min away by car. The nearest national health service hospital is in Lanciano, 15 km as the crow flies. Full fibre reaches 96% of homes.
Tags & data designations · numbers · sources
Recognized as
Landscape
The numbers
- Elevation: 576 m
- Population: 8,250
- Surface area: 56.5 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 Guardiagrele appears in
- The 6 best hill towns in the province of ChietiChieti provincehill town6 towns · smallest 865 residents
- The 6 prettiest villages with a serious restaurant within 90 minutes of PescaraNear Pescarawithin 90 minserious restaurantprettiest villages6 towns · smallest 1,058 residents · closest 48 min away
- The best hidden towns inside a national park that eat well within 90 minutes of PescaraNear Pescarainside a parkwithin 90 mineats wellhidden6 towns · smallest 659 residents · closest 48 min away
- The best towns that live slowly in AbruzzoAbruzzoslow living6 towns · smallest 2,202 residents
- The best towns inside a national park that have a serious restaurant in AbruzzoAbruzzoinside a parkserious restaurant7 towns · smallest 659 residents
- The prettiest villages that eat well in AbruzzoAbruzzoeats wellprettiest villages7 towns · smallest 1,058 residents
Similar
Towns like Guardiagrele
What all six share with Guardiagrele: inland, away from the coast · between 3,000 and 10,000 people · hill towns
The letter
Guardiagrele 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 Guardiagrele comes up. By Peter & Sophia, from Turin.
The nearest town we have written up is Scheggino, 128 km away. Read its letter →
Paid plans, the moving year and the books are on the membership page.