Lazio · Rieti
Labro
A 346-person stone borgo at 628 meters, restored since the 1960s by a Belgian architect and his descendants.
Picked by Peter Benei
Letter to come
Why Labro is on our list
It holds Bandiera Arancione.
The nearest town with a letter is Terni, No. 88, 24 min by car.
Subscribe and you get Labro's letter the day it comes out.
Visiting
- Best time
- May–Oct
- By car
- 1 h 26 min from Perugia
- Population
- 346
- J9°
- F11°
- M12°
- A15°
- M20°
- J25°
- J30°
- A29°
- S24°
- 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
The village sits on the Lazio side of the Umbrian border, its stone houses climbing a slope that faces east over Lake Piediluco and the Reatini mountains. The name descends from the family that has held the central castle for more than a thousand years, an unbroken tenure from a royal grant to the present owners' later dynastic name. That family shaped the top of the village around the castle and the church below it; the rest of the centro storico, some twelve hectares of stone houses, fell empty by the 1960s.
The Belgian architect who began buying and restoring those houses did so with his wife, and the project passed to his children, who still own and run much of the centro. Two families, one holding the summit since the tenth century and one rebuilding the slope since the twentieth, account for nearly all of the village that stands today. Labro survived depopulation not by chance but by becoming, in effect, two long private restorations laid one above the other.
How to get there
From Rome Fiumicino (FCO), about 1 h 52 min by car.
Ancona (AOI) is about 2 h 43 min away.
By car from the center of Perugia 1 h 26 min or Pescara 2 h 23 min.
Coming by train into Perugia? Labro is about 1 h 26 min away by road.
Every town within reach of Rome Fiumicino airport.
First time driving in Italy? Read our complete manual.
What to see
Castello Nobili-Vitelleschi
The castle sits at the top of the village, reached by narrow stone alleys climbing from the lower gate. Still privately owned.
Chiesa di Santa Maria Maggiore
Parish church on the main square of the centro storico, with works of devotional art collected by the family that has long held the castle above it.
Belvedere su Lago di Piediluco
Eastern viewpoint at 628 meters dropping to Lake Piediluco at 375 meters, with the Reatini and Sabini ranges in the background.
Centro storico
Roughly twelve hectares of stone houses along narrow streets, restored since the 1960s under a single coordinated project run by one family.
Living here
Could you live here?
Labro is at the end of the road.
- A village of 346. The nearest town of 5,000 people, Rieti, is 21 min away: past our 15-minute rule, which makes this the end of the road.
- Rieti, a city of 45,083, 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 346, down 12.2% since 2015 (Italy's emptying towns)
- Nearest city Rieti, 21 min drive
- Nearest national health service hospital Terni, 13 km as the crow flies · how healthcare works in Italy
- Homes in the center: €650 to €900 per m² to buy, €3.30 to €4.20 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 51% of homes
- No primary school in the comune's register
- Earthquake zone 2, medium hazard
- Perugia airport (PEG), 1 h 27 min drive, the nearest with scheduled flights
- Regional capital Rome, 1 h 41 min drive
If you are moving here
Who lives here
13% of residents are foreign citizens, most often from Bulgaria, Romania and Belgium, against 9% across Italy. 10 of them come from English-speaking countries or western and northern Europe, mostly Belgium. There are 300 people over 65 for every 100 children under 15, against 216 across Italy. 62% of homes have no resident, holiday homes and empty ones counted together, against 27% across Italy. Rieti province ranks 75th of 107 in Il Sole 24 Ore's quality of life ranking for 2025.
Health and schools
The nearest emergency room is in Terni, 13 km as the crow flies, and it is a major one. The nearest IB school is Viterbo International School, 58 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, charged on the cadastral value rather than the price. A main home pays none unless it is in a luxury category. The town adds 0.6% 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 Lazio spends about €2,270 a month, €580 of it on food, against about €2,170 across Italy. A family of three pays about €647 a year for water, on the Lazio 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. The national maps show no residents in a high or medium flood zone. 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
NOBILI-VITELLESCHI
The same family has held the castle since 956 AD, when King Otto I granted the territory with twelve nearby castles.
VAN MOSSEVELDE
Belgian architect Ivan Van Mossevelde began buying and restoring abandoned houses in the 1960s; his family still owns much of the centro.
PIEDILUCO
Lake straddling the Lazio-Umbria border 250 meters below the village, used for rowing competitions on its 1.58 square kilometers.
PROSCIUTTO AMATRICIANO
The commune lies inside the Prosciutto Amatriciano IGP production zone.
Common questions
- What is Labro known for?
- Labro is a 346-person stone borgo at 628 meters, restored since the 1960s by a Belgian architect and his descendants.
- Where is Labro?
- Labro is a comune in the province of Rieti, in Lazio.
- What is the nearest airport to Labro?
- The nearest airport with scheduled flights is Perugia (PEG), about 1 h 27 min by car.
- How long is the drive from Perugia to Labro?
- About 1 h 26 min by car.
- When is the best time to visit Labro?
- Best in May–Oct. July is the warmest month, averaging 30 degrees, and May the wettest, with about 15 rain days.
- Which other towns are like Labro?
- Castel di Tora, Orvinio and Capranica Prenestina.
- How many people live in Labro?
- 346 residents, by ISTAT's count on 1 January 2025.
- Is Labro a good place to live?
- By the rules in our Where to Move in Italy series, Labro is at the end of the road: the nearest town of 5,000 people, Rieti, is 21 min away. The nearest city, Rieti, is 21 min away by car. The nearest national health service hospital is in Terni, 13 km as the crow flies. Full fibre reaches 51% of homes.
Tags & data designations · numbers · sources
Recognized as
Landscape
The numbers
- Elevation: 628 m
- Population: 346
- Surface area: 11.75 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 Labro appears in
- The 6 best mountain towns within 90 minutes of TerniNear Ternimountainwithin 90 min6 towns · smallest 273 residents · closest 26 min away
- The best mountain towns within 90 minutes of PerugiaNear Perugiamountainwithin 90 min7 towns · smallest 346 residents · closest 64 min away
- The best mountain towns in LazioLaziomountain9 towns · smallest 273 residents
Near here, with a letter
- Written about. No. 88.
Terni
Province: Terni
Umbria's second city, rebuilt around its steelworks, home of Saint Valentine and seven kilometers from the Cascata delle Marmore.
24 min by car
- Written about. No. 86.
Scheggino
Province: Perugia
Triangular castle village on the banks of the Nera at 280 meters, where the first commercial Italian truffle company was founded in 1852.
22 km away
- Written about. No. 82.
Narni
Province: Terni
Narni is a hilltop town on a travertine outcrop above the Nera valley whose Latin name, Narnia, gave C.S. Lewis a word for a fictional kingdom he never set foot in.
23 km away
Our guide
Our nearest guide, 54 km away
Tuscia: the towns, when to go, how to get there
The Tuscia guide came out of the letter. Letters from the towns we visit. Free.
Read the guide: The land Rome took twice. 16 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.