Abruzzo · Chieti
Lama dei Peligni
A 669-meter Majella village known for chamois, the Cavallone cave, and a prehistoric burial dug from Fonterossi dated 7000 to 5000 BC.
Picked by Peter Benei
Letter to come
Why Lama dei Peligni is on our list
It holds Bandiera Arancione, Città del Tartufo and Città delle Grotte.
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Visiting
- Best time
- May–Oct
- By car
- 1 h 17 min from Pescara
- Population
- 1,021
- J9°
- F11°
- M11°
- A14°
- M19°
- J24°
- J28°
- A27°
- S23°
- O19°
- N14°
- D11°
- Best
- Hot or crowded
- Quiet
- Mostly closed
Daytime air temperature, averages for 2020–2024. Weather data by Open-Meteo.com.
Why come
Lama dei Peligni sits at 669 meters on the southern flanks of the Majella, between the Aventino river and the massif behind it. The name comes from a pre-Latin word for ground where water pools. The earliest evidence of human use here, the so-called Uomo della Maiella, was excavated from Contrada Fonterossi at the start of the twentieth century, a burial dated between 7000 and 5000 BC.
The Grotta del Cavallone opens at 1,475 meters in the wall above town, the highest accessible natural cave in Europe, 1,300 meters of karstic gallery branching into three secondary tunnels. The Maurizio Locati museum at the entrance to the village runs a fenced reserve for the Abruzzo chamois, the species the zoologist worked to reintroduce in the Majella park. The Maiella Brigade fought partisan actions out of these slopes in 1943-44, and the obelisk at San Pietro commemorates them.
How to get there
From Naples (NAP), about 2 h 43 min by car.
Rome Fiumicino (FCO) is about 2 h 56 min away.
By car from the center of Pescara 1 h 17 min or Naples 2 h 47 min.
Coming by train into Pescara Centrale? Lama dei Peligni is about 1 h 18 min away by road.
First time driving in Italy? Read our complete manual.
What to see
Grotta del Cavallone
Karst cave at 1,475 meters, 1,300 meters of gallery on the border with Taranta Peligna, the highest accessible natural cave in Europe.
Museo Naturalistico Maurizio Locati
Wildlife and archaeology museum at the village entrance, dedicated to the zoologist who reintroduced chamois in the Majella park.
Giardino Botanico Michele Tenore
Botanical garden adjacent to the museum, reconstructing Majella flora alongside a Neolithic village display and chamois enclosure.
Sito di Fonterossi
Excavation area where the so-called Uomo della Maiella, a prehistoric burial dated 7000 to 5000 BC, was discovered.
Chiesa di San Nicola
Parish church on the small piazza, with the war memorial obelisk to Maiella Brigade partisans nearby.
Living here
Could you live here?
Lama dei Peligni is at the end of the road.
- A village of 1,021. The nearest town of 5,000 people, Casoli, is 24 min away: past our 15-minute rule, which makes this the end of the road.
- Chieti, a city of 48,403, is 1 h 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 1,021, down 21.7% since 2015 (Italy's emptying towns)
- Nearest city Chieti, 1 h drive
- Nearest national health service hospital Sulmona, 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
All the numbers Common questions, designations, lists and sources.
More about living here
- Remote
- Pharmacy: none mapped
- High school within a 30-minute drive
- Full fibre reaches 100% of homes
- Primary school in the comune
- Earthquake zone 1, Italy's highest hazard
- Pescara airport (PSR), 1 h 23 min drive, the nearest with scheduled flights
- Regional capital L'Aquila, 2 h 7 min drive
If you are moving here
Who lives here
6% of residents are foreign citizens, most often from Romania, Albania and Serbia, against 9% across Italy. There are 579 people over 65 for every 100 children under 15, against 216 across Italy. 56% 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 Sulmona, 21 km as the crow flies. The nearest major one is in Caserta, 107 km away. The nearest children's emergency room is in Pescara, 46 km away. The nearest IB school is St. Stephen's School, 142 km as the crow flies. The nearest school listed as international is Canadian College Italy, 27 km away.
Information, not medical advice. Confirm with a professional.
Taxes
A home that is not your main one pays 1.05% 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 €8,000. 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 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. 23% 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
GROTTA DEL CAVALLONE
Europe's highest accessible natural cave at 1,475 meters, 1,300 meters of karst gallery branching into three tunnels.
ABRUZZO CHAMOIS
Locati museum and fenced reserve, the center of the chamois reintroduction program for the Majella National Park.
UOMO DELLA MAIELLA
Prehistoric burial from Fonterossi dated 7000 to 5000 BC, the oldest documented human presence on the massif.
Common questions
- What is Lama dei Peligni known for?
- Lama dei Peligni is a 669-meter Majella village known for chamois, the Cavallone cave, and a prehistoric burial dug from Fonterossi dated 7000 to 5000 BC.
- Where is Lama dei Peligni?
- Lama dei Peligni is a comune in the province of Chieti, in Abruzzo, at 669 meters above sea level.
- What is the nearest airport to Lama dei Peligni?
- The nearest airport with scheduled flights is Pescara (PSR), about 1 h 23 min by car.
- How long is the drive from Pescara to Lama dei Peligni?
- About 1 h 17 min by car.
- When is the best time to visit Lama dei Peligni?
- Best in May–Oct. July is the warmest month, averaging 28 degrees, and May the wettest, with about 16 rain days.
- Which other towns are like Lama dei Peligni?
- Savignano Irpino, Trentinara and Pacentro.
- How many people live in Lama dei Peligni?
- 1,021 residents, by ISTAT's count on 1 January 2025.
- Is Lama dei Peligni a good place to live?
- By the rules in our Where to Move in Italy series, Lama dei Peligni is at the end of the road: the nearest town of 5,000 people, Casoli, is 24 min away. The nearest city, Chieti, is 1 h away by car. The nearest national health service hospital is in Sulmona, 21 km as the crow flies. Full fibre reaches 100% of homes.
Tags & data designations · numbers · sources
Landscape
The numbers
- Elevation: 669 m
- Population: 1,021
- Surface area: 31.37 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 Lama dei Peligni
What all six share with Lama dei Peligni: mountain-valley towns · under 3,000 people · high up, between 600 and 1,000 metres
The letter
Lama dei Peligni 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 Lama dei Peligni comes up. By Peter & Sophia, from Turin.
The nearest town we have written up is Scheggino, 134 km away. Read its letter →
Paid plans, the moving year and the books are on the membership page.