Marche · Ancona
Loreto
A hilltop pilgrimage town above the Adriatic where, since 1294, the Marian sanctuary has guarded the Holy House of Nazareth.
Picked by Peter Benei
Letter to come
Visiting
- Best time
- May–Sep
- By car
- 28 min from Ancona
- By train
- Station in the comune
- Population
- 13,066
- J11°
- F13°
- M14°
- A16°
- M21°
- J27°
- J30°
- A30°
- S25°
- O21°
- N16°
- D12°
- Best
- Hot or crowded
- Quiet
- Mostly closed
Daytime air temperature, averages for 2020–2024. The sea is warmest in August at 28° and coldest in February at 11°. Weather data by Open-Meteo.com.
Going to the sea? How to find the free beaches in Italy.
Why come
Loreto sits on the right bank of the Musone, twenty-two kilometers southeast of Ancona and four from the Adriatic. According to tradition, on the night between 9 and 10 December 1294 angels carried the Holy House of the Virgin from Nazareth to a laurel grove on this hill, after a brief stop in Illyria following the Crusader expulsion of 1291. A later theory, resting on documents of very doubtful origin, holds that the angels were the Angeli, a Byzantine family linked to the Despots of Epirus, who brought the stones by sea.
The three stone walls of the Santa Casa, 9.5 by 4 meters, stand at the heart of the Basilica della Santa Casa, built between 1469 and 1587 over and around them. Bramante designed the marble revetment that wraps the house; Sansovino, Sangallo and Antonio da Sangallo il Giovane all worked on the building. Around four million pilgrims arrive each year, making Loreto one of the principal Marian sanctuaries in Catholic Europe and the source of the Litany of Loreto.
How to get there
From Ancona (AOI), about 33 min by car.
Rimini (RMI) is about 1 h 36 min away.
By car from the center of Ancona 28 min or Pescara 1 h 31 min.
There is a railway station in the comune, so you can arrive without a car.
Coming from Bologna?
Coming by train into Rimini? Loreto is about 1 h 20 min away by road.
Every town within reach of Ancona airport.
First time driving in Italy? Read our complete manual.
What to see
Basilica della Santa Casa
Built between 1469 and 1587 around the three walls of the Holy House from Nazareth, with contributions from Bramante, Sansovino and the Sangallo family.
Santa Casa
The 9.5 by 4 meter stone house of Mary at the heart of the basilica, wrapped in Bramante's marble revetment, focus of pilgrimage since 1294.
Piazza della Madonna
The main square in front of the basilica, enclosed by the Palazzo Apostolico of Bramante and Sansovino, holds the Fontana Maggiore of Carlo Maderno.
Museo Pontificio Santa Casa
Inside the Palazzo Apostolico, holds tapestries on Raphael cartoons, paintings by Lorenzo Lotto, and ex-voto offerings from centuries of pilgrims.
Cinta muraria
Fifteenth and sixteenth-century walls and bastions built to protect the sanctuary, with the Porta Romana as the historic pilgrim entrance.
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.
AndreinaRistorante
Andreina has two Gambero Rosso forks (88/100), a place in L'Espresso's Top 300 and a La Liste score of 87.5.
GastroBiBistrot
GastroBi holds two Gambero Rosso tables.
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?
Loreto meets both of our rules for a small town.
- 13,066 people, inside our sweet spot of 5,000 to 20,000: a real town, still one community.
- Ancona, a city of 99,533, is 28 min by car. Closer than our 30 to 60 minutes: handy for everything, so check the town still keeps a life of its own.
- A station of its own. Trains are the overlooked way to get around Italy: no parking, straight into the center.
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 13,066, up 1.9% since 2015
- Nearest city Ancona, 28 min drive
- Train station in the comune
- Nearest national health service hospital Osimo, 13 km as the crow flies · how healthcare works in Italy
- Homes in the center: €1,000 to €1,350 per m² to buy, €5.30 to €7.20 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 81% of homes
- Primary school in the comune
- Earthquake zone 2, medium hazard
- Ancona airport (AOI), 33 min drive, the nearest with scheduled flights
- Regional capital Ancona, 28 min drive
If you are moving here
Who lives here
8% of residents are foreign citizens, most often from Albania, Romania and Ukraine, against 9% across Italy. 20 of them come from English-speaking countries or western and northern Europe, mostly France and Germany. There are 225 people over 65 for every 100 children under 15, against 216 across Italy. 18% of homes have no resident, holiday homes and empty ones counted together, against 27% across Italy. Ancona province ranks 30th of 107 in Il Sole 24 Ore's quality of life ranking for 2025.
Health and schools
The nearest emergency room is in Osimo, 13 km as the crow flies. The nearest major one is in Ancona, 18 km away. The nearest children's emergency room is in Ancona, 18 km away. The nearest IB school is International School of Rimini, 108 km as the crow flies. The nearest school listed as international is Marche International School, 13 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, 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 €12,500. 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. In Ancona, the provincial capital, in September 2026, an espresso cost €1.30, a meal in a pizzeria €12.69 and a man's haircut €20.60.
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. 2% of residents live in a zone the national maps rate medium for floods. 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
THE HOLY HOUSE
Three stone walls 9.5 by 4 meters, tradition says they belonged to the Virgin Mary's house in Nazareth, transported here in 1294.
BRAMANTE'S MARBLE
The marble revetment wrapping the Santa Casa was designed by Donato Bramante and carved under Andrea Sansovino with a team that included Baccio Bandinelli.
LITANY OF LORETO
The Marian invocations recited across the Catholic world take their name from this sanctuary, where the form was fixed by the late sixteenth century.
Common questions
- What is Loreto known for?
- Loreto is a hilltop pilgrimage town at 127 meters above the Adriatic where, since 1294, the Marian sanctuary has guarded the Holy House of Nazareth.
- Where is Loreto?
- Loreto is a comune in the province of Ancona, in Marche.
- What is the nearest airport to Loreto?
- The nearest airport with scheduled flights is Ancona (AOI), about 33 min by car.
- Can you get to Loreto without a car?
- Yes. There is a railway station in the comune, so you can arrive by train.
- How long is the drive from Ancona to Loreto?
- About 28 min by car.
- When is the best time to visit Loreto?
- Best in May–Sep. August is the warmest month, averaging 30 degrees, and May the wettest, with about 11 rain days.
- Which other towns are like Loreto?
- Mondolfo, Grottammare and Alba Adriatica.
- How many people live in Loreto?
- 13,066 residents, by ISTAT's count on 1 January 2025.
- Is Loreto a good place to live?
- By the rules in our Where to Move in Italy series, Loreto is a small town that meets both of our rules. The nearest city, Ancona, is 28 min away by car. The nearest national health service hospital is in Osimo, 13 km as the crow flies. Full fibre reaches 81% of homes.
Tags & data designations · numbers · sources
The numbers
- Elevation: 127 m
- Population: 13,066
- Surface area: 17.9 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 Loreto appears in
- The 6 best towns that eat well in the province of AnconaAncona provinceeats well6 towns · smallest 2,168 residents
- The best coastal towns within 90 minutes of AnconaNear Anconacoastalwithin 90 min6 towns · smallest 3,762 residents · closest 28 min away
- The best coastal towns you can reach by train in MarcheMarchecoastalby train6 towns · smallest 13,066 residents
- The best hidden coastal towns in MarcheMarchecoastalhidden6 towns · smallest 3,762 residents
- The 8 best towns you can reach by train that eat well within 90 minutes of AnconaNear Anconaby trainwithin 90 mineats well8 towns · smallest 7,394 residents · closest 28 min away
Similar
Towns like Loreto
What all six share with Loreto: on the Adriatic coast · over 10,000 people · near sea level
Mondolfo
Province: Pesaro e Urbino
both have a railway station in the comune
Grottammare
Province: Ascoli Piceno
both have a railway station in the comune
Alba Adriatica
Province: Teramo
both have a railway station in the comune
Giulianova
Province: Teramo
both have a railway station in the comune
Trinitapoli
Province: Barletta-Andria-Trani
both have a railway station in the comune
Muggia
Province: Trieste
The letter
Loreto 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 Loreto comes up. By Peter & Sophia, from Turin.
The nearest town we have written up is Gubbio, 84 km away. Read its letter →
Paid plans, the moving year and the books are on the membership page.