Abruzzo · Pescara
Loreto Aprutino
A hilltop town in the Aprutino olive country, with a fifteenth-century Judgment fresco and a Castelli majolica collection.
Picked by Peter Benei
Letter to come
Why Loreto Aprutino is on our list
It holds Città del Vino and Città dell'Olio.
Subscribe and you get Loreto Aprutino's letter the day it comes out.
Visiting
- Best time
- Apr–Oct
- By car
- 38 min from Pescara
- Population
- 7,041
- J11°
- F13°
- M14°
- A17°
- M22°
- J27°
- J31°
- A30°
- S25°
- O21°
- N15°
- D12°
- Best
- Hot or crowded
- Quiet
- Mostly closed
Daytime air temperature, averages for 2020–2024. Weather data by Open-Meteo.com.
Why come
Loreto Aprutino sits on a hill twenty kilometers inland from Pescara, in the so-called Golden Triangle of Abruzzo olive oil that it shares with Pianella and Moscufo. Pre-Roman necropoleis at Colle-Fiorano and Farina-Cardito show a settlement long before the medieval town. The Romanesque-Gothic church of Santa Maria in Piano, built around 1280, holds the Giudizio particolare delle anime, a wall fresco in encaustic technique that shows souls crossing a bridge thin as a human hair, falling into a river of boiling pitch if not saved; the Aquinas family commissioned the cycle.
Castello Chiola dominates the ridge above the town, restored by the Chiola family, who owned it from 1843 to 1995. The olive-oil tradition runs to the fourth century BC; the local DOP is Aprutino Pescarese, and the town's Museo dell'Olio explains the chain from grove to bottle. The Acerbo Castelli ceramics collection covers majolica from the fifteenth to the nineteenth century.
How to get there
From Ancona (AOI), about 2 h 11 min by car.
Rome Fiumicino (FCO) is about 2 h 50 min away.
By car from the center of Pescara 38 min or Ancona 2 h 6 min.
Coming by train into Pescara Centrale? Loreto Aprutino is about 38 min away by road.
First time driving in Italy? Read our complete manual.
What to see
Chiesa di Santa Maria in Piano
Church from 1280 with the encaustic fresco Giudizio particolare delle anime, the bridge-of-hair Judgment commissioned by the Aquinas family.
Castello Chiola
Medieval castle on the highest point of the ridge, restored by the Chiola family after 1843, now a hotel and still the dominant skyline feature.
Museo Acerbo delle Ceramiche di Castelli
Collection of Castelli majolica from the fifteenth to nineteenth century, the most prestigious ceramic tradition of Abruzzo.
Museo dell'Olio
Olive-oil museum walking through the chain from grove to mill to bottle, in a town that has pressed oil since the fourth century BC.
Necropoli di Colle-Fiorano e Farina-Cardito
Pre-Roman burial sites attesting to settlement of the hill long before the medieval town took shape.
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.
La BilanciaTrattoria
La Bilancia has a Slow Food snail and a Gambero Rosso listing.
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 Aprutino meets both of our rules for a small town.
- 7,041 people, inside our sweet spot of 5,000 to 20,000: a real town, still one community.
- Montesilvano, a city of 53,602, is 30 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 7,041, down 6.5% since 2015
- Nearest city Montesilvano, 30 min drive
- Nearest national health service hospital Penne, 7 km as the crow flies · how healthcare works in Italy
- Homes in the center: €500 to €750 per m² to buy, €2.00 to €3.00 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
- In-between
- Pharmacy in town
- High school within a 30-minute drive
- Full fibre reaches 89% of homes
- Primary school in the comune
- Earthquake zone 2, medium hazard
- Pescara airport (PSR), 44 min drive, the nearest with scheduled flights
- Regional capital L'Aquila, 1 h 44 min drive
If you are moving here
Who lives here
5% of residents are foreign citizens, most often from Romania, Morocco and Ukraine, against 9% across Italy. 36 of them come from English-speaking countries or western and northern Europe, mostly the United Kingdom, the United States and France. There are 245 people over 65 for every 100 children under 15, against 216 across Italy. 28% of homes have no resident, holiday homes and empty ones counted together, against 27% across Italy. Pescara province ranks 40th of 107 in Il Sole 24 Ore's quality of life ranking for 2025.
Health and schools
The nearest emergency room is in Penne, 7 km as the crow flies. The nearest major one is in Terni, 110 km away. The nearest children's emergency room is in Pescara, 18 km away. The nearest IB school is Acorn International School, 136 km as the crow flies. The nearest school listed as international is Canadian College Italy, 40 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 €8,500. 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. In Pescara, the provincial capital, in September 2026, an espresso cost €1.55, a meal in a pizzeria €10.62 and a man's haircut €19.36.
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. Under 1% of residents live in a zone the national maps rate high for floods, under 1% in a high or medium one. 5% 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
APRUTINO OIL
Producer of DOP Aprutino Pescarese, part of the Golden Triangle of Abruzzo olive oil with Pianella and Moscufo.
JUDGMENT FRESCO
Encaustic Judgment scene at Santa Maria in Piano, with souls crossing a hair-thin bridge over boiling pitch, commissioned by the Aquinas family.
CASTELLI MAJOLICA
Acerbo collection covering five centuries of Castelli ceramics, the most prestigious majolica school in Abruzzo.
Common questions
- What is Loreto Aprutino known for?
- Loreto Aprutino is a hilltop town at 290 meters in the Aprutino olive country, with a fifteenth-century Judgment fresco and a Castelli majolica collection.
- Where is Loreto Aprutino?
- Loreto Aprutino is a comune in the province of Pescara, in Abruzzo.
- What is the nearest airport to Loreto Aprutino?
- The nearest airport with scheduled flights is Pescara (PSR), about 44 min by car.
- How long is the drive from Pescara to Loreto Aprutino?
- About 38 min by car.
- When is the best time to visit Loreto Aprutino?
- Best in Apr–Oct. July is the warmest month, averaging 31 degrees, and March the wettest, with about 12 rain days.
- Which other towns are like Loreto Aprutino?
- Atri, Minervino Murge and Cerreto Sannita.
- How many people live in Loreto Aprutino?
- 7,041 residents, by ISTAT's count on 1 January 2025.
- Is Loreto Aprutino a good place to live?
- By the rules in our Where to Move in Italy series, Loreto Aprutino is a small town that meets both of our rules. The nearest city, Montesilvano, is 30 min away by car. The nearest national health service hospital is in Penne, 7 km as the crow flies. Full fibre reaches 89% of homes.
Tags & data designations · numbers · sources
Recognized as
Landscape
The numbers
- Elevation: 290 m
- Population: 7,041
- Surface area: 59.5 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 Loreto Aprutino appears in
- The best olive oil towns that eat well within 90 minutes of PescaraNear Pescaraolive oilwithin 90 mineats well6 towns · smallest 4,169 residents · closest 25 min away
- The best hill towns in the province of PescaraPescara provincehill town7 towns · smallest 851 residents
- The 8 best hill towns that eat well within 90 minutes of PescaraNear Pescarahill townwithin 90 mineats well8 towns · smallest 4,169 residents · closest 25 min away
- The best wine towns in AbruzzoAbruzzowinehidden9 towns · smallest 440 residents
Similar
Towns like Loreto Aprutino
What all six share with Loreto Aprutino: inland, away from the coast · between 3,000 and 10,000 people · hill towns
The letter
Loreto Aprutino 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 Aprutino comes up. By Peter & Sophia, from Turin.
The nearest town we have written up is Scheggino, 99 km away. Read its letter →
Paid plans, the moving year and the books are on the membership page.