Marche · Fermo
Monte Rinaldo
A 308-resident village on a 478-meter ridge of the Aso valley in the Marche interior, anchored by a 1st-century BC Roman sanctuary, the largest pre-imperial sanctuary excavated in the central Adriatic.
Picked by Peter Benei
Letter to come
Why Monte Rinaldo is on our list
It holds Borghi Autentici.
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Visiting
- Best time
- May–Oct
- By car
- 1 h 17 min from Ancona
- Population
- 308
- J9°
- F12°
- M13°
- A16°
- M21°
- J27°
- J30°
- A30°
- S24°
- O20°
- 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 ridge here runs between the Aso and Tenna valleys, deep in the Marche interior, 75 kilometers south-west of Ancona. Monte Rinaldo sits along it, one of the smallest active comuni in the region, its 308 residents keeping the village in the Borghi Autentici network. Half a kilometer below the village, reached by a walking path through olive groves and oak woods, lies La Cuma.
The sanctuary is thought to have marked a Picene-Roman religious crossroads where the ridge route linking the Adriatic coast to the Apennines passed through: a meeting point before it was a monument. The village above holds the other half of the story in miniature, a single piazza and the parish church of San Leonardo, with the votive terracottas, coins, and fragments pulled from the excavation kept in the site museum nearby. What the ridge preserves, then, is a layered crossing: coast to mountains below, past to present in the walk between the two.
How to get there
From Ancona (AOI), about 1 h 22 min by car.
Rimini (RMI) is about 2 h 25 min away.
By car from the center of Ancona 1 h 17 min or Pescara 1 h 32 min.
Coming by train into Pescara Centrale? Monte Rinaldo is about 1 h 29 min away by road.
Every town within reach of Ancona airport.
First time driving in Italy? Read our complete manual.
What to see
Area Archeologica de La Cuma
A 38-meter Ionic portico faces a temple platform, standing to a height and completeness rare among pre-imperial sites in central Italy. The complex was found again in 1957 and lies half a kilometer below the village.
Antiquarium / site museum
Holds the votive terracottas, coins, and architectural fragments recovered from the excavation. Small but well-catalogued.
Centro storico
Quiet stone village around a single piazza, with the parish church of San Leonardo and views east to the Sibillini foothills.
Sentiero della Cuma
Short walking path from the village down to the archaeological area through olive groves and oak woods.
Living here
Could you live here?
Monte Rinaldo is at the end of the road.
- A village of 308. The nearest town of 5,000 people, Montegiorgio, is 28 min away: past our 15-minute rule, which makes this the end of the road.
- Fermo, a city of 35,727, is 37 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 308, down 19.6% since 2015 (Italy's emptying towns)
- Nearest city Fermo, 37 min drive
- Nearest national health service hospital Fermo, 18 km as the crow flies · how healthcare works in Italy
- Homes in the center: €550 to €800 per m² to buy, €2.40 to €3.50 per m² a month to rent
All the numbers Common questions, designations, lists and sources.
More about living here
- In-between
- Pharmacy: none mapped
- High school within a 30-minute drive
- Full fibre reaches 47% of homes
- No primary school in the comune's register
- Earthquake zone 2, medium hazard
- Ancona airport (AOI), 1 h 22 min drive, the nearest with scheduled flights
- Regional capital Ancona, 1 h 17 min drive
If you are moving here
Who lives here
10% of residents are foreign citizens, most often from Romania and Pakistan, against 9% across Italy. 12 of them come from English-speaking countries or western and northern Europe. There are 458 people over 65 for every 100 children under 15, against 216 across Italy. 41% of homes have no resident, holiday homes and empty ones counted together, against 27% across Italy. Fermo province ranks 47th of 107 in Il Sole 24 Ore's quality of life ranking for 2025.
Health and schools
The nearest emergency room is in Fermo, 18 km as the crow flies. The nearest major one is in Ancona, 61 km away. The nearest IB school is Viterbo International School, 139 km as the crow flies. The nearest school listed as international is Marche International School, 36 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 €10,000. 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 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.
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. Under 1% of residents live in a zone the national maps rate medium for floods. 7% 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
ROMAN SANCTUARY
La Cuma: 2nd-1st century BC Ionic portico and temple, one of the largest pre-imperial sanctuaries excavated on the central Adriatic side.
BORGHI AUTENTICI
308-resident hilltop village in the Borghi Autentici network, on a ridge between the Aso and Tenna valleys.
SIBILLINI VIEW
Clear-day panorama east to the Sibillini foothills from the village belvedere.
Common questions
- What is Monte Rinaldo known for?
- Monte Rinaldo is a 308-resident village on a 478-meter ridge of the Aso valley in the Marche interior, anchored by a 1st-century BC Roman sanctuary, the largest pre-imperial sanctuary excavated in the central Adriatic.
- Where is Monte Rinaldo?
- Monte Rinaldo is a comune in the province of Fermo, in Marche, at 478 meters above sea level.
- What is the nearest airport to Monte Rinaldo?
- The nearest airport with scheduled flights is Ancona (AOI), about 1 h 22 min by car.
- How long is the drive from Ancona to Monte Rinaldo?
- About 1 h 17 min by car.
- When is the best time to visit Monte Rinaldo?
- Best in May–Oct. July is the warmest month, averaging 30 degrees, and May the wettest, with about 12 rain days.
- Which other towns are like Monte Rinaldo?
- Valfornace, Seborga and Montesegale.
- How many people live in Monte Rinaldo?
- 308 residents, by ISTAT's count on 1 January 2025.
- Is Monte Rinaldo a good place to live?
- By the rules in our Where to Move in Italy series, Monte Rinaldo is at the end of the road: the nearest town of 5,000 people, Montegiorgio, is 28 min away. The nearest city, Fermo, is 37 min away by car. The nearest national health service hospital is in Fermo, 18 km as the crow flies. Full fibre reaches 47% of homes.
Tags & data designations · numbers · sources
Recognized as
Landscape
The numbers
- Elevation: 478 m
- Population: 308
- Surface area: 8 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 Monte Rinaldo appears in
Similar
Towns like Monte Rinaldo
What all six share with Monte Rinaldo: inland, away from the coast · under 1,000 people · hill towns
The letter
Monte Rinaldo 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 Monte Rinaldo comes up. By Peter & Sophia, from Turin.
The nearest town we have written up is Campello sul Clitunno, 69 km away. Read its letter →
Paid plans, the moving year and the books are on the membership page.