Marche · Ascoli Piceno
Montefiore dell'Aso
A hilltop borgo between the Aso and Menocchia valleys, holding six surviving panels of Carlo Crivelli's 1472 polyptych.
Picked by Peter Benei
Letter to come
Why Montefiore dell'Aso is on our list
It holds Borghi più belli d'Italia.
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Visiting
- Best time
- Apr–Oct
- By car
- 1 h 4 min from Ancona
- Population
- 1,927
- J9°
- F11°
- M12°
- A14°
- M19°
- J24°
- J27°
- A28°
- S23°
- 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 ridge lies twenty-five kilometers from Ascoli Piceno and eleven from the Adriatic, the divide between the Aso and Menocchia valleys giving the town its double outlook, sea one way, the Sibillini the other. The territory was settled in the Neolithic and developed under the Piceni, with Roman necropolises dated to the first and second centuries BC. Two earlier castles, Montefiore and Aspramonte, stood separately before merging in 1178 into a single walled town that grew into a free commune, the union of two settlements still legible in the shape of the centro storico on its ridge.
The former Franciscan convent, built between 1247 and 1303, now gathers the town's separate histories under one roof: the recovered polyptych panels, the De Carolis paintings, the record of peasant life. A hill town shaped by the fusion of two older ones, its museum performs the same act of reassembly on a smaller scale, holding together what was once scattered or separate.
How to get there
From Ancona (AOI), about 1 h 9 min by car.
Rimini (RMI) is about 2 h 12 min away.
By car from the center of Ancona 1 h 4 min or Pescara 1 h 17 min.
Coming by train into Pescara Centrale? Montefiore dell'Aso is about 1 h 15 min away by road.
Every town within reach of Ancona airport.
First time driving in Italy? Read our complete manual.
What to see
Polo Museale di San Francesco
Former Franciscan convent of 1247-1303, now a museum complex with the Crivelli room, the De Carolis museum and the Museum of Peasant Civilization.
Polittico di Carlo Crivelli
The panels sit reassembled in the museum's dedicated room, the surviving remnant of a work broken apart and scattered on the antique market before recovery.
Museo Adolfo De Carolis
Around five hundred works by the Montefiore-born symbolist artist, with sixty-nine oil sketches for the Salone dei Quattromila frescoes in Bologna's Palazzo del Podestà.
Chiesa di San Francesco
Romanesque-gothic conventual church holding the sepulchres of Cardinal Gentile Partino, who died 1310, and the painter Adolfo De Carolis, with apse frescoes by the Master of Offida.
Centro storico
Walled medieval village on the ridge between the Aso and Menocchia valleys, formed in 1178 from the union of the earlier castles of Montefiore and Aspramonte.
Living here
Could you live here?
Montefiore dell'Aso is at the end of the road.
- A village of 1,927. The nearest town of 5,000 people, Cupra Marittima, is 18 min away: past our 15-minute rule, which makes this the end of the road.
- Fermo, a city of 35,727, is 33 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 1,927, down 10% since 2015 (Italy's emptying towns)
- Nearest city Fermo, 33 min drive
- Nearest national health service hospital Fermo, 13 km as the crow flies · how healthcare works in Italy
- Homes in the center: €700 to €1,000 per m² to buy, €3.20 to €4.40 per m² a month to rent
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 63% of homes
- Primary school in the comune
- Earthquake zone 2, medium hazard
- Ancona airport (AOI), 1 h 9 min drive, the nearest with scheduled flights
- Regional capital Ancona, 1 h 4 min drive
If you are moving here
Who lives here
10% of residents are foreign citizens, most often from Morocco, Romania and Germany, against 9% across Italy. 48 of them come from English-speaking countries or western and northern Europe, mostly Germany, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom. There are 343 people over 65 for every 100 children under 15, against 216 across Italy. 36% of homes have no resident, holiday homes and empty ones counted together, against 27% across Italy. Ascoli Piceno province ranks 22nd of 107 in Il Sole 24 Ore's quality of life ranking for 2025.
Health and schools
The nearest emergency room is in Fermo, 13 km as the crow flies. The nearest major one is in Ancona, 62 km away. The nearest IB school is International School of Rimini, 147 km as the crow flies. The nearest school listed as international is Marche International School, 33 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 0.7% to your income tax, with nothing due on income under €8,000. 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 Ascoli Piceno, the provincial capital, in September 2026, an espresso cost €1.28, a meal in a pizzeria €11.39 and a man's haircut €18.98.
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. 5% of residents live in a zone the national maps rate medium for floods. 4% 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
CRIVELLI
Six surviving panels of Carlo Crivelli's 1472 polyptych for the Church of Saint Francis, dismembered in the nineteenth century and reassembled in the town's museum.
DE CAROLIS
Adolfo De Carolis, symbolist painter and woodcut master born in Montefiore, with five hundred works held in the Polo Museale di San Francesco.
TWO VALLEYS
Hilltop position at 412 meters on the ridge that divides the Aso and Menocchia valleys, with views east to the Adriatic and west to the Sibillini.
Common questions
- What is Montefiore dell'Aso known for?
- Montefiore dell'Aso is a hilltop borgo at 412 meters between the Aso and Menocchia valleys, holding six surviving panels of Carlo Crivelli's 1472 polyptych.
- Where is Montefiore dell'Aso?
- Montefiore dell'Aso is a comune in the province of Ascoli Piceno, in Marche.
- What is the nearest airport to Montefiore dell'Aso?
- The nearest airport with scheduled flights is Ancona (AOI), about 1 h 9 min by car.
- How long is the drive from Ancona to Montefiore dell'Aso?
- About 1 h 4 min by car.
- When is the best time to visit Montefiore dell'Aso?
- Best in Apr–Oct. August is the warmest month, averaging 28 degrees, and March the wettest, with about 10 rain days.
- Which other towns are like Montefiore dell'Aso?
- Genga, Servigliano and Monte Castello di Vibio.
- How many people live in Montefiore dell'Aso?
- 1,927 residents, by ISTAT's count on 1 January 2025.
- Is Montefiore dell'Aso a good place to live?
- By the rules in our Where to Move in Italy series, Montefiore dell'Aso is at the end of the road: the nearest town of 5,000 people, Cupra Marittima, is 18 min away. The nearest city, Fermo, is 33 min away by car. The nearest national health service hospital is in Fermo, 13 km as the crow flies. Full fibre reaches 63% of homes.
Tags & data designations · numbers · sources
Recognized as
Landscape
The numbers
- Elevation: 412 m
- Population: 1,927
- Surface area: 28.21 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 Montefiore dell'Aso appears in
Similar
Towns like Montefiore dell'Aso
What all six share with Montefiore dell'Aso: inland, away from the coast · under 3,000 people · hill towns
The letter
Montefiore dell'Aso 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 Montefiore dell'Aso comes up. By Peter & Sophia, from Turin.
The nearest town we have written up is Campello sul Clitunno, 83 km away. Read its letter →
Paid plans, the moving year and the books are on the membership page.