Molise · Campobasso
Montenero di Bisaccia
A tufa hill town above the northernmost stretch of Molise coast, home base of former magistrate Antonio Di Pietro and his vineyards.
Picked by Peter Benei
Letter to come
Why Montenero di Bisaccia is on our list
It holds Città del Vino.
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Visiting
- Best time
- May–Sep
- By car
- 1 h 10 min from Pescara
- Population
- 6,180
- J12°
- F14°
- M15°
- A18°
- M24°
- J29°
- J32°
- A31°
- S27°
- O22°
- N17°
- D14°
- Best
- Hot or crowded
- Quiet
- Mostly closed
Daytime air temperature, averages for 2020–2024. The sea is warmest in August at 29° and coldest in February at 12°. Weather data by Open-Meteo.com.
Going to the sea? How to find the free beaches in Italy.
Why come
Montenero di Bisaccia sits on a tufa relief, on the northern edge of Molise where the region meets Abruzzo. The Chiesa di San Matteo Apostolo crowns the rock, its bell tower visible from the coast road below. The Costa Verde beach, six kilometers down from the village, gives the commune its summer draw, with low dunes and pine groves backing the sand.
Antonio Di Pietro, the magistrate who prosecuted the Mani Pulite cases of the 1990s and went on to lead Italia dei Valori, was born and farms here; after politics he returned to a 24-hectare family holding inherited from his father and now produces olive oil and wine with his son Cristiano. The Città del Vino designation tracks that wine tradition. The hills around the village were also recorded by Serafino Razzi in 1576 as one of the Slav-influenced settlements of lower Molise.
How to get there
From Bari (BRI), about 2 h 32 min by car.
Ancona (AOI) is about 2 h 47 min away.
By car from the center of Pescara 1 h 10 min, Bari 2 h 36 min or Ancona 2 h 42 min.
Coming by train into Pescara Centrale? Montenero di Bisaccia is about 1 h 11 min away by road.
First time driving in Italy? Read our complete manual.
What to see
Chiesa di San Matteo Apostolo
Parish church on the tufa rock at the top of the village, its bell tower the visible marker from the coast.
Centro storico
Stone old town spread along the tufa ridge, with narrow streets and views east to the Adriatic.
Costa Verde
Long sand beach six kilometers below the village, backed by pine groves and low dunes.
Belvedere
Lookout from the ridge with the long sweep of Molise coast, the Tremiti islands offshore, and the Maiella to the north.
Living here
Could you live here?
Montenero di Bisaccia meets 1 of our 2 rules for a small town.
- 6,180 people, inside our sweet spot of 5,000 to 20,000: a real town, still one community.
- Chieti, a city of 48,403, is 1 h 7 min by car. Further than our 30 to 60 minutes, a long way for the hospital visit or the monthly shopping.
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 6,180, down 8.5% since 2015
- Nearest city Chieti, 1 h 7 min drive
- Nearest national health service hospital Termoli, 15 km as the crow flies · how healthcare works in Italy
- Homes in the center: €540 to €800 per m² to buy, €2.40 to €3.60 per m² a month to rent
All the numbers Common questions, designations, lists and sources.
More about living here
- Remote
- Pharmacy in town
- High school within a 30-minute drive
- Full fibre reaches 88% of homes
- Primary school in the comune
- Earthquake zone 3, low hazard
- Pescara airport (PSR), 1 h 22 min drive, the nearest with scheduled flights
- Regional capital Campobasso, 1 h 18 min drive
If you are moving here
Who lives here
8% of residents are foreign citizens, most often from Romania, Morocco and Nigeria, against 9% across Italy. 28 of them come from English-speaking countries or western and northern Europe, mostly Belgium, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom. There are 248 people over 65 for every 100 children under 15, against 216 across Italy. 43% of homes have no resident, holiday homes and empty ones counted together, against 27% across Italy. Campobasso province ranks 73rd of 107 in Il Sole 24 Ore's quality of life ranking for 2025.
Health and schools
The nearest emergency room is in Termoli, 15 km as the crow flies. The nearest major one is in Foggia, 87 km away. The nearest IB school is St. Stephen's School, 190 km as the crow flies. The nearest school listed as international is Canadian College Italy, 45 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. 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 Molise spends about €2,050 a month, €570 of it on food, against about €2,170 across Italy. A family of three pays about €274 a year for water, on the Molise average.
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. 1% of residents live in a zone the national maps rate high for floods, 2% 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
WINE & OIL
Hills around the village hold the Città del Vino mark and Antonio Di Pietro's 24-hectare oil and wine estate.
COSTA VERDE
Long pine-backed beach below the village, the northernmost stretch of the Molise coast.
SAN MATTEO
Parish church on the tufa rock at the top of the village, its bell tower visible from the Adriatic coast road.
Common questions
- What is Montenero di Bisaccia known for?
- Montenero di Bisaccia is a tufa hill town at 273 meters above the northernmost stretch of Molise coast, home base of former magistrate Antonio Di Pietro and his vineyards.
- Where is Montenero di Bisaccia?
- Montenero di Bisaccia is a comune in the province of Campobasso, in Molise.
- What is the nearest airport to Montenero di Bisaccia?
- The nearest airport with scheduled flights is Pescara (PSR), about 1 h 22 min by car.
- How long is the drive from Pescara to Montenero di Bisaccia?
- About 1 h 10 min by car.
- When is the best time to visit Montenero di Bisaccia?
- Best in May–Sep. July is the warmest month, averaging 32 degrees, and November the wettest, with about 13 rain days.
- Which other towns are like Montenero di Bisaccia?
- Petacciato, Mattinata and Nova Siri.
- How many people live in Montenero di Bisaccia?
- 6,180 residents, by ISTAT's count on 1 January 2025.
- Is Montenero di Bisaccia a good place to live?
- By the rules in our Where to Move in Italy series, Montenero di Bisaccia is a small town that meets 1 of our 2 rules. The nearest city, Chieti, is 1 h 7 min away by car. The nearest national health service hospital is in Termoli, 15 km as the crow flies. Full fibre reaches 88% of homes.
Tags & data designations · numbers · sources
Recognized as
Landscape
The numbers
- Elevation: 273 m
- Population: 6,180
- Surface area: 93.32 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 Montenero di Bisaccia appears in
Similar
Towns like Montenero di Bisaccia
What all six share with Montenero di Bisaccia: between 3,000 and 10,000 people
Petacciato
Province: Campobasso
both on the Adriatic coast · both hill towns
Mattinata
Province: Foggia
both on the Adriatic coast
Nova Siri
Province: Matera
both hill towns · both on the coast
Rocca Imperiale
Province: Cosenza
both hill towns · both on the coast
Rosolina
Province: Rovigo
both on the Adriatic coast
Anacapri
Province: Napoli
both hill towns · both on the coast
The letter
Montenero di Bisaccia 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 Montenero di Bisaccia comes up. By Peter & Sophia, from Turin.
The nearest town we have written up is Scheggino, 181 km away. Read its letter →
Paid plans, the moving year and the books are on the membership page.