Sicily · Siracusa
Pachino
One of Sicily's southernmost towns, on the Capo Passero promontory, and the name behind the Pomodoro di Pachino PGI cherry tomato.
Picked by Peter Benei
Letter to come
Visiting
- Best time
- Apr–Oct
- By car
- 1 h 29 min from Catania
- Population
- 22,117
- J15°
- F16°
- M16°
- A19°
- M23°
- J28°
- J32°
- A32°
- S28°
- O24°
- N20°
- D17°
- 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 15°. Weather data by Open-Meteo.com.
Going to the sea? How to find the free beaches in Italy.
Why come
Pachino sits at 36°43' N, closer to Tunisia than to Naples. The town was founded in 1760 by the Starrabba princes of Giardinelli to consolidate the scattered agricultural workers of the southern Val di Noto, and the grid still shows that planned origin: straight streets laid out at once rather than grown over centuries. The town's geography is split between the inland grid and the coast it built its economy on.
To the south, the land runs down to the cape and its rocky shore; the wine and tomato country lies along that same southern strip, in soil described as salty and calcareous. To the north, past the vineyards and greenhouses, the coastline opens into wetland before reaching the reserve. What ties the town together is a plan of orderly land laid out to work the farmland at its doorstep, and the farmland has since outgrown the plan: a inland grid built to organise labourers now sits behind the two products, tomato and wine, that carry the town's name well beyond it.
How to get there
From Catania (CTA), about 1 h 27 min by car.
By car from the center of Palermo 3 h 49 min.
Coming by train into Siracusa? Pachino is about 48 min away by road.
Every town within reach of Catania airport.
First time driving in Italy? Read our complete manual.
What to see
Capo Passero
The cape faces a small offshore island, Isola di Capo Passero, with a Spanish fort finished in the early 1600s and a bronze Madonna raised in 1959. Reachable by small boat from Portopalo, or on foot through the shallows at low tide; on clear days the view runs south toward Malta.
Pomodoro di Pachino PGI
Grown in the salty calcareous soil of the southern coast. The local fattorie run tasting visits.
Nero d'Avola territory
The Eloro DOC, with its own Pachino subzone, covers the vineyards south of town. Several wineries run tastings. Several wineries run tastings.
Riserva Naturale Vendicari
Coastal wetland reserve about 10 km north: flamingos, herons, and one of Sicily's longest unbuilt beaches, stretching past the ruined tonnara of Vendicari.
Centro storico planificato
Rectilinear grid laid down after 1760 by the Starrabba princes of Giardinelli, one of the last feudal new towns founded in Sicily.
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.
Cortile AraboRistorante
One Gambero Rosso fork (76/100), at Cortile Arabo.
La CialomaTrattoria
La Cialoma carries two Gambero Rosso prawns.
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?
Pachino meets 1 of our 2 rules for a small town.
- 22,117 people, above our sweet spot of 5,000 to 20,000: big enough that it can split into neighborhoods.
- Modica, a city of 53,483, is 44 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 22,117, up 1.6% since 2015
- Nearest city Modica, 44 min drive
- Nearest national health service hospital Avola, 24 km as the crow flies · how healthcare works in Italy
- Homes in the center: €490 to €810 per m² to buy, €2.20 to €3.30 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 97% of homes
- Primary school in the comune
- Earthquake zone 2, medium hazard
- Catania airport (CTA), 1 h 27 min drive, the nearest with scheduled flights
- Regional capital Palermo, 3 h 49 min drive
If you are moving here
Who lives here
9% of residents are foreign citizens, most often from Tunisia, Romania and Morocco, against 9% across Italy. 14 of them come from English-speaking countries or western and northern Europe, mostly Germany. There are 144 people over 65 for every 100 children under 15, against 216 across Italy. 39% of homes have no resident, holiday homes and empty ones counted together, against 27% across Italy. Siracusa province ranks 106th of 107 in Il Sole 24 Ore's quality of life ranking for 2025.
Health and schools
The nearest emergency room is in Noto, 23 km as the crow flies. The nearest major one is in Catania, 81 km away. The nearest IB school is Gonzaga International School Palermo, 220 km as the crow flies.
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: check before you count on it. The limit rose to 30,000 people in April 2026 and guidance is still to come. The regime is 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 Sicily spends about €1,820 a month, €580 of it on food, against about €2,170 across Italy. A family of three pays about €524 a year for water, on the Sicily average. In Siracusa, the provincial capital, in September 2026, an espresso cost €1.18, a meal in a pizzeria €12.69 and a man's haircut €18.98.
Climate and risk
It is in climate zone B, on a scale from A, the warmest, to F, the coldest, and heating may run from December 1 to March 31, up to 8 hours a day, unless the mayor changes it. 9% of residents live in a zone the national maps rate high for floods. They show no residents in a high landslide zone.
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
POMODORO PGI
The PGI Pomodoro di Pachino cherry tomato, protected since 2003, the small intensely-flavoured variety that made the town's name a supermarket label across Italy.
NERO D'AVOLA
Historic terroir for Sicily's most-planted red grape; Eloro DOC vineyards with their own Pachino subzone on the southern coast.
SOUTHERNMOST
Capo Passero, in neighbouring Portopalo, is the south-eastern tip of mainland Sicily, further south than Tunis.
MONTI IBLEI
The commune also lies inside the Monti Iblei DOP production zone.
Common questions
- What is Pachino known for?
- One of Sicily's southernmost towns, on the Capo Passero promontory, and the name behind the Pomodoro di Pachino PGI cherry tomato.
- Where is Pachino?
- Pachino is a comune in the province of Siracusa, in Sicily, at 65 meters above sea level.
- What is the nearest airport to Pachino?
- The nearest airport with scheduled flights is Catania (CTA), about 1 h 27 min by car.
- How long is the drive from Palermo to Pachino?
- About 3 h 49 min by car.
- When is the best time to visit Pachino?
- Best in Apr–Oct. July is the warmest month, averaging 32 degrees, and November the wettest, with about 8 rain days.
- Which other towns are like Pachino?
- Aci Castello, Siracusa and Catania.
- How many people live in Pachino?
- 22,117 residents, by ISTAT's count on 1 January 2025.
- Is Pachino a good place to live?
- By the rules in our Where to Move in Italy series, Pachino is a small town that meets 1 of our 2 rules. The nearest city, Modica, is 44 min away by car. The nearest national health service hospital is in Avola, 24 km as the crow flies. Full fibre reaches 97% of homes.
Tags & data designations · numbers · sources
Recognized as
Landscape
The numbers
- Elevation: 65 m
- Population: 22,117
- Surface area: 50.98 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.
Similar
Towns like Pachino
What all six share with Pachino: near sea level
Aci Castello
Province: Catania
both on the Sicilian coast · both over 10,000 people
Siracusa
Province: Siracusa
both on the Sicilian coast · both over 10,000 people
Catania
Province: Catania
both on the Sicilian coast · both over 10,000 people
Favignana
Province: Trapani
both on the Sicilian coast
Agropoli
Province: Salerno
both over 10,000 people · both on the coast
Policoro
Province: Matera
both over 10,000 people · both on the coast
The letter
Pachino 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 Pachino comes up. By Peter & Sophia, from Turin.
The nearest town we have written up is Cerveteri, 641 km away. Read its letter →
Paid plans, the moving year and the books are on the membership page.