Abruzzo · L'Aquila
Pescasseroli
At 1,167 meters at the head of the Sangro valley, capital of Italy's oldest national park and birthplace of Benedetto Croce.
Picked by Peter Benei
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Visiting
- Best time
- Jun–Sep, Dec–Mar
- By car
- 1 h 37 min from Pescara
- Population
- 2,030
- J6°
- F8°
- M8°
- A11°
- M16°
- J21°
- J25°
- A24°
- S19°
- O15°
- N10°
- D7°
- Best
- Hot or crowded
- Quiet
- Mostly closed
Daytime air temperature, averages for 2020–2024. Weather data by Open-Meteo.com.
Why come
Pescasseroli sits at 1,167 meters at the head of the upper Sangro valley, the administrative heart of the Abruzzo, Lazio and Molise National Park. The park was provisionally established in 1922 and confirmed in 1923, making it the first national park in Italy and one of the earliest in the world. The philosopher Benedetto Croce was born here in February 1866 in the Palazzo Sipari, the family house his grandfather Pietrantonio expanded in 1839.
The park itself was largely the work of Erminio Sipari, Croce's cousin, an environmentalist and member of parliament. The park protects roughly fifty Marsican brown bears, a subspecies found nowhere else, along with Apennine wolves and Abruzzo chamois. The Centro Visita on the edge of town holds a naturalistic museum, an Apennine garden, and an enclosure for injured wildlife. In winter, Pescasseroli is the southernmost serious ski town in the central Apennines.
How to get there
From Naples (NAP), about 2 h 6 min by car.
Rome Fiumicino (FCO) is about 2 h 15 min away.
By car from the center of Pescara 1 h 37 min or Naples 2 h 11 min.
First time driving in Italy? Read our complete manual.
What to see
Palazzo Sipari
Birthplace of Benedetto Croce in 1866, now a historic house museum, with the family balcony from which Croce wrote of his Pescasseroli.
Centro Visita del Parco
Park headquarters with naturalistic museum, Apennine garden, and enclosures for Marsican brown bears, Apennine wolves and roe deer.
Chiesa di San Paolo Apostolo
Parish church of Pescasseroli, with a 13th-century wooden Madonna and Child known as the Madonna Nera, locally venerated.
Monti Marsicani
Surrounding mountain range with trails from town to Monte Marsicano at 2,245 meters, prime habitat for the Marsican brown bear.
Pescasseroli ski area
Modest ski domain on Monte Ceraso and Monte Vitelle, the southernmost regular alpine ski operation in the central Apennines.
Living here
Could you live here?
Pescasseroli is at the end of the road.
- A village of 2,030. The nearest town of 5,000 people, Trasacco, is 43 min away: past our 15-minute rule, which makes this the end of the road.
- Isernia, a city of 20,529, is 1 h 14 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 2,030, down 9% since 2015
- Nearest city Isernia, 1 h 14 min drive
- Nearest national health service hospital Sora, 20 km as the crow flies · how healthcare works in Italy
- Homes in the center: €1,250 to €1,850 per m² to buy, €3.20 to €4.70 per m² a month to rent
All the numbers Common questions, designations, lists and sources.
More about living here
- Remote
- Pharmacy: none mapped
- Nearest high school over ~30 minutes away
- Full fibre reaches 98% of homes
- Primary school in the comune
- Earthquake zone 1, Italy's highest hazard
- Pescara airport (PSR), 1 h 46 min drive, the nearest with scheduled flights
- Regional capital L'Aquila, 1 h 24 min drive
If you are moving here
Who lives here
9% of residents are foreign citizens, most often from Kosovo, Bangladesh and Romania, against 9% across Italy. There are 288 people over 65 for every 100 children under 15, against 216 across Italy. 73% of homes have no resident, holiday homes and empty ones counted together, against 27% across Italy. L'Aquila province ranks 69th of 107 in Il Sole 24 Ore's quality of life ranking for 2025.
Health and schools
The nearest emergency room is in Sora, 20 km as the crow flies. The nearest major one is in Latina, 85 km away. The nearest IB school is St. Stephen's School, 108 km as the crow flies. The nearest school listed as international is Canadian College Italy, 68 km away.
Information, not medical advice. Confirm with a professional.
Taxes
A home that is not your main one pays 1.05% 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 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.
Climate and risk
It is in climate zone F, the coldest of Italy's six, with no national limit on when the heating runs. The national maps show no residents in a high or medium flood zone. 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
FIRST PARK
Capital of the Abruzzo, Lazio and Molise National Park, established 1922 as Italy's first national park, the work of Erminio Sipari.
BENEDETTO CROCE
The philosopher was born in Palazzo Sipari in February 1866, in the family home of his maternal grandfather Pietrantonio Sipari.
MARSICAN BEAR
The park protects roughly fifty surviving Marsican brown bears, a subspecies of the Apennines found nowhere else on Earth.
Common questions
- What is Pescasseroli known for?
- At 1,167 meters at the head of the Sangro valley, capital of Italy's oldest national park and birthplace of Benedetto Croce.
- Where is Pescasseroli?
- Pescasseroli is a comune in the province of L'Aquila, in Abruzzo, at 1167 meters above sea level.
- What is the nearest airport to Pescasseroli?
- The nearest airport with scheduled flights is Pescara (PSR), about 1 h 46 min by car.
- How long is the drive from Pescara to Pescasseroli?
- About 1 h 37 min by car.
- When is the best time to visit Pescasseroli?
- Best in Jun–Sep, Dec–Mar. July is the warmest month, averaging 25 degrees, and May the wettest, with about 19 rain days.
- Which other towns are like Pescasseroli?
- Scanno, Falcade and Moena.
- How many people live in Pescasseroli?
- 2,030 residents, by ISTAT's count on 1 January 2025.
- Is Pescasseroli a good place to live?
- By the rules in our Where to Move in Italy series, Pescasseroli is at the end of the road: the nearest town of 5,000 people, Trasacco, is 43 min away. The nearest city, Isernia, is 1 h 14 min away by car. The nearest national health service hospital is in Sora, 20 km as the crow flies. Full fibre reaches 98% of homes.
Tags & data designations · numbers · sources
Recognized as
Landscape
The numbers
- Elevation: 1167 m
- Population: 2,030
- Surface area: 91.17 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 Pescasseroli appears in
Similar
Towns like Pescasseroli
What all six share with Pescasseroli: high in the mountains · under 3,000 people · mountain towns above 1,000 metres
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