Molise · Campobasso
Petacciato
A hilltop village on the Adriatic, with a Romanesque church in tuff and sandstone and a long sand beach below.
Picked by Peter Benei
Letter to come
Why Petacciato is on our list
It holds Città dell'Olio.
Subscribe and you get Petacciato's letter the day it comes out.
Visiting
- Best time
- May–Sep
- By car
- 1 h 23 min from Pescara
- By train
- Station in the comune
- Population
- 3,557
- J11°
- F13°
- M14°
- A16°
- M22°
- J27°
- J30°
- A30°
- S25°
- O21°
- N16°
- D13°
- 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
Petacciato stands on the last ridge before the Adriatic, with the Tremiti islands offshore and the Maiella visible to the north and the Gargano to the south on clear days. The centro storico keeps its medieval shape around the Chiesa di Santa Maria, built in tuff and sandstone between the eleventh and thirteenth centuries, originally dedicated to San Rocco and still holding three naves with three altars. The Marina di Petacciato, a few kilometers below the village, runs a long sand beach lined with pine, with low dunes and shallow water that draws Italian families in July and August.
The hills above produce the olive oil that earned the Città dell'Olio designation. Petacciato was one of the lower-Molise villages Serafino Razzi listed in his sixteenth-century chronicle of Slav-founded communities, though the visible record today is Italian Romanesque and twentieth-century coastal.
How to get there
From Bari (BRI), about 2 h 30 min by car.
Ancona (AOI) is about 3 h away.
By car from the center of Pescara 1 h 23 min, Bari 2 h 34 min or Ancona 2 h 56 min.
There is a railway station in the comune, so you can arrive without a car.
Coming by train into Foggia? Petacciato is about 1 h 23 min away by road.
First time driving in Italy? Read our complete manual.
What to see
Chiesa di Santa Maria (già San Rocco)
Romanesque church in tuff and sandstone, built between the eleventh and thirteenth centuries, with three naves and three altars.
Centro storico
Medieval ridge village around the old church, with stone houses and the long Adriatic view east.
Marina di Petacciato
Long sand beach below the village, pine-backed and low-duned, the main summer draw.
Belvedere
Panorama from the ridge over the Adriatic to the Tremiti islands, with the Maiella and Gargano on the horizon.
Living here
Could you live here?
Petacciato is at the end of the road.
- A village of 3,557. The nearest town of 5,000 people, Montenero di Bisaccia, is 22 min away: past our 15-minute rule, which makes this the end of the road.
- Chieti, a city of 48,403, is 1 h 21 min by car. Further than our 30 to 60 minutes, a long way for the hospital visit or the monthly shopping.
- A station of its own. Trains are the overlooked way to get around Italy: no parking, straight into the center.
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 3,557, down 2.7% since 2015
- Nearest city Chieti, 1 h 21 min drive
- Train station in the comune
- Nearest national health service hospital Termoli, 9 km as the crow flies · how healthcare works in Italy
- Homes in the center: €600 to €900 per m² to buy, €2.80 to €4.20 per m² a month to rent
All the numbers Common questions, designations, lists and sources.
More about living here
- Remote
- Pharmacy: none mapped
- High school within a 30-minute drive
- Full fibre reaches 94% of homes
- Primary school in the comune
- Earthquake zone 3, low hazard
- Pescara airport (PSR), 1 h 29 min drive, the nearest with scheduled flights
- Regional capital Campobasso, 1 h 28 min drive
If you are moving here
Who lives here
5% of residents are foreign citizens, most often from Morocco, Romania and Nigeria, against 9% across Italy. 22 of them come from English-speaking countries or western and northern Europe, mostly France and the United Kingdom. There are 216 people over 65 for every 100 children under 15, against 216 across Italy. 40% 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, 9 km as the crow flies. The nearest major one is in Foggia, 86 km away. The nearest IB school is St. Stephen's School, 197 km as the crow flies. The nearest school listed as international is Canadian College Italy, 46 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 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. Under 1% of residents live in a zone the national maps rate high for floods, 1% in a high or medium one. 13% 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
SANTA MARIA
Romanesque church in tuff and sandstone with eleventh and thirteenth-century origins, the medieval heart of the village.
MARINA
Long sand beach below the village, pine-backed and shallow-watered, the summer destination of the lower Molise coast.
OLIVE OIL
Hills above the coast produce extra virgin oil enough to carry the Città dell'Olio designation.
Common questions
- What is Petacciato known for?
- Petacciato is a hilltop village at 225 meters on the Adriatic, with a Romanesque church in tuff and sandstone and a long sand beach below.
- Where is Petacciato?
- Petacciato is a comune in the province of Campobasso, in Molise.
- What is the nearest airport to Petacciato?
- The nearest airport with scheduled flights is Pescara (PSR), about 1 h 29 min by car.
- Can you get to Petacciato without a car?
- Yes. There is a railway station in the comune, so you can arrive by train.
- How long is the drive from Pescara to Petacciato?
- About 1 h 23 min by car.
- When is the best time to visit Petacciato?
- Best in May–Sep. July is the warmest month, averaging 30 degrees, and November the wettest, with about 12 rain days.
- Which other towns are like Petacciato?
- Montenero di Bisaccia, Rocca Imperiale and Nova Siri.
- How many people live in Petacciato?
- 3,557 residents, by ISTAT's count on 1 January 2025.
- Is Petacciato a good place to live?
- By the rules in our Where to Move in Italy series, Petacciato is at the end of the road: the nearest town of 5,000 people, Montenero di Bisaccia, is 22 min away. The nearest city, Chieti, is 1 h 21 min away by car. The nearest national health service hospital is in Termoli, 9 km as the crow flies. Full fibre reaches 94% of homes.
Tags & data designations · numbers · sources
Recognized as
Landscape
The numbers
- Elevation: 225 m
- Population: 3,557
- Surface area: 35.4 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 Petacciato appears in
- The best hidden coastal towns within 90 minutes of PescaraNear Pescaracoastalwithin 90 minhidden7 towns · smallest 2,302 residents · closest 25 min away
- The best olive oil towns in the province of CampobassoCampobasso provinceolive oil7 towns · smallest 596 residents
- The best small olive oil towns within 90 minutes of PescaraNear Pescaraolive oilwithin 90 minsmall7 towns · smallest 440 residents · closest 47 min away
- The best hidden olive oil towns in MoliseMoliseolive oilhidden8 towns · smallest 596 residents
Similar
Towns like Petacciato
What all six share with Petacciato: between 3,000 and 10,000 people
Montenero di Bisaccia
Province: Campobasso
both on the Adriatic coast · both hill towns
Rocca Imperiale
Province: Cosenza
both hill towns · both have a railway station in the comune
Nova Siri
Province: Matera
both hill towns · both have a railway station in the comune
Rosolina
Province: Rovigo
both on the Adriatic coast · both have a railway station in the comune
- Written about. No. 47.
Capalbio
Province: Grosseto
both hill towns · both have a railway station in the comune
Rodi Garganico
Province: Foggia
both on the Adriatic coast · both have a railway station in the comune
The letter
Petacciato 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 Petacciato comes up. By Peter & Sophia, from Turin.
The nearest town we have written up is Scheggino, 184 km away. Read its letter →
Paid plans, the moving year and the books are on the membership page.