Sicily · Palermo
Piana degli Albanesi
The principal Arbëresh town of Sicily at 720 meters, founded in the fifteenth century by Albanians fleeing the Ottomans and still speaking arbëresh.
Picked by Peter Benei
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Visiting
- Best time
- May–Oct
- By car
- 36 min from Palermo
- Population
- 5,245
- J11°
- F12°
- M13°
- A17°
- M22°
- J28°
- J31°
- A30°
- S26°
- O21°
- N16°
- D12°
- Best
- Hot or crowded
- Quiet
- Mostly closed
Daytime air temperature, averages for 2020–2024. Weather data by Open-Meteo.com.
Why come
Piana degli Albanesi sits at 720 meters on a plateau twenty-four kilometers south of Palermo, encircled by mountains on the eastern flank of Pizzuta. Hora e Arbëreshëvet in arbëresh, the town is the largest and most populous Arbëresh settlement in Sicily, founded in the late fifteenth century by Albanians fleeing the Ottoman conquest of the Balkans, including nobles and relatives of Skanderbeg. Five centuries later the community still speaks the Albanian of its founders, follows the Byzantine Greek rite, and wears traditional costumes on feast days.
The Cattedrale di San Demetrio Megalomartire is the seat of the Eparchy of Piana degli Albanesi, part of the Italo-Albanian Catholic Church. The Byzantine liturgical singing of the town is on the Intangible Heritage Registry of Sicily. The Lago di Piana, an artificial reservoir at 612 meters with 3.1 square kilometers of surface, sits below the town, built to generate electricity and irrigate the plain.
How to get there
From Catania (CTA), about 3 h 6 min by car.
By car from the center of Palermo 36 min.
Coming by train into Palermo Centrale? Piana degli Albanesi is about 36 min away by road.
First time driving in Italy? Read our complete manual.
What to see
Cattedrale di San Demetrio Megalomartire
Seat of the Italo-Albanian Catholic Eparchy, Byzantine-rite cathedral with iconostasis, frescoed interior and Greek liturgy in arbëresh.
Chiesa di San Giorgio
Second great parish of the town, sixteenth-century foundation, also of the Byzantine rite.
Lago di Piana degli Albanesi
Artificial lake at 612 meters, 3.1 km² of surface, built for hydroelectric power and irrigation below the town.
Centro storico arbëresh
Old town with bilingual signage in Italian and arbëresh, surviving five-century Albanian community in the heart of Sicily.
Living here
Could you live here?
Piana degli Albanesi meets both of our rules for a small town.
- 5,245 people, inside our sweet spot of 5,000 to 20,000: a real town, still one community.
- Palermo, a city of 628,693, is 36 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 5,245, down 15.6% since 2015 (Italy's emptying towns)
- Nearest city Palermo, 36 min drive
- Nearest national health service hospital Palermo, 16 km as the crow flies · how healthcare works in Italy
- Homes in the center: €495 to €680 per m² to buy, €1.80 to €2.40 per m² a month to rent
Weighing a move here? See the moving year.
All the numbers Common questions, designations, lists and sources.
More about living here
- In-between
- Pharmacy: none mapped
- High school within a 30-minute drive
- Full fibre reaches 93% of homes
- Primary school in the comune
- Earthquake zone 2, medium hazard
- Palermo airport (PMO), 57 min drive, the nearest with scheduled flights
- Regional capital Palermo, 36 min drive
If you are moving here
Who lives here
4% of residents are foreign citizens, most often from Romania, Albania and Nigeria, against 9% across Italy. There are 283 people over 65 for every 100 children under 15, against 216 across Italy. 46% of homes have no resident, holiday homes and empty ones counted together, against 27% across Italy. Palermo province ranks 97th of 107 in Il Sole 24 Ore's quality of life ranking for 2025.
Health and schools
The nearest emergency room is in Palermo, 16 km as the crow flies, and it is a major one. The nearest children's emergency room is in Palermo, 16 km away. The nearest IB school is Gonzaga International School Palermo, 16 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: 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 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 Palermo, the provincial capital, in September 2026, an espresso cost €1.26, a meal in a pizzeria €13.56 and a man's haircut €17.31.
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. The national maps show no residents in a high or medium flood zone. 1% 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
ARBËRESH
The most important Arbëresh center of Sicily, founded by fifteenth-century Albanian refugees and still speaking their language.
BYZANTINE RITE
Italo-Albanian Catholic Eparchy seat at the Cattedrale di San Demetrio, with Byzantine Greek liturgy and traditional iconography.
CANNOLI
Piana degli Albanesi is famous in Sicily for its oversized ricotta cannoli, drawing Palermitans up for the Sunday morning trade.
Common questions
- What is Piana degli Albanesi known for?
- Piana degli Albanesi is the principal Arbëresh town of Sicily at 720 meters, founded in the fifteenth century by Albanians fleeing the Ottomans and still speaking arbëresh.
- Where is Piana degli Albanesi?
- Piana degli Albanesi is a comune in the province of Palermo, in Sicily.
- What is the nearest airport to Piana degli Albanesi?
- The nearest airport with scheduled flights is Palermo (PMO), about 57 min by car.
- How long is the drive from Palermo to Piana degli Albanesi?
- About 36 min by car.
- When is the best time to visit Piana degli Albanesi?
- Best in May–Oct. July is the warmest month, averaging 31 degrees, and November the wettest, with about 15 rain days.
- Which other towns are like Piana degli Albanesi?
- Camerino, Carsoli and Gizzeria.
- How many people live in Piana degli Albanesi?
- 5,245 residents, by ISTAT's count on 1 January 2025.
- Is Piana degli Albanesi a good place to live?
- By the rules in our Where to Move in Italy series, Piana degli Albanesi is a small town that meets both of our rules. The nearest city, Palermo, is 36 min away by car. The nearest national health service hospital is in Palermo, 16 km as the crow flies. Full fibre reaches 93% of homes.
Tags & data designations · numbers · sources
Recognized as
Landscape
The numbers
- Elevation: 720 m
- Population: 5,245
- Surface area: 64.92 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 Piana degli Albanesi appears in
Similar
Towns like Piana degli Albanesi
What all six share with Piana degli Albanesi: mountain-valley towns · between 3,000 and 10,000 people · high up, between 600 and 1,000 metres
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