Abruzzo · Pescara
Pianella
A Cittaslow hill town between the Tavo and Pescara rivers, anchor of the Aprutino oil triangle and home of the dritta olive.
Picked by Peter Benei
Letter to come
Why Pianella is on our list
It holds Cittaslow and Città dell'Olio.
Subscribe and you get Pianella's letter the day it comes out.
Visiting
- Best time
- Apr–Oct
- By car
- 28 min from Pescara
- Population
- 8,540
- J12°
- F14°
- M15°
- A18°
- M23°
- J28°
- J31°
- A31°
- S26°
- O22°
- N16°
- D13°
- Best
- Hot or crowded
- Quiet
- Mostly closed
Daytime air temperature, averages for 2020–2024. Weather data by Open-Meteo.com.
Why come
Pianella sits between the Tavo and Pescara rivers, fifteen kilometers inland from Pescara. The first documented mention dates to 963, when Pandolfo, Prince of Capua, ordered the construction of the Basilica di Santa Maria Maggiore on the foundations of an old temple of Vesta. Saracens, Normans, the Aquaviva, and the Orsini all passed through; in 1522 the village became a fief of Margherita d'Austria Farnese, and Ferdinand IV later granted it the title of Royal City.
The local agricultural identity is older than all of that. Pianella shares with Loreto Aprutino and Moscufo the so-called Golden Triangle of Abruzzo olive oil, producing the DOP Aprutino Pescarese, and it is the home of the dritta cultivar, a medium-early olive native to the Vestine area that gives a fruity, clear-flavored oil. The Cittaslow membership and the Città dell'Olio listing both run on that long agricultural history.
How to get there
From Ancona (AOI), about 2 h 8 min by car.
Rome Fiumicino (FCO) is about 2 h 39 min away.
By car from the center of Pescara 28 min or Ancona 2 h 3 min.
Coming by train into Pescara Centrale? Pianella is about 28 min away by road.
First time driving in Italy? Read our complete manual.
What to see
Basilica di Santa Maria Maggiore
Pre-Romanesque-Romanesque basilica founded in 963 by Pandolfo, Prince of Capua, built over an old temple of Vesta on the village hill.
Centro storico
Medieval hill nucleus with traces of the Aquaviva and Orsini periods, surrounded by the surviving fragments of Farnese-era walls.
Oliveti di varietà dritta
Hillside groves of the native dritta cultivar, basis of the DOP Aprutino Pescarese extra virgin olive oil produced by local frantoi.
Chiesa di Sant'Antonio Abate
Old parish church in the centro storico, with a Romanesque core and a later baroque interior.
Living here
Could you live here?
Pianella meets our one rule for a small town.
- 8,540 people, inside our sweet spot of 5,000 to 20,000: a real town, still one community.
- Chieti, a city of 48,403, is 24 min by car. Closer than our 30 to 60 minutes: handy for everything, so check the town still keeps a life of its own.
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 8,540, up 0.2% since 2015
- Nearest city Chieti, 24 min drive
- Nearest national health service hospital Chieti, 9 km as the crow flies · how healthcare works in Italy
- Homes in the center: €700 to €1,050 per m² to buy, €2.80 to €4.10 per m² a month to rent
All the numbers Common questions, designations, lists and sources.
More about living here
- Commuter belt
- Pharmacy in town
- High school within a 30-minute drive
- Full fibre reaches 76% of homes
- Primary school in the comune
- Earthquake zone 2, medium hazard
- Pescara airport (PSR), 36 min drive, the nearest with scheduled flights
- Regional capital L'Aquila, 1 h 42 min drive
If you are moving here
Who lives here
5% of residents are foreign citizens, most often from Romania, Senegal and Nigeria, against 9% across Italy. 12 of them come from English-speaking countries or western and northern Europe, mostly the United Kingdom. There are 186 people over 65 for every 100 children under 15, against 216 across Italy. 22% of homes have no resident, holiday homes and empty ones counted together, against 27% across Italy. Pescara province ranks 40th of 107 in Il Sole 24 Ore's quality of life ranking for 2025.
Health and schools
The nearest emergency room is in Chieti, 9 km as the crow flies. The nearest major one is in Terni, 116 km away. The nearest children's emergency room is in Pescara, 14 km away. The nearest IB school is Marymount International School Rome, 140 km as the crow flies. The nearest school listed as international is Canadian College Italy, 33 km away.
Information, not medical advice. Confirm with a professional.
Taxes
A home that is not your main one pays 1% a year in property tax at the 2025 rate, 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. In Pescara, the provincial capital, in September 2026, an espresso cost €1.55, a meal in a pizzeria €10.62 and a man's haircut €19.36.
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. 3% 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
DRITTA OLIVE
Home of the dritta cultivar, native to the Vestine area, with fruity clear-flavored oil and a medium-early harvest.
SANTA MARIA MAGGIORE
Basilica founded in 963 by Pandolfo of Capua over a temple of Vesta, the oldest documented building in the commune.
CITTASLOW
Cittaslow member and part of the Golden Triangle of Abruzzo olive oil with Loreto Aprutino and Moscufo.
Common questions
- What is Pianella known for?
- Pianella is a Cittaslow hill town at 236 meters between the Tavo and Pescara rivers, anchor of the Aprutino oil triangle and home of the dritta olive.
- Where is Pianella?
- Pianella is a comune in the province of Pescara, in Abruzzo.
- What is the nearest airport to Pianella?
- The nearest airport with scheduled flights is Pescara (PSR), about 36 min by car.
- How long is the drive from Pescara to Pianella?
- About 28 min by car.
- When is the best time to visit Pianella?
- Best in Apr–Oct. July is the warmest month, averaging 31 degrees, and March the wettest, with about 12 rain days.
- Which other towns are like Pianella?
- Manoppello, Campli and Guardiagrele.
- How many people live in Pianella?
- 8,540 residents, by ISTAT's count on 1 January 2025.
- Is Pianella a good place to live?
- By the rules in our Where to Move in Italy series, Pianella is a small town that meets our one rule. The nearest city, Chieti, is 24 min away by car. The nearest national health service hospital is in Chieti, 9 km as the crow flies. Full fibre reaches 76% of homes.
Tags & data designations · numbers · sources
Recognized as
Landscape
The numbers
- Elevation: 236 m
- Population: 8,540
- Surface area: 47.05 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 Pianella
What all six share with Pianella: inland, away from the coast · between 3,000 and 10,000 people · hill towns
The letter
Pianella 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 Pianella comes up. By Peter & Sophia, from Turin.
The nearest town we have written up is Scheggino, 107 km away. Read its letter →
Paid plans, the moving year and the books are on the membership page.