Lazio · Frosinone
Pico
Tommaso Landolfi's home town, a 2,588-resident Ciociaria borgo between Rome and Naples, with a BPB-inscribed medieval centro and a castle turned literary museum.
Picked by Peter Benei
Letter to come
Why Pico is on our list
It holds Borghi più belli d'Italia.
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Visiting
- Best time
- Apr–Jun, Sep–Oct
- By car
- 1 h 34 min from Naples
- Population
- 2,588
- J11°
- F14°
- M15°
- A18°
- M23°
- J29°
- J34°
- A33°
- S27°
- O22°
- N17°
- D13°
- Best
- Hot or crowded
- Quiet
- Mostly closed
Daytime air temperature, averages for 2020–2024. Weather data by Open-Meteo.com.
Why come
The town sits on a limestone spur, between Rome (115 km north) and Naples (140 km south), in the Ciociaria mountain landscape that runs into the national parks to the south and the Liri valley route toward Fondi. The Monastero di Montecassino lies 40 km east. The castle at the high point of the town, built in the 16th century on 11th-century Norman foundations, belonged to the Boncompagni family, into which the writer Tommaso Landolfi was born; his fantastic-realism stories (Mar delle blatte, La pietra lunare, Il dialogo dei massimi sistemi) place him alongside Borges or Kafka in Italian letters, and the museum now inside the castle also covers the broader school he belonged to, including Buzzati, Calvino, and Bontempelli.
Below the castle, the streets of the old town descend to the central piazza, and the Palazzo Boncompagni, the baronial family's residence, sits at that lower point between the two. The mountains that border the town on the south side are the same range the medieval centro was built to look out over, and they carry the karst hiking, the wild boar territory, and the historic route through the Liri valley that give the area its hunting economy. The food follows that same pattern found across the surrounding villages: pasta alla ciociara, abbacchio, Pecorino, salame ciociaro, and boar from those forests, with the Cesanese del Piglio DOCG red, from the Piglio hills 30 km north, as the local wine.
Population has fallen from 5,200 in 1951 to 2,588 today, the same depopulation that has thinned most Ciociaria mountain villages. What the town amounts to is a single hill settlement where a family castle, a writer's inheritance, and a mountain economy of hunting and wine all occupy the same small footprint, with little distance between the literary museum at the top and the working village below it.
How to get there
From Naples (NAP), about 1 h 29 min by car.
Rome Fiumicino (FCO) is about 1 h 50 min away.
By car from the center of Naples 1 h 34 min or Salerno 1 h 58 min.
Coming by train into Latina? Pico is about 1 h 28 min away by road.
Every town within reach of Naples airport.
First time driving in Italy? Read our complete manual.
What to see
Casa Museo Tommaso Landolfi (Castello Baronale)
The 16th-c Boncompagni baronial castle holds the writer's library, manuscripts, and the rooms where he wrote, preserved as he left them, alongside exhibits on the wider Italian fantastic-realism school.
BPB medieval centro
Narrow stone-paved vicoli climb from the central piazza to the castle, past the Chiesa di Sant'Antonino (15th-c), the Chiesa di San Rocco, and the Palazzo Boncompagni.
Monti Ausoni + Aurunci parks
The Monti Ausoni and Monti Aurunci regional parks sit immediately south, with karst hiking, wild boar territory, and the Liri valley historic route.
Chiesa di Sant'Antonino + Sagra del Cinghiale
The 15th-c parish church anchors the Festa di Sant'Antonino (10 May), the patronal feast. Sagra del Cinghiale (mid-October) is the year's wild-boar food festival.
Cesanese del Piglio + Ciociaria kitchen
The only red DOCG in Lazio (Cesanese del Piglio, from the hills 30 km north), served alongside pasta alla ciociara, abbacchio, salame ciociaro, and wild boar.
Living here
Could you live here?
Pico is at the end of the road.
- A village of 2,588. The nearest town of 5,000 people, Pontecorvo, is 20 min away: past our 15-minute rule, which makes this the end of the road.
- Frosinone, a city of 43,015, is 46 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 2,588, down 12.2% since 2015 (Italy's emptying towns)
- Nearest city Frosinone, 46 min drive
- Nearest national health service hospital Fondi, 17 km as the crow flies · how healthcare works in Italy
- Homes in the center: €370 to €550 per m² to buy
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 32% of homes
- Primary school in the comune
- Earthquake zone 2, medium hazard
- Naples airport (NAP), 1 h 29 min drive, the nearest with scheduled flights
- Regional capital Rome, 1 h 44 min drive
If you are moving here
Who lives here
2% of residents are foreign citizens, most often from Romania, against 9% across Italy. There are 288 people over 65 for every 100 children under 15, against 216 across Italy. 33% of homes have no resident, holiday homes and empty ones counted together, against 27% across Italy. Frosinone province ranks 85th of 107 in Il Sole 24 Ore's quality of life ranking for 2025.
Health and schools
The nearest emergency room is in Fondi, 17 km as the crow flies. The nearest major one is in Latina, 57 km away. The nearest IB school is St. Stephen's School, 101 km as the crow flies. The nearest school listed as international is Teodoro Monticelli International School, 70 km away.
Information, not medical advice. Confirm with a professional.
Taxes
A home that is not your main one pays 0.86% 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 0.6% to your income tax. 7% pensioner tax: this town is not in a qualifying area.
Information, not tax advice. Confirm with a professional.
What it costs
The average household in Lazio spends about €2,270 a month, €580 of it on food, against about €2,170 across Italy. A family of three pays about €647 a year for water, on the Lazio 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. 15% 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
LANDOLFI'S CASTLE-MUSEUM
Tommaso Landolfi (1908-1979), Italy's most idiosyncratic 20th-c writer, the Borges/Kafka of Italian fantastic realism, born here. His castle is now the literary museum.
BORGHI PIÙ BELLI
Officially inscribed Ciociaria borgo on the Monti Ausoni between Rome and Naples. Intact medieval streetscape climbing to the castle.
AUSONI-AURUNCI HIKING
Direct access to Monti Ausoni and Monti Aurunci regional parks. Karst hiking, wild boar country, the Liri valley historic route.
WILD BOAR + CESANESE DEL PIGLIO
Sagra del Cinghiale mid-October celebrates the local hunt. The only red DOCG in Lazio (Cesanese del Piglio) pairs with it.
Common questions
- What is Pico known for?
- Tommaso Landolfi's home town, a 2,588-resident Ciociaria borgo at 220m between Rome and Naples, with a BPB-inscribed medieval centro and a castle turned literary museum.
- Where is Pico?
- Pico is a comune in the province of Frosinone, in Lazio.
- What is the nearest airport to Pico?
- The nearest airport with scheduled flights is Naples (NAP), about 1 h 29 min by car.
- How long is the drive from Naples to Pico?
- About 1 h 34 min by car.
- When is the best time to visit Pico?
- Best in Apr–Jun, Sep–Oct. July is the warmest month, averaging 34 degrees, and November the wettest, with about 13 rain days.
- Which other towns are like Pico?
- Auletta, Taurasi and Sant'Angelo Le Fratte.
- How many people live in Pico?
- 2,588 residents, by ISTAT's count on 1 January 2025.
- Is Pico a good place to live?
- By the rules in our Where to Move in Italy series, Pico is at the end of the road: the nearest town of 5,000 people, Pontecorvo, is 20 min away. The nearest city, Frosinone, is 46 min away by car. The nearest national health service hospital is in Fondi, 17 km as the crow flies. Full fibre reaches 32% of homes.
Tags & data designations · numbers · sources
Recognized as
Landscape
The numbers
- Elevation: 220 m
- Population: 2,588
- Surface area: 32.93 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 Pico appears in
- The best hill towns in the province of FrosinoneFrosinone provincehill town7 towns · smallest 2,588 residents
- The best small towns inside a nature park in LazioLazioinside a parksmall8 towns · smallest 217 residents
- The best hill towns inside a nature park in LazioLaziohill towninside a park10 towns · smallest 217 residents
Similar
Towns like Pico
What all six share with Pico: under 3,000 people · hill towns
The letter
Pico 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 Pico comes up. By Peter & Sophia, from Turin.
The nearest town we have written up is Cerveteri, 136 km away. Read its letter →
Paid plans, the moving year and the books are on the membership page.