Calabria · Vibo Valentia
Pizzo
A tuff-cliff town over the Gulf of Sant'Eufemia, where a king was shot in 1815 and the tartufo gelato was invented a century later.
Picked by Peter Benei
Letter to come
Visiting
- Best time
- May–Sep
- By car
- 3 h 42 min from Salerno
- By train
- Station in the comune
- Population
- 8,744
- J14°
- F15°
- M16°
- A18°
- M23°
- J27°
- J30°
- A30°
- S28°
- O23°
- N20°
- D16°
- 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 15°. Weather data by Open-Meteo.com.
Going to the sea? How to find the free beaches in Italy.
Why come
Pizzo sits on a tuff promontory rising about 70 meters above the Tyrrhenian, at the northern end of the Costa degli Dei. The town's name for its own fortress, Castello Aragonese, has largely given way to Castello Murat, after the brother-in-law of Napoleon who landed here in October 1815 hoping to retake the throne of Naples, was captured by townspeople, and was court-martialled in the building he is now remembered by. The tartufo gelato has a separate history entirely: developed by local gelato-makers in the twentieth century, hand-moulded into a hemisphere with a molten chocolate center and dusted with cocoa, it earned IGP status in 2021, the first gelato in Europe to do so.
Two unrelated claims to fame, a captured king and a dessert, meet on summer evenings in the cliff-edge piazza where the town still gathers. Pizzo's identity rests on that pairing: a fortress town that turned a moment of political violence and a piece of confectionery into the same civic memory.
How to get there
From Lamezia Terme (SUF), about 27 min by car.
Naples (NAP) is about 4 h 25 min away.
By car from the center of Salerno 3 h 42 min, Bari 4 h 23 min or Naples 4 h 25 min.
There is a railway station in the comune, so you can arrive without a car.
Coming by train into Reggio Calabria Centrale? Pizzo is about 1 h 15 min away by road.
Every town within reach of Lamezia Terme airport.
First time driving in Italy? Read our complete manual.
What to see
Castello Aragonese (Murat)
Fifteenth-century fortress on the headland, its main hall preserved as the room where Joachim Murat's court-martial and execution took place, now a museum to the Napoleonic king.
Chiesa di Piedigrotta
Set into the cliff north of town, reached through low tufa passages that open into chambers where the carved figures stand at full height, worn smooth in places by damp and time.
Piazza della Repubblica
Cliff-edge piazza with cafés and gelaterie, the social center of the town and the place to eat tartufo in summer.
Chiesa Matrice di San Giorgio
Sixteenth-century mother church, holds the tomb of Joachim Murat in a side chapel.
Spiaggia della Marinella
Main town beach below the cliff, with views back up to the castle and the promontory above.
From the guides
Where to eat
Not our picks, but places the guides put their name to: a Michelin star, a Gambero Rosso fork, a Slow Food snail, a Michelin Key for the hotels. Worth a table, a counter, or a night when you pass through.
Locanda ToscanoRistorante
Locanda Toscano carries one Gambero Rosso fork (76/100), plus a spot in the Michelin Guide.
San Domenico RistoranteRistorante
One Gambero Rosso fork (78/100), at San Domenico Ristorante.
Before you sit down: how to order at a restaurant, how to spot a tourist trap, what aperitivo is and how the Italian bar works.
Signature dish
Tartufo di PizzoSweet
A hand-formed ice-cream ball with a molten chocolate heart, invented in Pizzo and copied all along the coast.
See every town in our catalogue with a dish of its own.
Living here
Could you live here?
Pizzo meets both of our rules for a small town.
- 8,744 people, inside our sweet spot of 5,000 to 20,000: a real town, still one community.
- Vibo Valentia, a city of 30,906, is 18 min by car. Closer than our 30 to 60 minutes: handy for everything, so check the town still keeps a life of its own.
- 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 8,744, down 4.3% since 2015
- Nearest city Vibo Valentia, 18 min drive
- Train station in the comune
- Nearest national health service hospital Vibo Valentia, 9 km as the crow flies · how healthcare works in Italy
- Homes in the center: €790 to €1,100 per m² to buy, €3.50 to €5.20 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
- 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 1, Italy's highest hazard
- Lamezia Terme airport (SUF), 27 min drive, the nearest with scheduled flights
- Regional capital Catanzaro, 43 min drive
If you are moving here
Who lives here
8% of residents are foreign citizens, most often from Bulgaria, Ukraine and Romania, against 9% across Italy. 21 of them come from English-speaking countries or western and northern Europe, mostly the United Kingdom. There are 231 people over 65 for every 100 children under 15, against 216 across Italy. 44% of homes have no resident, holiday homes and empty ones counted together, against 27% across Italy. Vibo Valentia province ranks 102nd of 107 in Il Sole 24 Ore's quality of life ranking for 2025.
Health and schools
The nearest emergency room is in Vibo Valentia, 9 km as the crow flies. The nearest major one is in Catanzaro, 42 km away. The nearest IB school is Gonzaga International School Palermo, 254 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 Calabria spends about €1,620 a month, €590 of it on food, against about €2,170 across Italy. A family of three pays about €398 a year for water, on the Calabria average.
Climate and risk
12% of residents live in a zone the national maps rate high for floods, 12% in a high or medium one. 2% 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
TARTUFO DI PIZZO
Hand-moulded hazelnut and chocolate gelato with a molten heart, IGP since 2021, the first gelato in Europe to earn the mark.
MURAT'S CASTLE
Joachim Murat, former King of Naples, was tried and shot here on 13 October 1815 after trying to retake his throne.
CHIESA DI PIEDIGROTTA
Seventeenth-century cave church carved into the tuff cliff, filled with life-size tufa figures of biblical scenes.
CIPOLLA ROSSA DI TROPEA CALABRIA
The commune lies inside the Cipolla Rossa di Tropea Calabria IGP production zone.
Common questions
- What is Pizzo known for?
- Pizzo is a tuff-cliff town over the Gulf of Sant'Eufemia, where a king was shot in 1815 and the tartufo gelato was invented a century later.
- Where is Pizzo?
- Pizzo is a comune in the province of Vibo Valentia, in Calabria, at 44 meters above sea level.
- What is the nearest airport to Pizzo?
- The nearest airport with scheduled flights is Lamezia Terme (SUF), about 27 min by car.
- Can you get to Pizzo without a car?
- Yes. There is a railway station in the comune, so you can arrive by train.
- How long is the drive from Salerno to Pizzo?
- About 3 h 42 min by car.
- When is the best time to visit Pizzo?
- Best in May–Sep. August is the warmest month, averaging 30 degrees, and January the wettest, with about 14 rain days.
- Which other towns are like Pizzo?
- Scilla, Vietri sul Mare and Bagnara Calabra.
- How many people live in Pizzo?
- 8,744 residents, by ISTAT's count on 1 January 2025.
- Is Pizzo a good place to live?
- By the rules in our Where to Move in Italy series, Pizzo is a small town that meets both of our rules. The nearest city, Vibo Valentia, is 18 min away by car. The nearest national health service hospital is in Vibo Valentia, 9 km as the crow flies. Full fibre reaches 76% of homes.
Tags & data designations · numbers · sources
Recognized as
Landscape
The numbers
- Elevation: 44 m
- Population: 8,744
- Surface area: 22.89 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 Pizzo appears in
- The best towns you can reach by train that eat well in CalabriaCalabriaby traineats well6 towns · smallest 5,706 residents
- The 7 best towns with a serious restaurant in CalabriaCalabriaserious restaurant7 towns · smallest 4,037 residents
- The 8 best coastal towns that eat well in CalabriaCalabriacoastaleats well8 towns · smallest 1,993 residents
- The best hidden towns that eat well in CalabriaCalabriaeats wellhidden10 towns · smallest 1,993 residents
Similar
Towns like Pizzo
What all six share with Pizzo: on the Tyrrhenian coast · between 3,000 and 10,000 people · near sea level · have a railway station in the comune
Scilla
Province: Reggio Calabria
1 h 25 min apart by road
Vietri sul Mare
Province: Salerno
Bagnara Calabra
Province: Reggio Calabria
51 min apart by road
Belvedere Marittimo
Province: Cosenza
2 h 5 min apart by road
Praia a Mare
Province: Cosenza
2 h 41 min apart by road
- Written about. No. 37.
Castagneto Carducci
Province: Livorno
The letter
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Chioggia | Everyone is wrong about this town
It’s not an alternative to Venice
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