Abruzzo · L'Aquila
Santo Stefano di Sessanio
A Medici outpost at 1,250 meters, restored building by building since 1999 into Italy's first scattered hotel.
Picked by Peter Benei
Letter to come
Why Santo Stefano di Sessanio is on our list
It holds Borghi più belli d'Italia.
Subscribe and you get Santo Stefano di Sessanio's letter the day it comes out.
Visiting
- Best time
- Jun–Sep, Dec–Mar
- By car
- 1 h 18 min from Pescara
- Population
- 105
- J5°
- F8°
- M8°
- A11°
- M16°
- J22°
- J26°
- A25°
- S20°
- O16°
- N10°
- D6°
- Best
- Hot or crowded
- Quiet
- Mostly closed
Daytime air temperature, averages for 2020–2024. Weather data by Open-Meteo.com.
Why come
One hundred and five people live in the commune, on the southern rim of the plateau inside the Gran Sasso e Monti della Laga National Park. The village belonged to the Medici from 1579 to 1743, who ran the saffron and wool trades that gave the place its early wealth and left their mark in the gate and the tower built under their rule. By the late twentieth century most of the houses stood empty.
In 1999 the Italian-Swedish entrepreneur Daniele Kihlgren began buying the ruined buildings, one at a time, restoring them rather than replacing them, which is why the stone, the lime plaster, and the timber inside are original. The upper village and its scattered rooms are the direct result of that decision: there was no single building large enough to house a hotel, so the hotel became the village itself. What Santo Stefano offers now is that reversal, a settlement nearly emptied by the late twentieth century, rebuilt not by adding to it but by restoring what was already there, house by house, and still being rebuilt today in the tower rising again on its old footprint.
How to get there
From Rome Fiumicino (FCO), about 2 h 15 min by car.
Ancona (AOI) is about 2 h 51 min away.
By car from the center of Pescara 1 h 18 min or Ancona 2 h 48 min.
Coming by train into Pescara Centrale? Santo Stefano di Sessanio is about 1 h 18 min away by road.
First time driving in Italy? Read our complete manual.
What to see
Torre Medicea (ruderi)
The tower's stump stands on its original footprint, scaffolded, the reconstruction visible in progress against the rest of the village skyline.
Borgo medievale e Sextantio
Rooms are scattered through the restored houses of the village rather than gathered under one roof, so staying here means walking the lanes between stone walls and timber to reach them.
Palazzo delle Logge
A Renaissance loggia looks over the village square and the gate built under the same Florentine administration, its arches the clearest surviving mark of that rule.
Campo Imperatore
A karst plateau at 1,500 to 1,800 meters above the village, reached by trail, used as summer pasture for sheep and as the ground where the lentil is grown.
Parco Nazionale del Gran Sasso e Monti della Laga
Santo Stefano lies inside the park, its gate and village core protected at the boundary of the plateau zone.
From the guides
Where to stay
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.
SextantioHotel
Sextantio holds one Michelin Key.
Living here
Could you live here?
Santo Stefano di Sessanio is at the end of the road.
- A village of 105. The nearest town of 5,000 people, L'Aquila, is 47 min away: past our 15-minute rule, which makes this the end of the road.
- L'Aquila, a city of 70,425, is 42 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 105, down 9.5% since 2015
- Nearest city L'Aquila, 42 min drive
- Nearest national health service hospital L'Aquila, 19 km as the crow flies · how healthcare works in Italy
- Homes in the center: €810 to €1,150 per m² to buy, €2.20 to €3.30 per m² a month to rent
All the numbers Common questions, designations, lists and sources.
More about living here
- In-between
- Pharmacy: none mapped
- Nearest high school over ~30 minutes away
- Full fibre reaches 100% of homes
- No primary school in the comune's register
- Earthquake zone 1, Italy's highest hazard
- Pescara airport (PSR), 1 h 26 min drive, the nearest with scheduled flights
- Regional capital L'Aquila, 42 min drive
If you are moving here
Who lives here
10% of residents are foreign citizens, most often from Romania, against 9% across Italy. There are 667 people over 65 for every 100 children under 15, against 216 across Italy. 86% of homes have no resident, holiday homes and empty ones counted together, against 27% across Italy. L'Aquila province ranks 69th of 107 in Il Sole 24 Ore's quality of life ranking for 2025.
Health and schools
The nearest emergency room is in L'Aquila, 19 km as the crow flies. It has a children's emergency room too. The nearest major one is in Terni, 85 km away. The nearest IB school is Acorn International School, 107 km as the crow flies. The nearest school listed as international is Canadian College Italy, 63 km away.
Information, not medical advice. Confirm with a professional.
Taxes
A home that is not your main one pays 0.96% 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 0.4% 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.
Climate and risk
It is in climate zone F, the coldest of Italy's six, with no national limit on when the heating runs. The national maps show no residents in a high or medium flood zone. Under 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
ALBERGO DIFFUSO
Sextantio, opened 2005, defined the scattered-hotel model in Italy: restored medieval houses with original stone, lime, and timber.
LENTICCHIE
Slow Food Presidium lentil, grown on the Campo Imperatore plateau above town, celebrated at the first-September Sagra delle Lenticchie.
MEDICI TOWER
Cylindrical sixteenth-century tower built under Florentine rule, collapsed in the L'Aquila earthquake of 2009.
Common questions
- What is Santo Stefano di Sessanio known for?
- Santo Stefano di Sessanio is a Medici outpost at 1,250 meters, restored building by building since 1999 into Italy's first scattered hotel.
- Where is Santo Stefano di Sessanio?
- Santo Stefano di Sessanio is a comune in the province of L'Aquila, in Abruzzo, at 1250 meters above sea level.
- What is the nearest airport to Santo Stefano di Sessanio?
- The nearest airport with scheduled flights is Pescara (PSR), about 1 h 26 min by car.
- How long is the drive from Pescara to Santo Stefano di Sessanio?
- About 1 h 18 min by car.
- When is the best time to visit Santo Stefano di Sessanio?
- Best in Jun–Sep, Dec–Mar. July is the warmest month, averaging 26 degrees, and May the wettest, with about 17 rain days.
- Which other towns are like Santo Stefano di Sessanio?
- Castelvecchio Calvisio, Calascio and Pietracamela.
- How many people live in Santo Stefano di Sessanio?
- 105 residents, by ISTAT's count on 1 January 2025.
- Is Santo Stefano di Sessanio a good place to live?
- By the rules in our Where to Move in Italy series, Santo Stefano di Sessanio is at the end of the road: the nearest town of 5,000 people, L'Aquila, is 47 min away. The nearest city, L'Aquila, is 42 min away by car. The nearest national health service hospital is in L'Aquila, 19 km as the crow flies. Full fibre reaches 100% of homes.
Tags & data designations · numbers · sources
Recognized as
Landscape
The numbers
- Elevation: 1250 m
- Population: 105
- Surface area: 33.7 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 Santo Stefano di Sessanio appears in
- The prettiest villages inside a national park in the province of L'AquilaL'Aquila provinceinside a parkprettiest villages6 towns · smallest 105 residents
- The 10 prettiest small villages in the province of L'AquilaL'Aquila provinceprettiest villagessmall10 towns · smallest 105 residents
- The best high-altitude villages within 90 minutes of PescaraNear Pescaraabove 800 mwithin 90 min10 towns · smallest 103 residents · closest 68 min away
- The best mountain towns inside a national park within 90 minutes of PescaraNear Pescaramountaininside a parkwithin 90 min10 towns · smallest 105 residents · closest 68 min away
- The prettiest small villages inside a national park in AbruzzoAbruzzoinside a parkprettiest villagessmall10 towns · smallest 105 residents
- The prettiest villages inside a national park within 90 minutes of PescaraNear Pescarainside a parkwithin 90 minprettiest villages10 towns · smallest 105 residents · closest 48 min away
Featured on
Santo Stefano di Sessanio appears on this themed pick from our Collections:
Similar
Towns like Santo Stefano di Sessanio
What all six share with Santo Stefano di Sessanio: under 1,000 people · mountain towns above 1,000 metres
Castelvecchio Calvisio
Province: L'Aquila
both high in the mountains
Calascio
Province: L'Aquila
both high in the mountains
Pietracamela
Province: Teramo
both high in the mountains
Castel del Monte
Province: L'Aquila
both high in the mountains
Usseaux
Province: Torino
both high in the mountains
Cappadocia
Province: L'Aquila
1 h 32 min apart by road
The letter
Read a sample letter
Chioggia | Everyone is wrong about this town
It’s not an alternative to Venice
Letters from the towns we visit. Free.
Paid plans, the moving year and the books are on the membership page.