Sicily · Messina
Savoca
A hilltop borgo above the Ionian, its ridge lined with stepped lanes and balconied stone houses.
Picked by Peter Benei
Letter to come
Why Savoca is on our list
It holds Borghi più belli d'Italia and Bandiera Lilla.
Subscribe and you get Savoca's letter the day it comes out.
Visiting
- Best time
- May–Oct
- By car
- 58 min from Catania
- Population
- 1,756
- J13°
- F14°
- M14°
- A17°
- M21°
- J28°
- J32°
- A31°
- S27°
- O22°
- N18°
- D15°
- Best
- Hot or crowded
- Quiet
- Mostly closed
Daytime air temperature, averages for 2020–2024. Weather data by Open-Meteo.com.
Why come
Savoca sits fifteen kilometers north of Taormina, on a hill above the Ionian coast. The centro storico runs along the ridge in stepped lanes and balconied stone houses, with the Capuchin convent below it at the lower edge of the village and the castle ruin above at the highest point, the two anchoring the village from bottom to top. The convent's crypt holds seventeen mummified bodies of notables from the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, preserved in a colatoio that desiccated the corpses with vinegar and salt.
In the summer of 1971, Francis Ford Coppola and Mario Puzo arrived to film the Sicilian scenes of The Godfather here, after the original Corleone in Palermo province was judged too modern for the camera. The village's shape, a compact ridge with a church at one end and a bar in the lower piazza, gave the film both its wedding location and its courtship scene without need for another set. What draws people now is largely what drew Coppola then: a village small enough to read in a single walk, old enough to need no dressing.
How to get there
From Catania (CTA), about 1 h 9 min by car.
By car from the center of Palermo 3 h 12 min.
Coming by train into Messina Centrale? Savoca is about 37 min away by road.
Every town within reach of Catania airport.
First time driving in Italy? Read our complete manual.
What to see
Chiesa di San Nicolò
Thirteenth-century church suspended on a rock promontory at the top of the village. The Godfather's wedding scene between Michael and Apollonia was filmed here.
Bar Vitelli
Eighteenth-century palazzo and family bar in the lower piazza, still operating as it did when it stood in for Apollonia's father's bar in The Godfather.
Cripta dei Frati Cappuccini
Crypt of the Capuchin convent below the centro storico, its ventilated chamber holding the mummified bodies of local notables.
Centro storico
Medieval borgo of stepped lanes and balconied stone houses on the ridge, listed among the Borghi più belli d'Italia.
Castello Pentefur
Ruins on the hill's highest point, standing over the village and the coastline below.
Living here
Could you live here?
Savoca is at the end of the road.
- A village of 1,756. The nearest town of 5,000 people, Santa Teresa di Riva, is 22 min away: past our 15-minute rule, which makes this the end of the road.
- Messina, a city of 217,033, is 47 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 1,756, up 1.2% since 2015
- Nearest city Messina, 47 min drive
- Nearest national health service hospital Taormina, 14 km as the crow flies · how healthcare works in Italy
- Homes in the center: €560 to €820 per m² to buy, €1.80 to €2.60 per m² a month to rent
All the numbers Common questions, designations, lists and sources.
More about living here
- Remote
- Pharmacy in town
- High school within a 30-minute drive
- Full fibre reaches 48% of homes
- Primary school in the comune
- Earthquake zone 1, Italy's highest hazard
- Catania airport (CTA), 1 h 9 min drive, the nearest with scheduled flights
- Regional capital Palermo, 3 h 12 min drive
If you are moving here
Who lives here
6% of residents are foreign citizens, most often from Romania, Venezuela and India, against 9% across Italy. There are 173 people over 65 for every 100 children under 15, against 216 across Italy. 43% of homes have no resident, holiday homes and empty ones counted together, against 27% across Italy. Messina province ranks 91st of 107 in Il Sole 24 Ore's quality of life ranking for 2025.
Health and schools
The nearest emergency room is in Taormina, 14 km as the crow flies. The nearest major one is in Messina, 31 km away. The nearest children's emergency room is in Messina, 31 km away. The nearest IB school is Gonzaga International School Palermo, 175 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, with nothing due on income under €10,000. 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 Messina, the provincial capital, in September 2026, an espresso cost €1.06, a meal in a pizzeria €11.45 and a man's haircut €14.72.
Climate and risk
It is in climate zone C, on a scale from A, the warmest, to F, the coldest, and heating may run from November 15 to March 31, up to 10 hours a day, unless the mayor changes it. 28% of residents live in a zone the national maps rate high for floods. 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
THE GODFATHER
Filming location for the Sicilian scenes of Coppola's 1972 film, with the wedding at San Nicolò and the courtship at Bar Vitelli.
MUMMIES
Seventeen preserved bodies in the Capuchin crypt, desiccated with vinegar and salt between the eighteenth and twentieth centuries.
PENTEFUR
Saracen-Norman castle ruin on the highest point of the village, with the panorama from Taormina to Messina that drew Coppola in 1971.
Common questions
- What is Savoca known for?
- Savoca is a hilltop borgo at 300 meters above the Ionian, its ridge lined with stepped lanes and balconied stone houses.
- Where is Savoca?
- Savoca is a comune in the province of Messina, in Sicily.
- What is the nearest airport to Savoca?
- The nearest airport with scheduled flights is Catania (CTA), about 1 h 9 min by car.
- How long is the drive from Palermo to Savoca?
- About 3 h 12 min by car.
- When is the best time to visit Savoca?
- Best in May–Oct. July is the warmest month, averaging 32 degrees, and March the wettest, with about 12 rain days.
- Which other towns are like Savoca?
- Castelmola, Castroreale and Forza d'Agrò.
- How many people live in Savoca?
- 1,756 residents, by ISTAT's count on 1 January 2025.
- Is Savoca a good place to live?
- By the rules in our Where to Move in Italy series, Savoca is at the end of the road: the nearest town of 5,000 people, Santa Teresa di Riva, is 22 min away. The nearest city, Messina, is 47 min away by car. The nearest national health service hospital is in Taormina, 14 km as the crow flies. Full fibre reaches 48% of homes.
Tags & data designations · numbers · sources
Recognized as
Landscape
The numbers
- Elevation: 300 m
- Population: 1,756
- Surface area: 9.08 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 Savoca appears in
- The best coastal towns in the province of MessinaMessina provincecoastal6 towns · smallest 930 residents
- The prettiest villages in the province of MessinaMessina provinceprettiest villages7 towns · smallest 930 residents
- The best coastal towns within an hour of CataniaNear Cataniacoastalwithin 60 min8 towns · smallest 930 residents · closest 12 min away
- The best small coastal towns in SicilySicilycoastalsmall8 towns · smallest 930 residents
Similar
Towns like Savoca
What all six share with Savoca: hill towns
Castelmola
Province: Messina
both on the Sicilian coast · both under 3,000 people
Castroreale
Province: Messina
both on the Sicilian coast · both under 3,000 people
Forza d'Agrò
Province: Messina
both on the Sicilian coast
San Marco d'Alunzio
Province: Messina
both under 3,000 people
Macerata Feltria
Province: Pesaro e Urbino
both under 3,000 people
Varese Ligure
Province: La Spezia
both under 3,000 people
The letter
Savoca 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 Savoca comes up. By Peter & Sophia, from Turin.
The nearest town we have written up is Cerveteri, 528 km away. Read its letter →
Paid plans, the moving year and the books are on the membership page.