Abruzzo · Teramo
Silvi
A split town on the Teramo coast, medieval Silvi Paese above a nine-kilometer beach that built itself on licorice in the 1930s.
Picked by Peter Benei
Letter to come
Why Silvi is on our list
It holds Borghi Autentici and Bandiera Blu.
Subscribe and you get Silvi's letter the day it comes out.
Visiting
- Best time
- May–Sep
- By car
- 26 min from Pescara
- By train
- Station in the comune
- Population
- 15,482
- J10°
- F12°
- M13°
- A16°
- M20°
- J25°
- J29°
- A29°
- S24°
- O20°
- N15°
- D12°
- 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 11°. Weather data by Open-Meteo.com.
Going to the sea? How to find the free beaches in Italy.
Why come
Silvi is two places held together by a hill. The upper town sits on a ridge above the water, known as Castrum Silvi in the Middle Ages and as Matrinum in earlier times. The lower town, a fishing strip until 1931, took over as municipal seat that year and turned the coast into a summer resort, so the newer half now outranks the older one administratively even as the older half keeps the name's origin.
The two halves run on industries that have nothing to do with each other and never did: one bottled its economy in licorice from a converted theater in the 1930s, the other guards a stretch of protected sea and dune around a sixteenth-century watchtower. Pescara is fifteen kilometers south. What holds the town together is not a shared trade but the hill itself, the thing that separates the medieval ridge from the resort strip below and forces the place to be read as two settlements rather than one.
How to get there
From Ancona (AOI), about 1 h 51 min by car.
Rome Fiumicino (FCO) is about 2 h 41 min away.
By car from the center of Pescara 26 min or Ancona 1 h 46 min.
There is a railway station in the comune, so you can arrive without a car.
Coming from Rome?
Coming by train into Pescara Centrale? Silvi is about 24 min away by road.
Every town within reach of Ancona airport.
First time driving in Italy? Read our complete manual.
What to see
Silvi Paese
Stone alleys along a ridge, the old Castrum Silvi, with the coastline visible the length of the walk.
Torre del Cerrano
The watchtower stands alone on the sand between the two towns, squat and stone, with the reserve's dune scrub pressing up against its base.
Area Marina Protetta Torre del Cerrano
The first marine protected area in Abruzzo, established in 2010, covering a seven-kilometer stretch of coastline with intact dunes.
Spiaggia di Silvi Marina
A long flat run of sand backed by resort hotels, the Bandiera Blu waters shallow enough near shore to walk out a good distance before the depth changes.
Saila Liquirizia
The old Kursaal theater still stands as the factory shell, its stage-and-balcony bones visible under the machinery, now run by LEAF Italia.
Living here
Could you live here?
Silvi meets both of our rules for a small town.
- 15,482 people, inside our sweet spot of 5,000 to 20,000: a real town, still one community.
- Montesilvano, a city of 53,602, is 19 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 15,482, down 0.2% since 2015
- Nearest city Montesilvano, 19 min drive
- Train station in the comune
- Nearest national health service hospital Atri, 10 km as the crow flies · how healthcare works in Italy
- Homes in the center: €1,500 to €3,200 per m² to buy, €5.10 to €10.10 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 98% of homes
- Primary school in the comune
- Earthquake zone 2, medium hazard
- Pescara airport (PSR), 38 min drive, the nearest with scheduled flights
- Regional capital L'Aquila, 1 h 26 min drive
If you are moving here
Who lives here
8% of residents are foreign citizens, most often from Romania, Senegal and Russia, against 9% across Italy. 59 of them come from English-speaking countries or western and northern Europe, mostly Germany, the United States and the United Kingdom. There are 224 people over 65 for every 100 children under 15, against 216 across Italy. 48% of homes have no resident, holiday homes and empty ones counted together, against 27% across Italy. Teramo province ranks 68th of 107 in Il Sole 24 Ore's quality of life ranking for 2025.
Health and schools
The nearest emergency room is in Atri, 10 km as the crow flies. The nearest major one is in Terni, 118 km away. The nearest children's emergency room is in Pescara, 14 km away. The nearest IB school is Acorn International School, 150 km as the crow flies. The nearest school listed as international is Canadian College Italy, 43 km away.
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 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 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. 1% of residents live in a zone the national maps rate high for floods, 16% in a high or medium one. 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
BANDIERA BLU
Nine kilometers of Adriatic beach awarded the Bandiera Blu since 2008 for water quality and beach management.
TORRE DEL CERRANO
Anchor of Abruzzo's first marine protected area, a 1568 Spanish watchtower now ringed by the region's last intact dunes.
LICORICE
Home of Saila Liquirizia since 1937, the factory built inside a converted Kursaal theater on the Silvi Marina seafront.
PRETUZIANO DELLE COLLINE TERAMANE
The commune lies inside the Pretuziano delle Colline Teramane DOP production zone.
Common questions
- What is Silvi known for?
- Silvi is a split town on the Teramo coast, medieval Silvi Paese at 242 meters above a nine-kilometer beach that built itself on licorice in the 1930s.
- Where is Silvi?
- Silvi is a comune in the province of Teramo, in Abruzzo.
- What is the nearest airport to Silvi?
- The nearest airport with scheduled flights is Pescara (PSR), about 38 min by car.
- Can you get to Silvi without a car?
- Yes. There is a railway station in the comune, so you can arrive by train.
- How long is the drive from Pescara to Silvi?
- About 26 min by car.
- When is the best time to visit Silvi?
- Best in May–Sep. July is the warmest month, averaging 29 degrees, and November the wettest, with about 11 rain days.
- Which other towns are like Silvi?
- Alba Adriatica, Giulianova and Mondolfo.
- How many people live in Silvi?
- 15,482 residents, by ISTAT's count on 1 January 2025.
- Is Silvi a good place to live?
- By the rules in our Where to Move in Italy series, Silvi is a small town that meets both of our rules. The nearest city, Montesilvano, is 19 min away by car. The nearest national health service hospital is in Atri, 10 km as the crow flies. Full fibre reaches 98% of homes.
Tags & data designations · numbers · sources
Recognized as
Landscape
The numbers
- Elevation: 242 m
- Population: 15,482
- Surface area: 20.63 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 Silvi
What all six share with Silvi: on the Adriatic coast · over 10,000 people · have a railway station in the comune
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.