Umbria · Terni
Terni
Umbria's second city, rebuilt around its steelworks, home of Saint Valentine and seven kilometers from the Cascata delle Marmore.
- Best time
- Apr–Oct
- By car
- 1 h 7 min from Perugia
- By train
- Station in the comune
- Population
- 106,370
Known for
SAN VALENTINO
Terni's third-century bishop and patron saint; the city keeps his feast on 14 February and calls itself the City of Lovers.
STEEL CITY
Steel has been made here since the nineteenth century, and the stainless steel works on the east side of town still run.
MARMORE
The waterfall the Romans made in the third century BC, at 165 meters among the highest in Europe.
- J12°
- F14°
- M16°
- A19°
- M24°
- J30°
- J35°
- A34°
- S27°
- O22°
- N17°
- D13°
- Best
- Hot or crowded
- Quiet
- Mostly closed
Daytime averages, 2020–2024. Weather data by Open-Meteo.com.
Why come
Terni is the Roman Interamna, the town between two rivers, and it shows its history in layers. The Anfiteatro Fausto of 32 AD sits in the city park, the Duomo keeps a sixth-century crypt, and Palazzo Spada, the town hall, may be the last work of Antonio da Sangallo the Younger. From the nineteenth century the water of the Nera drove steelworks, arms factories and jute mills, and that made Terni a target: Allied raids from August 1943 destroyed or damaged 40 percent of its buildings.
The 12,000-ton steel press in Piazza Dante is the city's own monument to that past. Terni is also the city of Saint Valentine, its third-century bishop, whose basilica on the edge of town holds his remains. Seven kilometers up the Valnerina, the Romans cut a channel through the cliff at Marmore in the third century BC and made a waterfall of 165 meters. Lake Piediluco lies just beyond it, and the ruins of Carsulae sit on the Via Flaminia to the north.
How to get there
From Rome Fiumicino (FCO), about 2 h by car.
Ancona (AOI) is about 2 h 27 min away.
By car from the center of Perugia 1 h 7 min or Siena 2 h 16 min.
There is a railway station in the comune, so you can arrive without a car.
Coming from Rome?
Coming by train into Perugia? Terni is about 1 h 7 min away by road.
Every town within reach of Rome Fiumicino airport.
First time driving in Italy? Read our complete manual.
What to see
Cascata delle Marmore
Falls of 165 meters made by the Romans to drain the Rieti plain. The water is released on a timetable, so check the opening hours before going.
Basilica di San Valentino
Built on the hill where followers buried the town's bishop after his martyrdom in 273; the present church dates from 1618 and keeps his remains.
Anfiteatro Fausto
Roman amphitheater of 32 AD in the park of La Passeggiata, with walls of two-tone reticulated stonework.
Palazzo Spada
The town hall on Corso Vecchio, finished in 1576 to a design by Antonio da Sangallo the Younger.
Carsulae
Ruins of a Roman town north of the city, with the Arco di San Damiano and a stretch of the original Via Flaminia.
CAOS
The former Siri chemical works, now home to the archaeological museum and the Aurelio De Felice museum of modern art.
The slow-trip planner
Building a trip? Find where Terni fits in a slow Italy circuit.
Answer six questions. We will shape a geographically coherent slow trip from the 1,000 Italian towns most travelers skip. Yours to save and share.
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.
Lillero Trattoria ModernaTrattoria
Lillero Trattoria Moderna has two Gambero Rosso prawns and a Slow Food snail.
Oste della Mal'OraWine Bar
Oste della Mal'Ora holds two Gambero Rosso bottles.
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.
Living here
- Population 106,370, down 4.6% since 2015
- A local hubi
- Pharmacy in town
- High school within a 30-minute drive
- Train station in the comune
- A national health service hospital in the comune · how healthcare works in Italy
- Full fibre reaches 85% of homes
- Primary school in the comune
- Homes in the center: €950 to €1,800 per m² to buy, €4.70 to €8.40 per m² a month to renti
- Earthquake zone 2, medium hazard
- Rome Fiumicino airport, 2 h drive, the closest of the 15 airports we time
- Regional capital Perugia, 1 h 7 min drive
Could you live here?
Terni is a city.
- A city of 106,370 people, and a provincial capital: the services are here, not a drive away.
- A station of its own, so the rest of Italy is a train ride away.
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.
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Common questions
- What is Terni known for?
- Umbria's second city, rebuilt around its steelworks, home of Saint Valentine and seven kilometers from the Cascata delle Marmore.
- Where is Terni?
- Terni is a comune in the province of Terni, in Umbria, at 130 meters above sea level.
- Which of the airports we measure is closest to Terni?
- Of the 15 airports we time the drive to, the closest is Rome Fiumicino (FCO), about 2 h by car.
- Can you get to Terni without a car?
- Yes. There is a railway station in the comune, so you can arrive by train.
- How long is the drive from Perugia to Terni?
- About 1 h 7 min by car.
- When is the best time to visit Terni?
- Best in Apr–Oct. July is the warmest month, averaging 35 degrees, and December the wettest, with about 13 rain days.
- Which other towns are like Terni?
- Trento, Lucca and Ascoli Piceno.
- How many people live in Terni?
- 106,370 at the 2023 count.
- Is Terni a good place to live?
- Terni is a city of 106,370 people, the kind of place Part 3 of our Where to Move in Italy series is about. There is a national health service hospital in the comune. Full fibre reaches 85% of homes.
Tags & datadesignations · numbers · sources
Recognized as
The numbers
- Elevation: 130 m
- Population: 106,370
- Surface area: 212.43 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 Terni
What all six share with Terni: inland, away from the coast · over 10,000 people · near sea level · have a railway station in the comune
The ranked lists
Lists Terni appears in
- The 8 best towns on a walking route that you can reach by train in UmbriaUmbriaon a walking routeby train8 towns · smallest 8,063 residents
- The best hill towns on a walking route within 90 minutes of PerugiaNear Perugiahill townon a walking routewithin 90 min9 towns · smallest 1,984 residents · closest 33 min away
- The best hill towns in the province of TerniTerni provincehill town10 towns · smallest 1,428 residents
The letter
Terni got its letter. One town at a time, free. The photo, the food, the festa.
The button takes you to the letter's own page on Substack, where you leave your email. About the letter