Marche · Macerata
Valfornace
An 872-resident Sibillini commune in the upper Chienti valley, born in 2017 from the merger of Pievebovigliana and Fiordimonte.
Picked by Peter Benei
Letter to come
Why Valfornace is on our list
It holds Bandiera Arancione, Città del Miele and Città dei Liquori.
The nearest town with a letter is Foligno, No. 79, 42 min by car.
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Visiting
- Best time
- Apr–Oct
- By car
- 1 h 21 min from Perugia
- Population
- 872
- J9°
- F12°
- M13°
- A16°
- M21°
- J27°
- J31°
- A30°
- S25°
- O20°
- N14°
- D11°
- Best
- Hot or crowded
- Quiet
- Mostly closed
Daytime air temperature, averages for 2020–2024. Weather data by Open-Meteo.com.
Why come
Valfornace was created on 1 January 2017 from the merger of Pievebovigliana and Fiordimonte, two small communes of the upper Chienti valley within the Monti Sibillini National Park. The capoluogo, Pievebovigliana, sits, and the territory reaches west from there toward the park boundary, with Fiordimonte's frazioni giving access to the higher ground and Pontelatrave holding the castle apart from both. The 2016 earthquakes damaged several of the commune's older structures, near the mountain that anchors the church at its foot, and reconstruction is still underway.
Honey and herb liquors remain the trades that run through the scattered frazioni, the work behind the commune's Città del Miele and Città dei Liquori signals. The territory reads as two former communes now sharing one valley floor and one mountain edge, their built history concentrated in a scatter of small settlements rather than a single center.
How to get there
From Ancona (AOI), about 1 h 41 min by car.
Rimini (RMI) is about 2 h 44 min away.
By car from the center of Perugia 1 h 21 min, Ancona 1 h 37 min or Pescara 2 h 19 min.
Coming by train into Perugia? Valfornace is about 1 h 21 min away by road.
Every town within reach of Ancona airport.
First time driving in Italy? Read our complete manual.
What to see
Castello di Beldiletto
The castle in Pontelatrave carries its fourteenth-century origin into a later remodeling, the summer-residence layout giving way to villa rooms added in the fifteenth century.
Chiesa di San Giusto
The church at the base of Monte Fiegni (1,324 m) shows its age in the plain stone of a pre-Romanesque plan, reconstruction work ongoing since the 2016 earthquakes.
Chiesa di Santa Maria Assunta
The parish church of the capoluogo holds a Romanesque crypt below the main medieval structure.
Parco Nazionale dei Monti Sibillini
The commune's western edge meets the park boundary, with a trail from Fiordimonte climbing toward the high ridges.
Living here
Could you live here?
Valfornace is at the end of the road.
- A village of 872. The nearest town of 5,000 people, Camerino, is 31 min away: past our 15-minute rule, which makes this the end of the road.
- Foligno, a city of 55,303, 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 872, down 19% since 2015 (Italy's emptying towns)
- Nearest city Foligno, 42 min drive
- Nearest national health service hospital Camerino, 8 km as the crow flies · how healthcare works in Italy
- Homes in the center: €500 to €750 per m² to buy, €1.70 to €2.80 per m² a month to rent
All the numbers Common questions, designations, lists and sources.
More about living here
- In-between
- Pharmacy in town
- High school within a 30-minute drive
- Full fibre reaches 90% of homes
- Primary school in the comune
- Earthquake zone 2, medium hazard
- Perugia airport (PEG), 1 h drive, the nearest with scheduled flights
- Regional capital Ancona, 1 h 37 min drive
If you are moving here
Who lives here
10% of residents are foreign citizens, most often from Romania, Poland and Tunisia, against 9% across Italy. There are 300 people over 65 for every 100 children under 15, against 216 across Italy. 66% of homes have no resident, holiday homes and empty ones counted together, against 27% across Italy. Macerata province ranks 26th of 107 in Il Sole 24 Ore's quality of life ranking for 2025.
Health and schools
The nearest emergency room is in Camerino, 8 km as the crow flies. The nearest major one is in Perugia, 57 km away. The nearest IB school is Viterbo International School, 108 km as the crow flies. The nearest school listed as international is Assisi International School, 40 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 0.7% to your income tax, with nothing due on income under €7,500. 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 Marche spends about €2,480 a month, €620 of it on food, against about €2,170 across Italy. A family of three pays about €643 a year for water, on the Marche average. In Macerata, the provincial capital, in September 2026, a man's haircut €24.41.
Climate and risk
9% of residents live in a zone the national maps rate medium for floods. 9% 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
BELDILETTO
Da Varano summer castle of 1371 turned into a Renaissance villa, the architectural anchor of the Pontelatrave frazione.
SAN GIUSTO
Ninth-century Romanesque church at the foot of Monte Fiegni, one of the most important pre-Romanesque buildings in the region.
HONEY AND LIQUORS
Beekeepers and small distillers across the frazioni, with Città del Miele and Città dei Liquori signals to the commune.
Common questions
- What is Valfornace known for?
- Valfornace is an 872-resident Sibillini commune at 441 meters in the upper Chienti valley, born in 2017 from the merger of Pievebovigliana and Fiordimonte.
- Where is Valfornace?
- Valfornace is a comune in the province of Macerata, in Marche.
- What is the nearest airport to Valfornace?
- The nearest airport with scheduled flights is Perugia (PEG), about 1 h by car.
- How long is the drive from Perugia to Valfornace?
- About 1 h 21 min by car.
- When is the best time to visit Valfornace?
- Best in Apr–Oct. July is the warmest month, averaging 31 degrees, and May the wettest, with about 14 rain days.
- Which other towns are like Valfornace?
- Monte Rinaldo, Perinaldo and Frisanco.
- How many people live in Valfornace?
- 872 residents, by ISTAT's count on 1 January 2025.
- Is Valfornace a good place to live?
- By the rules in our Where to Move in Italy series, Valfornace is at the end of the road: the nearest town of 5,000 people, Camerino, is 31 min away. The nearest city, Foligno, is 42 min away by car. The nearest national health service hospital is in Camerino, 8 km as the crow flies. Full fibre reaches 90% of homes.
Tags & data designations · numbers · sources
Landscape
The numbers
- Elevation: 441 m
- Population: 872
- Surface area: 48.61 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 Valfornace appears in
Near here, with a letter
Similar
Towns like Valfornace
What all six share with Valfornace: inland, away from the coast · under 1,000 people · hill towns
Our guide
Our nearest guide, 72 km away
Umbria: the towns, when to go, how to get there
The Umbria guide came out of the letter. Letters from the towns we visit. Free.
Read the guide: Two banks, no sea. 21 towns, the drive and train times, the months, where to eat and sleep.
Paid plans, the moving year and the books are on the membership page.