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Alghero: what to know before buying a home

A municipality in the province of Sassari, Sardegna. Official data on earthquakes, population, services and transport.

Liveability index free for any address

Search for an address in Alghero

The report looks at the exact point: landslide and flood risk, seismic zone, price per square metre for the area, services and nearby stops.

For example: Via Giuseppe Mazzini 1, Alghero.

Alghero, Catalan ramparts and the Coral Riviera

In Alghero some residents still speak a form of Catalan, a legacy of the Aragonese conquest in the fourteenth century, and street names in the old town are written in two languages. The old centre is enclosed by ramparts on the sea; around it lies the modern town and, along the coast, the Riviera del Corallo runs out to Capo Caccia, Neptune's Grotto and the bay of Porto Conte. The airport is in the village of Fertilia, with flights to many Italian and European cities.

Tourism shapes the market. Many houses are let in summer or used as holiday homes, and prices in the old town and on the seafront have little to do with those in the farming villages of the Nurra plain, built during the land reclamation of the last century. If you plan to live here all year, look at local services and distance from the centre, which is much quieter in winter. Near the lagoons and drainage channels of the plain, the report checks flood maps for the address.

Alghero has grown: 42,281 residents in 2023, up 4.0% on 2011 according to Istat, the national statistics office, and 13.4% of the province of Sassari. The population is older than average, with a mean age of 49.5 and 27.9% aged over 65, and households are small, 1.91 people on average: many homes are lived in by one or two people. There are 9.08 bars and restaurants per 1,000 residents, well above the provincial average.

Earthquakes are not a concern here. Sardinia has the lowest seismic hazard in Italy and Alghero is in zone 4 of the Civil Protection classification, like the other 65 municipalities in the province, with expected ground acceleration of about 0.050 g. In houses near the sea, salt damage to steel and render, damp and the state of roofs and terraces matter far more.

Key points

  • Catalan old town within ramparts, airport at Fertilia.
  • 42,281 residents, up 4.0% since 2011.
  • Seismic zone 4, the lowest on the scale.
  • Many holiday homes and summer lets, prices vary by area.

Overview

Alghero is a municipality in the province of Sassari, in Sardegna. At the end of 2023 it had 42,281 residents, the second most populous in the province.

Earthquakes

For Italy's Civil Protection Department, Alghero is in seismic zone 4, the lowest-risk zone, where strong earthquakes are very rare. All 66 municipalities in the province are in the same zone.

In the built-up area, the expected ground shaking (peak ground acceleration, PGA) is about 0.050 g, a moderate value: the level with a 10% probability of being exceeded in 50 years, on rock.

In zone 4 the risk is low, but for an older building it is still worth asking about the state of the structure.

Population

Compared with the 2011 census, the resident population has grown by 4.0%. The estimated average age is 49 years, in line with the province. 28% of residents are over 65 (the regional figure is 27%). Foreign residents make up 3.9% of the population. On average, a household has 1.9 members.

Income and climate

In tax year 2024, taxpayers in Alghero declared an average taxable income of 22,567 euros, above the provincial average (21,361 euros). The Italian average is 24,895 euros.

Alghero is in climate zone C, with 1,001 heating degree days: heating may be switched on from 15 November to 31 March, for up to 10 hours a day. The same table puts the town hall at 7 metres above sea level.

Services

In the official Ministry of Education and Ministry of Health lists, Alghero has 35 schools and 12 pharmacies. The Overture Maps data also lists 29 grocery shops and supermarkets, 40 healthcare facilities, 55 sports facilities and 16 parks and green areas.

There are 0.3 pharmacies per 1,000 residents, fewer than the province average (0.4).

Public transport

We do not yet have open public transport timetables for this municipality: the report says so explicitly, without inventing distances.

How built-up it is

Buildings, roads, car parks and other sealed surfaces cover 7.6% of the land in Alghero, compared with 3.4% in the region. In 2024 built-up land grew by 4.6 hectares.

Radon and contaminated sites

Alghero is not among the radon priority areas designated by the Regione Sardegna in 2022. Radon varies from building to building and can only be known by measuring it, especially on ground floors and in basements.

Landslides and flooding

Landslide and flood hazard changes from one street to the next even within Alghero: the report checks the address against the ISPRA maps.

House prices

The Revenue Agency's price ranges per square metre (OMI) apply to zones, not to whole municipalities: the report gives the range for the address's zone.

Land registry

The cadastral maps for Alghero are public: from the address the report finds the sheet and parcel number.

Liveability area by area

The Vicinalia liveability index runs from 0 to 100 and looks at the place, not the people who live there: services within walking distance, transport, green space, natural hazards, air, quiet, buildings and connection. Here it is worked out at the centre of each of the 395 inhabited census areas in Alghero. Half of the residents live in areas scoring 84 or more.

Residents by band

  • modest 0.8%
  • fair 7.2%
  • good 26.4%
  • very good 56.3%
  • excellent 9.3%

Vicinalia index by census area, licence CC BY-SA 4.0. Data: IdroGEO ISPRA (2026), Istat, INGV, EEA, AGCOM, Overture Maps and OpenStreetMap.

The colour is the value at the centre of the area. For an exact address, search for it above: the free check looks at that exact point. How the index is worked out

Data sources

ISTAT code 112001. The text on this page is generated automatically from the data.