Barcellona Pozzo di Gotto: what to know before buying a home
A municipality in the province of Messina, Sicilia. Official data on earthquakes, population, services and transport.
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Search for an address in Barcellona Pozzo di Gotto
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 Garibaldi 1, Barcellona Pozzo di Gotto.
Barcellona Pozzo di Gotto, twin towns on the Longano
The double name has a history behind it. Barcellona and Pozzo di Gotto were two separate towns on either side of the Longano stream, merged into one municipality in the nineteenth century. Together they form the second town of the province of Messina, on Sicily's Tyrrhenian coast just south-west of Milazzo, with a farmed plain between the sea and the hills rising towards the Peloritani mountains.
The Longano still runs through the built-up area, and anyone looking at a home in the centre or in low-lying streets should start there. Stream floods have caused damage in this area before, and the report checks the official flood maps for the precise address. On the hills the question is slope stability instead. The Messina-Palermo motorway and the coastal railway both serve the town.
The population is shrinking: Istat, the national statistics office, counts 39,817 residents in 2023, down 4.4% since 2011. It is younger than the province, though, with an average age of 44.6 against 46.7 and over-65s at 22.5% against 25.2%. Foreign residents make up 6.8%. Incomes are below the provincial average, and the climate is the mild one of the Sicilian coast, climate zone B.
Municipalities in the province of Messina are split between seismic zone 1 (17) and zone 2 (91) on the Civil Protection scale. Barcellona is in zone 2, with an expected ground acceleration of about 0.180 g, and the Strait of Messina, not far away, is one of Italy's most active seismic areas. Many homes in town are reinforced-concrete blocks from the second half of the twentieth century, so before buying ask for the design date, any surveys and the work done on the building.
The Revenue Agency publishes the cadastral maps, so the report can trace an address to its plot and read the ground conditions from there.
Key points
- Two towns merged into one, split by the Longano stream.
- 39,817 residents, down 4.4% since 2011.
- Seismic zone 2; 17 municipalities in the province in zone 1.
- Younger than the province: over-65s at 22.5%.
Overview
Barcellona Pozzo di Gotto is a municipality in the province of Messina, in Sicilia. At the end of 2023 it had 39,817 residents, the second most populous in the province.
Earthquakes
For Italy's Civil Protection Department, Barcellona Pozzo di Gotto is in seismic zone 2, a zone where strong earthquakes are possible. Most municipalities in the province (91 of 108) are in the same zone.
In the built-up area, the expected ground shaking (peak ground acceleration, PGA) is about 0.180 g, a medium-high value: the level with a 10% probability of being exceeded in 50 years, on rock.
For anyone buying in Barcellona Pozzo di Gotto, the building matters a great deal: ask for the design year, whether it met the 2008 seismic standards, and whether any seismic retrofit has been carried out.
Population
Compared with the 2011 census, the resident population has fallen by 4.4%. The estimated average age is 45 years, lower than the province average (47). 23% of residents are over 65 (the regional figure is 23%). Foreign residents make up 6.8% of the population. On average, a household has 2.3 members.
Income and climate
In tax year 2024, taxpayers in Barcellona Pozzo di Gotto declared an average taxable income of 19,254 euros, below the provincial average (20,687 euros). The Italian average is 24,895 euros.
Barcellona Pozzo di Gotto is in climate zone B, with 729 heating degree days: heating may be switched on from 1 December to 31 March, for up to 8 hours a day. The same table puts the town hall at 60 metres above sea level.
Services
In the official Ministry of Education and Ministry of Health lists, Barcellona Pozzo di Gotto has 60 schools and 12 pharmacies. The Overture Maps data also lists 27 grocery shops and supermarkets, 41 healthcare facilities, 33 sports facilities and 5 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 16.6% of the land in Barcellona Pozzo di Gotto, compared with 6.0% in the province and 6.6% in the region. In 2024 built-up land grew by 3.1 hectares.
Radon and contaminated sites
Official databases list no contaminated sites in Barcellona Pozzo di Gotto.
Landslides and flooding
Landslide and flood hazard changes from one street to the next even within Barcellona Pozzo di Gotto: 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 Barcellona Pozzo di Gotto 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 296 inhabited census areas in Barcellona Pozzo di Gotto. Half of the residents live in areas scoring 63 or more.
Residents by band
- modest 0.2%
- fair 54.0%
- good 38.8%
- very good 7.0%
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
- Seismic classification of municipalities, Dipartimento della Protezione Civile. Licence CC BY 4.0, updated to 2025-05.
- MPS04 seismic hazard model, INGV. Licence CC BY 4.0, 2004 model.
- Data by census section, Istat. Licence CC BY 4.0, residents at the end of 2023, compared with the 2011 census.
- Places, Overture Maps Foundation. Licence CDLA Permissive 2.0 and others depending on provider, release 2026-10-21.0.
- Income and main IRPEF variables by municipality, MEF, Dipartimento delle Finanze. Licence CC BY 3.0 IT, tax year 2024.
- Climate zones and heating degree days of municipalities (Presidential Decree 412/1993, Annex A), Normattiva. Licence CC BY 4.0, current text.
- Land take, territorial dynamics and ecosystem services, ISPRA e SNPA. Licence CC BY 4.0, 2024 data.
- Predictive radon map by municipality, ISPRA. Licence CC BY 4.0, version 2022-11.
- Contaminated sites, ISPRA, MOSAICO - Banca dati nazionale dei siti oggetto di procedimento di bonifica. Licence CC BY 4.0, updated to 12 November 2026.
- Liveability index by census area, Vicinalia, from the data in the report sections. Licence CC BY-SA 4.0, worked out on 30 September 2026.
- List of Italian municipalities, Istat. Licence CC BY 4.0, updated to 21 February 2026.
ISTAT code 083005. The text on this page is generated automatically from the data.