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Brisighella: what to know before buying a home

A municipality in the province of Ravenna, Emilia-Romagna. Official data on earthquakes, population, services and transport.

Liveability index free for any address

Search for an address in Brisighella

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 Faentina 1, Brisighella.

Brisighella, three gypsum hills above the Lamone valley

Three gypsum pinnacles dominate Brisighella: one carries the fortress, another the Clock Tower and the third the Monticino sanctuary. The town lies in the Lamone valley upstream of Faenza, where the Romagna plain gives way to hills. In the old centre you can walk along the Via degli Asini, a covered, raised medieval street, and all around stretches the Vena del Gesso gypsum ridge, now a regional park. The hills are planted with olives and vines, and Brisighella olive oil has a protected designation.

The municipality is large and thinly populated. Beyond the town there are hamlets and scattered houses across land that climbs towards the Apennines, linked by long hill roads that are narrow in places. For a buyer, an isolated house with land can be good value, but you need to factor in distance from services, winter road conditions and looking after the land. In the town itself services are good for its size: there are 8 schools and 4 pharmacies, more per head than the provincial average.

At the end of 2023 there were 7,172 residents according to Istat, the national statistics office, down 6.4% since 2011. The average age of 49.3 is above that of the Ravenna area (47.4), and over-65s make up 29.3%. Households average 2.14 people.

The issue not to underestimate is the hillsides. Landslides are a real problem on these slopes, including in recent years, so before buying ask whether the house, the land or the access road has been damaged and what repairs were done. Down in the valley floor along the Lamone, water is the concern. The report checks the official landslide and flood maps for the address and finds the plot on the Revenue Agency's cadastral maps.

Seismically, Brisighella is in zone 2 on the Civil Protection scale, like almost the whole province, with an expected ground acceleration of about 0.210 g, high for Romagna. For stone and brick houses in the town and on farms, what matters is how walls and floors are tied together and the state of the roof.

Key points

  • Old town on the gypsum hills of the Lamone valley.
  • Landslides on the slopes: ask about the house and its access road.
  • Seismic zone 2, expected acceleration about 0.210 g.
  • Population down 6.4% since 2011.

Overview

Brisighella is a municipality in the province of Ravenna, in Emilia-Romagna. At the end of 2023 it had 7,172 residents, ranked 13 of 18 municipalities in the province.

Earthquakes

For Italy's Civil Protection Department, Brisighella is in seismic zone 2, a zone where strong earthquakes are possible. Most municipalities in the province (17 of 18) are in the same zone.

In the built-up area, the expected ground shaking (peak ground acceleration, PGA) is about 0.210 g, a medium-high value: the level with a 10% probability of being exceeded in 50 years, on rock.

For anyone buying in Brisighella, 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 6.4%. The estimated average age is 49 years, higher than the province average (47). 29% of residents are over 65 (the regional figure is 25%). Foreign residents make up 9.6% of the population. On average, a household has 2.1 members.

Income and climate

In tax year 2024, taxpayers in Brisighella declared an average taxable income of 23,289 euros, below the provincial average (25,184 euros). The Italian average is 24,895 euros.

Brisighella is in climate zone E, with 2,396 heating degree days: heating may be switched on from 15 October to 15 April, for up to 14 hours a day. The same table puts the town hall at 115 metres above sea level.

Services

In the official Ministry of Education and Ministry of Health lists, Brisighella has 8 schools and 4 pharmacies. The Overture Maps data also lists 5 grocery shops and supermarkets, 1 healthcare facility, 7 sports facilities and 7 parks and green areas.

There are 0.1 healthcare facilities per 1,000 residents, fewer than the province average (0.5).

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 3.8% of the land in Brisighella, compared with 10.5% in the province and 9.0% in the region. In 2024 built-up land stayed almost the same.

Radon and contaminated sites

Brisighella is not among the radon priority areas designated by the Regione Emilia-Romagna in 2026. Radon varies from building to building and can only be known by measuring it, especially on ground floors and in basements.

Official databases list no open contaminated sites in Brisighella; one has been cleaned up or closed.

Landslides and flooding

Landslide and flood hazard changes from one street to the next even within Brisighella: 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 Brisighella 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 85 inhabited census areas in Brisighella. Half of the residents live in areas scoring 53 or more.

Residents by band

  • modest 27.0%
  • fair 63.8%
  • good 9.2%

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 039004. The text on this page is generated automatically from the data.