Skip to content
Vicinalia
Italiano Sign up

Castiglione Messer Marino: what to know before buying a home

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

Liveability index free for any address

Search for an address in Castiglione Messer Marino

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 Istonia 1, Castiglione Messer Marino.

Castiglione Messer Marino, a thousand metres up in the Alto Vastese

At around a thousand metres, Castiglione Messer Marino is a mountain village in the Alto Vastese, the mountainous part of the province of Chieti towards the border with Molise. Around it lie pastures, woods and windswept ridges; the coast at Vasto is far away, more in road terms than in miles.

The village has lost a great many people in recent years. There are 1,465 residents, 22.8% fewer than in 2011, or 433 people. Over-65s make up 33.7%, against 26.4% in the province, and the average age reaches 50.8. Foreign nationals are very few, at 0.8%. Average incomes are below the provincial level.

For buyers, this means a market with many stone houses in the centre, often needing renovation, and basic services (13 recorded). Hospitals, secondary schools and larger shops are down the valley, towards the coast or towards upper Molise. Winters are long and snowy: insulation, the roof and heating weigh on the cost of a house year after year.

The municipality is in seismic zone 2 on the Civil Protection scale, like 55 municipalities in the province of Chieti, while 22 are in zone 1; the expected ground acceleration is 0.151 g. In stone houses, check how walls and floors are tied together and ask what work has already been done.

The report checks the official landslide and flood maps for the address, measures elevation and gradient, and gives the cadastral details of the land parcel.

Key points

  • Mountain village in the Alto Vastese, towards Molise.
  • 1,465 residents, down 22.8% since 2011.
  • Over-65s at 33.7% against 26.4% in the province.
  • Seismic zone 2, expected acceleration 0.151 g.

Overview

Castiglione Messer Marino is a municipality in the province of Chieti, in Abruzzo. At the end of 2023 it had 1,465 residents, ranked 44 of 104 municipalities in the province.

Earthquakes

For Italy's Civil Protection Department, Castiglione Messer Marino is in seismic zone 2, a zone where strong earthquakes are possible. Most municipalities in the province (55 of 104) are in the same zone.

In the built-up area, the expected ground shaking (peak ground acceleration, PGA) is about 0.151 g, a medium-high value: the level with a 10% probability of being exceeded in 50 years, on rock.

For anyone buying in Castiglione Messer Marino, 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 22.8%. The estimated average age is 51 years, higher than the province average (47). 34% of residents are over 65 (the regional figure is 26%). Foreign residents make up 0.8% of the population. On average, a household has 2.2 members.

Income and climate

In tax year 2024, taxpayers in Castiglione Messer Marino declared an average taxable income of 16,749 euros, below the provincial average (21,427 euros). The Italian average is 24,895 euros.

Castiglione Messer Marino is in climate zone E, with 2,696 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 1,000 metres above sea level.

Services

In the official Ministry of Education and Ministry of Health lists, Castiglione Messer Marino has 4 schools and 1 pharmacy. The Overture Maps data also lists 1 green area.

The data shows no grocery shops and supermarkets within the municipality, against a provincial average of 0.7 per 1,000 residents.

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 2.4% of the land in Castiglione Messer Marino, compared with 6.4% in the province and 5.1% in the region. In 2024 built-up land stayed almost the same.

Radon and contaminated sites

According to the ISPRA map, the estimated radon emission in the municipality is low. 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 contaminated sites in Castiglione Messer Marino.

Landslides and flooding

Landslide and flood hazard changes from one street to the next even within Castiglione Messer Marino: 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 Castiglione Messer Marino 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 14 inhabited census areas in Castiglione Messer Marino. Half of the residents live in areas scoring 66 or more.

Residents by band

  • modest 1.2%
  • fair 48.2%
  • good 50.7%

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 069020. The text on this page is generated automatically from the data.