Comiso: what to know before buying a home
A municipality in the province of Ragusa, Sicilia. Official data on earthquakes, population, services and transport.
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Search for an address in Comiso
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: Corso Vittorio Emanuele Secondo 1, Comiso.
Comiso, Hyblaean stone and an airport born from a base
Comiso has the civil airport named after Pio La Torre, linking the province of Ragusa with the rest of Italy. The town lies at the foot of the Hyblaean hills, facing the plain towards Vittoria, and gives its name to a pale limestone, Comiso stone, used for floors and facades. The writer Gesualdo Bufalino and the painter Salvatore Fiume were born here.
The historic centre, largely rebuilt after the 1693 earthquake, has baroque churches, palazzi and low stone houses. Around it districts of apartment blocks and detached houses have spread. Towards the coast and Vittoria the countryside is covered in greenhouses, and intensive farming employs many residents, foreign workers among them. Buyers find prices well below those on the coast, with Ragusa and the sea a short drive away.
Comiso is growing: 30,086 residents in 2023, up 3.1% on 2011, according to Istat, the national statistics office. The estimated average age is 43.6, close to the provincial 44.0, and over-65s make up 20.7%. Foreign nationals are 10.7%, mostly working in the greenhouses. Declared average incomes are below the average for the province of Ragusa.
The whole province has high seismic hazard in the Civil Protection classification: 5 municipalities are in zone 1 and 7 in zone 2, Comiso included. Here the expected ground acceleration is about 0.191 g, a high value. For masonry houses in the centre and for blocks built before recent rules, ask for the design, the completion certificate and any structural work, and have a surveyor inspect the building.
The Revenue Agency (Agenzia delle Entrate) publishes cadastral maps, so the report finds the plot from the address and then checks landslide and flood hazard on the official maps.
Key points
- Former military base turned civil airport.
- Baroque centre in Comiso stone, greenhouses towards Vittoria.
- Population up 3.1% since 2011, foreign nationals 10.7%.
- Seismic zone 2, expected acceleration about 0.191 g.
Overview
Comiso is a municipality in the province of Ragusa, in Sicilia. At the end of 2023 it had 30,086 residents, ranked 4 of 12 municipalities in the province.
Earthquakes
For Italy's Civil Protection Department, Comiso is in seismic zone 2, a zone where strong earthquakes are possible. Most municipalities in the province (7 of 12) are in the same zone.
In the built-up area, the expected ground shaking (peak ground acceleration, PGA) is about 0.191 g, a medium-high value: the level with a 10% probability of being exceeded in 50 years, on rock.
For anyone buying in Comiso, 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 grown by 3.1%. The estimated average age is 44 years, in line with the province. 21% of residents are over 65 (the regional figure is 23%). Foreign residents make up 10.7% of the population. On average, a household has 2.3 members.
Income and climate
In tax year 2024, taxpayers in Comiso declared an average taxable income of 16,149 euros, below the provincial average (17,930 euros). The Italian average is 24,895 euros.
Comiso is in climate zone C, with 1,012 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 209 metres above sea level.
Services
In the official Ministry of Education and Ministry of Health lists, Comiso has 29 schools and 8 pharmacies. The Overture Maps data also lists 19 grocery shops and supermarkets, 11 healthcare facilities, 19 sports facilities and 1 green area.
There are 0.4 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 17.0% of the land in Comiso, compared with 10.6% in the province and 6.6% in the region. In 2024 built-up land grew by 3.0 hectares.
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 Comiso.
Landslides and flooding
Landslide and flood hazard changes from one street to the next even within Comiso: 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 Comiso 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 983 inhabited census areas in Comiso. Half of the residents live in areas scoring 74 or more.
Residents by band
- modest 1.7%
- fair 14.6%
- good 83.6%
- very good 0.1%
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 088003. The text on this page is generated automatically from the data.