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Ercolano: what to know before buying a home

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

Liveability index free for any address

Search for an address in Ercolano

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 Sacerdote Benedetto Cozzolino 1, Ercolano.

Ercolano, Herculaneum, the Golden Mile villas and Vesuvius

Ercolano climbs from the Bay of Naples all the way to the crater of Vesuvius. Down by the sea lies Herculaneum, the Roman town buried by the eruption of AD 79, whose excavations draw visitors from around the world. Along the road towards Torre del Greco stand the eighteenth-century villas of the Miglio d'Oro, the Golden Mile, such as Villa Campolieto. The upper part of the municipality falls within Vesuvius National Park.

For a buyer, the volcano comes first. Ercolano is inside the red zone of the Vesuvius emergency plan, the area that would be evacuated first if the volcano showed signs of waking up. A regional law has for years banned new homes in this zone, so the market is made of existing buildings: post-war blocks, old buildings in the centre and small houses on the slopes.

The town is well connected to Naples. The Circumvesuviana railway has two stations here, Ercolano Scavi and Miglio d'Oro, on the line to Sorrento, and the motorway to Salerno has an exit in town. The urban fabric is dense and green space is scarce, apart from the volcano park.

The population is shrinking: 49,790 residents in 2023, 3,887 fewer than in 2011, a fall of 7.2%. The average age is 43.6 and over-65s make up 21.9%, slightly more than across the province of Naples (20.0%). Foreign residents are few, at 1.0%.

Besides the volcano there are earthquakes. Ercolano is in seismic zone 2 on the Civil Protection Department's scale, like 75 other municipalities in the province, with an expected acceleration of about 0.165 g. In blocks built before anti-seismic rules, ask the building manager whether structural checks have been carried out. The Revenue Agency publishes the land registry maps, so the report traces each address to its plot; on the slopes of Vesuvius the landslide maps are worth reading too.

Key points

  • Inside the Vesuvius red zone: no new homes can be built.
  • 49,790 residents, down 7.2% since 2011.
  • Seismic zone 2, expected acceleration about 0.165 g.
  • Circumvesuviana stations at Ercolano Scavi and Miglio d'Oro.

Overview

Ercolano is a municipality in the province of Napoli, in Campania. At the end of 2023 it had 49,790 residents, ranked 11 of 92 municipalities in the province.

Earthquakes

For Italy's Civil Protection Department, Ercolano is in seismic zone 2, a zone where strong earthquakes are possible. Most municipalities in the province (76 of 92) are in the same zone.

In the built-up area, the expected ground shaking (peak ground acceleration, PGA) is about 0.165 g, a medium-high value: the level with a 10% probability of being exceeded in 50 years, on rock.

For anyone buying in Ercolano, 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 7.2%. The estimated average age is 44 years, in line with the province. 22% of residents are over 65 (the regional figure is 21%). Foreign residents make up 1.0% of the population. On average, a household has 2.7 members.

Income and climate

In tax year 2024, taxpayers in Ercolano declared an average taxable income of 20,474 euros, in line with the province (21,545 euros). The Italian average is 24,895 euros.

Ercolano is in climate zone C, with 969 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 44 metres above sea level.

Services

In the official Ministry of Education and Ministry of Health lists, Ercolano has 30 schools and 14 pharmacies. The Overture Maps data also lists 24 grocery shops and supermarkets, 17 healthcare facilities, 21 sports facilities and 11 parks and green areas.

There are 0.3 healthcare facilities per 1,000 residents, fewer than the province average (0.6).

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 29.4% of the land in Ercolano, compared with 34.9% in the province and 10.6% 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 medium. Radon varies from building to building and can only be known by measuring it, especially on ground floors and in basements.

Official databases list 9 contaminated sites, or sites still under investigation, in Ercolano, and 4 more have been cleaned up or closed. The report tells you whether one is close to the address.

Landslides and flooding

Landslide and flood hazard changes from one street to the next even within Ercolano: 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 Ercolano 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 212 inhabited census areas in Ercolano. Half of the residents live in areas scoring 64 or more.

Residents by band

  • modest 1.6%
  • fair 49.2%
  • good 49.3%

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 063064. The text on this page is generated automatically from the data.