Skip to content
Vicinalia
Italiano Sign up

Galatina: what to know before buying a home

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

Liveability index free for any address

Search for an address in Galatina

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 Roma 1, Galatina.

Galatina, Santa Caterina and the stone houses of Salento

The basilica of Santa Caterina d'Alessandria, frescoed from floor to vault, is what brings visitors to Galatina. The town is also tied to tarantism, the old ritual of the tarantula's bite: on the feast of Saints Peter and Paul at the end of June, the tarantate, the women believed to be bitten, came to the chapel of San Paolo seeking a cure. This is the middle of Salento, about twenty kilometres south of Lecce, on a plain of olive groves and fields.

The old centre has Baroque palazzi and courtyard houses built of pietra leccese, the soft local limestone, often with star vaults and flat roof terraces instead of pitched roofs. Anyone buying an old house should budget for rising damp in the walls, typical of this stone, and for upkeep of the roof terraces. Outside the centre are districts of detached houses and apartment blocks, plus the smaller, quieter villages of Noha and Collemeto.

At the end of 2023 Istat, the national statistics office, counted 25,485 residents, down 6.4% since 2011. The average age is 47.7, over-65s are 26.9% and foreign nationals 3.2%. Schools and healthcare are denser than the provincial average, with 0.78 healthcare facilities per 1,000 residents against 0.60, and average incomes are above the provincial level.

All 96 municipalities in the province of Lecce are in seismic zone 4, the lowest class, and the expected ground acceleration in Galatina is about 0.054 g. Here a house's problems come from water more often than from earthquakes.

The surrounding countryside shows the marks of Xylella, the bacterium that has killed many of Salento's olive trees, and the landscape is changing. The ground is limestone, and the report checks the official flood and landslide maps for the address; the Revenue Agency (Agenzia delle Entrate) cadastre lets it find the land parcel.

Key points

  • Basilica of Santa Caterina and the tradition of tarantism.
  • 25,485 residents, down 6.4% since 2011.
  • 0.78 healthcare facilities per 1,000 residents, above the province.
  • Seismic zone 4, minimal expected acceleration: 0.054 g.

Overview

Galatina is a municipality in the province of Lecce, in Puglia. At the end of 2023 it had 25,485 residents, the third most populous in the province.

Earthquakes

For Italy's Civil Protection Department, Galatina is in seismic zone 4, the lowest-risk zone, where strong earthquakes are very rare. All 96 municipalities in the province are in the same zone.

In the built-up area, the expected ground shaking (peak ground acceleration, PGA) is about 0.054 g, a moderate value: the level with a 10% probability of being exceeded in 50 years, on rock.

In zone 4 the risk is low, but for an older building it is still worth asking about the state of the structure.

Population

Compared with the 2011 census, the resident population has fallen by 6.4%. The estimated average age is 48 years, in line with the province. 27% of residents are over 65 (the regional figure is 24%). Foreign residents make up 3.2% of the population. On average, a household has 2.2 members.

Income and climate

In tax year 2024, taxpayers in Galatina declared an average taxable income of 20,358 euros, above the provincial average (19,196 euros). The Italian average is 24,895 euros.

Galatina is in climate zone C, with 1,201 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 78 metres above sea level.

Services

In the official Ministry of Education and Ministry of Health lists, Galatina has 23 schools and 8 pharmacies. The Overture Maps data also lists 20 grocery shops and supermarkets, 20 healthcare facilities, 13 sports facilities and 2 parks and green areas.

There are 0.8 healthcare facilities per 1,000 residents, more 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 14.8% of the land in Galatina, compared with 14.1% in the province and 8.2% in the region. In 2024 built-up land grew by 5.4 hectares.

Radon and contaminated sites

Galatina is not among the radon priority areas designated by the Regione Puglia in 2025. 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 one contaminated site, or site still under investigation, in Galatina, and one more has 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 Galatina: 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 Galatina 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 180 inhabited census areas in Galatina. Half of the residents live in areas scoring 69 or more.

Residents by band

  • modest 2.8%
  • fair 27.6%
  • good 69.6%

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 075029. The text on this page is generated automatically from the data.