Medolla: what to know before buying a home
A municipality in the province of Modena, Emilia-Romagna. Official data on earthquakes, population, services and transport.
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Search for an address in Medolla
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 Statale 1, Medolla.
Medolla, the lower Modena plain and its medical industry
Until the second half of the twentieth century Medolla was a farming town in the Bassa modenese, the flat country north of Modena, a few kilometres from Mirandola. Then it became one of the centres of the biomedical district, the cluster of medical device companies that grew up around Mirandola, and a good share of local jobs are in the factories on its industrial estate. Modena is about thirty kilometres away.
In May 2012 the Emilia earthquakes hit this part of the plain hard, and in Medolla too houses, churches and industrial buildings were damaged. Much has since been repaired or rebuilt with public grants. That is useful to a buyer today: a building fixed after the earthquake usually has a full file with the designs and sign-off of the work, and it is worth asking for it before completion. If an older house had no work done, find out why.
Medolla is in seismic zone 3 on the Civil Protection scale, like 40 of the 47 municipalities in the province of Modena, with an expected ground acceleration of about 0.149 g. The 2012 sequence showed that even on the plain an earthquake can do serious damage, especially to old masonry buildings and to industrial sheds whose pillars and beams were not tied together.
There are 6,416 residents (end of 2023, according to Istat, the national statistics office), up 1.5% on 2011. The average age is 45.8, in line with the province, foreign residents make up 9.6% and declared incomes are close to the Modena average.
The surrounding farmland is crossed by drainage canals, with the rivers Secchia and Panaro not far off, so flood hazard varies from spot to spot and the report checks it at the address. The Revenue Agency (Agenzia delle Entrate) publishes the cadastral maps, and the report traces the address to its plot.
Key points
- Lower Modena plain, near Mirandola and its biomedical district.
- After the 2012 earthquake: ask for the file on any repair work.
- Seismic zone 3, expected acceleration about 0.149 g.
- Population up 1.5% since 2011.
Overview
Medolla is a municipality in the province of Modena, in Emilia-Romagna. At the end of 2023 it had 6,416 residents, ranked 26 of 47 municipalities in the province.
Earthquakes
For Italy's Civil Protection Department, Medolla is in seismic zone 3, a zone where strong earthquakes are possible but rare. Most municipalities in the province (40 of 47) are in the same zone.
In the built-up area, the expected ground shaking (peak ground acceleration, PGA) is about 0.149 g, a moderate value: the level with a 10% probability of being exceeded in 50 years, on rock.
Even in zone 3, seismic standards apply to new buildings: for an older building, ask about the design year and any structural work.
Population
Compared with the 2011 census, the resident population has grown by 1.5%. The estimated average age is 46 years, in line with the province. 24% of residents are over 65 (the regional figure is 25%). Foreign residents make up 9.6% of the population. On average, a household has 2.3 members.
Income and climate
In tax year 2024, taxpayers in Medolla declared an average taxable income of 27,380 euros, in line with the province (27,632 euros). The Italian average is 24,895 euros.
Medolla is in climate zone E, with 2,199 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 22 metres above sea level.
Services
In the official Ministry of Education and Ministry of Health lists, Medolla has 4 schools and 2 pharmacies. The Overture Maps data also lists 3 grocery shops and supermarkets, 5 healthcare facilities, 7 sports facilities and 1 green area.
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 14.4% of the land in Medolla, compared with 11.1% in the province and 9.0% in the region. In 2024 built-up land stayed almost the same.
Radon and contaminated sites
Medolla 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 one contaminated site, or site still under investigation, in Medolla, 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 Medolla: 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 Medolla 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 93 inhabited census areas in Medolla. Half of the residents live in areas scoring 66 or more.
Residents by band
- modest 3.4%
- fair 43.5%
- good 53.1%
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.
- Radon priority areas (Legislative Decree 101/2020), Regione Emilia-Romagna, national list compiled by ARPA Lombardia. Licence Atto pubblico (art. 5 L. 633/1941), 2026.
- 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 036021. The text on this page is generated automatically from the data.