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Monreale: what to know before buying a home

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

Liveability index free for any address

Search for an address in Monreale

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 Provinciale 1, Monreale.

Monreale, the cathedral above Palermo and a vast hinterland

Monreale's Norman cathedral, with its gold-ground mosaics and cloister, draws visitors from around the world and is part of the UNESCO site covering Arab-Norman Palermo. The town centre sits at about 300 metres on a natural balcony over the Conca d'Oro, the plain around Palermo, with the city a few kilometres below. Yet the historic town takes up only a corner of the municipality, which stretches inland for dozens of kilometres through wheat fields, woods and rural villages.

The outlying areas vary a great deal. Aquino and Villaciambra now run into Palermo and work as its outer suburbs; Pioppo lies on the road inland; San Martino delle Scale, higher up around its old Benedictine abbey, is cool in summer and full of second homes. Anyone buying in the quickly built areas, especially towards Palermo, should check building permits, any amnesty applications (condono) and utility connections.

Unlike many Sicilian towns, Monreale is growing: Istat, the national statistics office, counts 38,726 residents in 2023, up 1.9% on 2011. It is also young, with an average age of 42.9 against 44.7 in the province and over-65s at 19.5%. Foreign residents are just 1.1%. Incomes are below the provincial average.

Monreale is in seismic zone 2 on the Civil Protection scale, like 81 of the 82 municipalities in the province of Palermo, with an expected ground acceleration of about 0.183 g, a medium-high value. For terraced masonry houses in the centre, and for villas extended in stages over the years, checks on the structure come before anything else.

Across such a steep and large territory, landslide and flood hazard along the ravines changes from place to place, and the report checks the official maps for the address. The Revenue Agency publishes the cadastral maps.

Key points

  • UNESCO-listed Norman cathedral, with Palermo a few kilometres away.
  • 38,726 residents, up 1.9% since 2011.
  • Seismic zone 2, expected acceleration about 0.183 g.
  • Very different areas, from Aquino on Palermo's edge to San Martino delle Scale.

Overview

Monreale is a municipality in the province of Palermo, in Sicilia. At the end of 2023 it had 38,726 residents, among the most populous in the province (4 of 82).

Earthquakes

For Italy's Civil Protection Department, Monreale is in seismic zone 2, a zone where strong earthquakes are possible. Most municipalities in the province (81 of 82) are in the same zone.

In the built-up area, the expected ground shaking (peak ground acceleration, PGA) is about 0.183 g, a medium-high value: the level with a 10% probability of being exceeded in 50 years, on rock.

For anyone buying in Monreale, 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 1.9%. The estimated average age is 43 years, lower than the province average (45). 19% of residents are over 65 (the regional figure is 23%). Foreign residents make up 1.1% of the population. On average, a household has 2.5 members.

Income and climate

In tax year 2024, taxpayers in Monreale declared an average taxable income of 19,773 euros, below the provincial average (21,337 euros). The Italian average is 24,895 euros.

Monreale is in climate zone C, with 1,033 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 310 metres above sea level.

Services

In the official Ministry of Education and Ministry of Health lists, Monreale has 33 schools and 12 pharmacies. The Overture Maps data also lists 22 grocery shops and supermarkets, 11 healthcare facilities, 13 sports facilities and 4 parks and green areas.

There are 0.3 healthcare facilities per 1,000 residents, fewer than the province average (0.7).

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 3.2% of the land in Monreale, compared with 5.7% in the province and 6.6% in the region. In 2024 built-up land grew by 3.4 hectares.

Radon and contaminated sites

Official databases list no open contaminated sites in Monreale; 5 have been cleaned up or closed.

Landslides and flooding

Landslide and flood hazard changes from one street to the next even within Monreale: 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 Monreale 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 208 inhabited census areas in Monreale. Half of the residents live in areas scoring 64 or more.

Residents by band

  • modest 0.7%
  • fair 52.0%
  • good 42.8%
  • very good 4.4%

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 082049. The text on this page is generated automatically from the data.