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Nuoro: what to know before buying a home

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

Liveability index free for any address

Search for an address in Nuoro

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 Giuseppe Garibaldi 1, Nuoro.

Nuoro, Grazia Deledda's home town

Nuoro is the city of central Sardinia, in the Barbagia area, at the foot of Monte Ortobene, whose summit carries a statue of Christ the Redeemer. Grazia Deledda, winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1926, was born here, and her birthplace is now a museum; the city also has the Sardinian ethnographic museum and a museum of contemporary art. It is a service centre for an inland area of villages, pastures and mountains.

Anyone considering a move to Nuoro, perhaps from elsewhere in Italy or from abroad, will find a hill city away from the coast, with a harsher climate than the shoreline. That affects the home itself: insulation, heating and the energy rating become important. The report gives the municipality's climate zone, the period when heating may be switched on, and the energy class to look for in the energy performance certificate (attestato di prestazione energetica, APE).

The seismic picture, by contrast, is reassuring. Sardinia is among the least earthquake-prone areas in Italy, and all 53 municipalities in the province of Nuoro are classified in zone 4, the bottom of the scale. It is still sensible to ask when a building was put up and whether its structure has been worked on, but this is not the main worry.

What varies more is the ground itself. On slopes, hills and valleys, landslide and flood hazard changes considerably from one address to the next, and the report checks it at the exact location using the official hazard plans.

The land registry follows the general rule: the Revenue Agency (Agenzia delle Entrate) publishes cadastral maps for Nuoro, and the report finds the land parcel from the address, in town or in the countryside.

Key points

  • Birthplace of Grazia Deledda, Nobel laureate in 1926.
  • All 53 municipalities in the province in seismic zone 4.
  • Hill climate: heating and energy rating matter when choosing a home.
  • Revenue Agency cadastral maps available.

Overview

Nuoro is the capital of the province of Nuoro, in Sardegna. At the end of 2023 it had 33,622 residents, the most populous municipality in the province. 23% of the province's residents live here.

Earthquakes

For Italy's Civil Protection Department, Nuoro is in seismic zone 4, the lowest-risk zone, where strong earthquakes are very rare. All 53 municipalities in the province are in the same zone.

In the built-up area, the expected ground shaking (peak ground acceleration, PGA) is about 0.050 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 8.3%. The estimated average age is 49 years, in line with the province. 28% of residents are over 65 (the regional figure is 27%). Foreign residents make up 3.3% of the population. On average, a household has 2.1 members.

Income and climate

In tax year 2024, taxpayers in Nuoro declared an average taxable income of 23,949 euros, above the provincial average (19,512 euros). The Italian average is 24,895 euros.

Nuoro is in climate zone D, with 1,602 heating degree days: heating may be switched on from 1 November to 15 April, for up to 12 hours a day. The same table puts the town hall at 546 metres above sea level.

Services

In the official Ministry of Education and Ministry of Health lists, Nuoro has 33 schools and 11 pharmacies. The Overture Maps data also lists 18 grocery shops and supermarkets, 46 healthcare facilities, 24 sports facilities and 4 parks and green areas.

There are 1.4 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 5.1% of the land in Nuoro, compared with 3.4% in the region. In 2024 built-up land stayed almost the same.

Radon and contaminated sites

Nuoro is one of the municipalities designated as a radon priority area by the Regione Sardegna in 2022. 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.

Landslides and flooding

Landslide and flood hazard changes from one street to the next even within Nuoro: 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 Nuoro 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 390 inhabited census areas in Nuoro. Half of the residents live in areas scoring 84 or more.

Residents by band

  • fair 6.9%
  • good 17.9%
  • very good 52.8%
  • excellent 22.4%

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 114027. The text on this page is generated automatically from the data.