Skip to content
Vicinalia
Italiano Sign up

Orta Nova: what to know before buying a home

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

Liveability index free for any address

Search for an address in Orta Nova

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 Aldo Moro 1, Orta Nova.

Orta Nova, one of the royal farming towns of the Tavoliere

Wheat, vegetables, vineyards and olive groves surround Orta Nova on every side. The town lies on the Tavoliere delle Puglie, the wide plain south-east of Foggia, where farming is still the backbone of the economy. It is one of the Cinque Reali Siti, five agricultural settlements created in the eighteenth century under the Bourbon kings, along with Carapelle, Ordona, Stornara and Stornarella. Foggia is the city people turn to for work, hospital care and public offices.

The town is compact and flat. Older houses often have one or two storeys, newer small blocks have been added around them, and out in the fields there are farmsteads (masserie) and isolated homes. If you are buying from elsewhere, look closely at wiring, plumbing, roofs and damp walls, which in old houses matter as much as the construction date.

This is a young municipality. At the end of 2023 it had 16,645 residents, down 2.1% on 2011, with an estimated average age of 43.3 against 45.2 for the province of Foggia, and over-65s at 19.9% against 23.3%. Households are larger than average, 2.60 people, and foreign residents are 7.9%. Average declared incomes are below the provincial figure, in a province already below the national one.

This part of Apulia has a long record of earthquakes. The national classification by the Civil Protection department puts Orta Nova in seismic zone 2, like 50 other municipalities in the province, while 10 are in zone 1, the highest. Expected ground acceleration in the built-up area is about 0.148 g. In older masonry houses, the condition of load-bearing walls, floors and wall ties is what counts; for newer ones, ask for the design date.

Streams coming down from the Apennines cross the plain towards the sea, and the report checks the official flood maps for the address. The land registry is published by the Revenue Agency (Agenzia delle Entrate), so the address leads to the plot.

Key points

  • Farming town on the Tavoliere plain, south-east of Foggia.
  • Average age 43.3, below the provincial 45.2.
  • Seismic zone 2, expected acceleration about 0.148 g.
  • 16,645 residents, down 2.1% since 2011.

Overview

Orta Nova is a municipality in the province of Foggia, in Puglia. At the end of 2023 it had 16,645 residents, among the most populous in the province (7 of 61).

Earthquakes

For Italy's Civil Protection Department, Orta Nova is in seismic zone 2, a zone where strong earthquakes are possible. Most municipalities in the province (51 of 61) are in the same zone.

In the built-up area, the expected ground shaking (peak ground acceleration, PGA) is about 0.148 g, a moderate value: the level with a 10% probability of being exceeded in 50 years, on rock.

For anyone buying in Orta Nova, 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 2.1%. The estimated average age is 43 years, lower than the province average (45). 20% of residents are over 65 (the regional figure is 24%). Foreign residents make up 7.9% of the population. On average, a household has 2.6 members.

Income and climate

In tax year 2024, taxpayers in Orta Nova declared an average taxable income of 15,943 euros, below the provincial average (18,478 euros). The Italian average is 24,895 euros.

Orta Nova is in climate zone C, with 1,395 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 69 metres above sea level.

Services

In the official Ministry of Education and Ministry of Health lists, Orta Nova has 14 schools and 5 pharmacies. The Overture Maps data also lists 6 grocery shops and supermarkets, 11 healthcare facilities, 7 sports facilities and 1 green area.

There are 0.4 grocery shops and supermarkets 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 5.6% of the land in Orta Nova, compared with 4.1% in the province and 8.2% in the region. In 2024 built-up land grew by 11.6 hectares.

Radon and contaminated sites

Orta Nova 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 low. 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 Orta Nova, and 2 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 Orta Nova: 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 Orta Nova 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 48 inhabited census areas in Orta Nova. Half of the residents live in areas scoring 70 or more.

Residents by band

  • modest 0.7%
  • fair 11.7%
  • good 87.6%

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 071036. The text on this page is generated automatically from the data.