Petralia Sottana: what to know before buying a home
A municipality in the province of Palermo, Sicilia. Official data on earthquakes, population, services and transport.
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Search for an address in Petralia Sottana
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 Giuseppe Garibaldi 1, Petralia Sottana.
Petralia Sottana, at a thousand metres in the Madonie park
Petralia Sottana is built on a spur of the Madonie mountains at around a thousand metres, with stone houses following the curves of the hillside. It is the seat of the Madonie Park authority, and the surroundings are woods, pastures and peaks that turn white in winter.
For buyers, the old centre offers stone houses on several floors, with uphill lanes and views over the valley, at prices far lower than on the coast. The downside is distance: Palermo and the Tyrrhenian coast mean a long drive on mountain roads, and many services are found in other Madonie towns. If you want a summer house, you get cool air and quiet; if you plan to live here all year, you need to reckon with zone E winters.
Istat, the national statistics institute, counts 2,412 residents in 2023, down 18.9% on 2011. The average age is 51.0, well above the 44.7 of the province of Palermo, and over-65s make up 31.9%. Foreign residents are only 1.6%. Declared incomes are close to the provincial average.
Petralia Sottana is in seismic zone 2, like 80 other municipalities in the province, with an expected acceleration of 0.148 g. With stone houses in the centre, ask about the state of the roofs, floors and walls and what work has been done in recent decades.
In the mountains the report is most useful for the ground: it measures elevation and gradient at the address, checks the official hazard maps and identifies the land parcel with the Revenue Agency (Agenzia delle Entrate) maps.
Key points
- Madonie mountains, around a thousand metres; park headquarters.
- Stone houses at low prices, far from the coast.
- Population down 18.9% since 2011; over-65s at 31.9%.
- Seismic zone 2, expected acceleration 0.148 g.
Overview
Petralia Sottana is a municipality in the province of Palermo, in Sicilia. At the end of 2023 it had 2,412 residents, ranked 57 of 82 municipalities in the province.
Earthquakes
For Italy's Civil Protection Department, Petralia Sottana 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 0.148 g, a moderate value: the level with a 10% probability of being exceeded in 50 years, on rock.
For anyone buying in Petralia Sottana, 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 18.9%. The estimated average age is 51 years, higher than the province average (45). 32% of residents are over 65 (the regional figure is 23%). Foreign residents make up 1.6% of the population. On average, a household has 2.0 members.
Income and climate
In tax year 2024, taxpayers in Petralia Sottana declared an average taxable income of 21,069 euros, in line with the province (21,337 euros). The Italian average is 24,895 euros.
Petralia Sottana is in climate zone E, with 2,162 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 1,000 metres above sea level.
Services
In the official Ministry of Education and Ministry of Health lists, Petralia Sottana has 4 schools and 1 pharmacy. The Overture Maps data also lists 1 healthcare facility, 4 sports facilities and 3 parks and green areas.
The data shows no grocery shops and supermarkets within the municipality, against a provincial average of 0.6 per 1,000 residents.
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 1.8% of the land in Petralia Sottana, compared with 5.7% in the province and 6.6% in the region. In 2024 built-up land grew by 5.0 hectares.
Radon and contaminated sites
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 no open contaminated sites in Petralia Sottana; 2 have been cleaned up or closed.
Landslides and flooding
Landslide and flood hazard changes from one street to the next even within Petralia Sottana: 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 Petralia Sottana 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 36 inhabited census areas in Petralia Sottana. Half of the residents live in areas scoring 66 or more.
Residents by band
- fair 47.8%
- good 52.2%
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.
- 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 082056. The text on this page is generated automatically from the data.