Petrella Salto: what to know before buying a home
A municipality in the province of Rieti, Lazio. Official data on earthquakes, population, services and transport.
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Search for an address in Petrella Salto
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 San Michele Arcangelo 1, Petrella Salto.
Petrella Salto, the Cicolano and the shores of Lake Salto
Petrella Salto lies in the Cicolano, the mountainous part of the province of Rieti on the border with Abruzzo. The main village stands on a rise below the ruins of the fortress linked to the story of Beatrice Cenci; the rest of the municipality is split into many hamlets, some on the shores of Lake Salto, the reservoir created by damming the river, such as Borgo San Pietro.
What you can buy changes a lot from one hamlet to the next: stone houses in mountain villages, homes with lake views, villas used mainly in summer. All travel is by car and winters are cold, climate zone E. Average declared income is below that of the province.
Istat, the national statistics office, recorded 1,025 residents in 2023, down 15.4% from 1,212 in 2011. The average age is high, 52.5 against 48.1 in the province, and over-65s make up 34.2%. Households are small, 1.79 people on average, and foreign residents account for 4.3%.
Petrella Salto is in seismic zone 2, like 59 other municipalities in the province of Rieti, with an expected ground acceleration in the built-up area of 0.211 g. If you are buying a stone house in one of the hamlets, ask whether any work was done after the earthquakes of recent decades in the central Apennines and have an engineer look at it.
Revenue Agency (Agenzia delle Entrate) cadastral maps cover the whole municipality, and the report identifies the land parcel from the address, with the official landslide and flood maps for that spot, useful both on the slopes and near the lake.
Key points
- Cicolano municipality with hamlets on Lake Salto.
- Population down 15.4% since 2011, average age 52.5.
- Seismic zone 2, expected acceleration 0.211 g.
- Market varies by hamlet, many summer homes.
Overview
Petrella Salto is a municipality in the province of Rieti, in Lazio. At the end of 2023 it had 1,025 residents, ranked 34 of 73 municipalities in the province.
Earthquakes
For Italy's Civil Protection Department, Petrella Salto is in seismic zone 2, a zone where strong earthquakes are possible. The region uses a finer breakdown: here the classification is 2A. Most municipalities in the province (60 of 73) are in the same zone.
In the built-up area, the expected ground shaking (peak ground acceleration, PGA) is about 0.211 g, a medium-high value: the level with a 10% probability of being exceeded in 50 years, on rock.
For anyone buying in Petrella Salto, 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 15.4%. The estimated average age is 52 years, higher than the province average (48). 34% of residents are over 65 (the regional figure is 23%). Foreign residents make up 4.3% of the population. On average, a household has 1.8 members.
Income and climate
In tax year 2024, taxpayers in Petrella Salto declared an average taxable income of 20,656 euros, below the provincial average (22,743 euros). The Italian average is 24,895 euros.
Petrella Salto is in climate zone E, with 2,652 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 786 metres above sea level.
Services
In the official Ministry of Education and Ministry of Health lists, Petrella Salto has 3 schools and 2 pharmacies. The Overture Maps data also lists 2 sports facilities and 1 green area.
The data shows no grocery shops and supermarkets within the municipality, against a provincial average of 0.8 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 1.6% of the land in Petrella Salto, compared with 3.2% in the province and 8.2% in the region. In 2024 built-up land stayed almost the same.
Radon and contaminated sites
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.
Official databases list no contaminated sites in Petrella Salto.
Landslides and flooding
Landslide and flood hazard changes from one street to the next even within Petrella Salto: 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 Petrella Salto 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 34 inhabited census areas in Petrella Salto. Half of the residents live in areas scoring 66 or more.
Residents by band
- fair 20.3%
- good 79.7%
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 057050. The text on this page is generated automatically from the data.