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Piazza Armerina: what to know before buying a home

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

Liveability index free for any address

Search for an address in Piazza Armerina

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 Salvatore Principato 2, Piazza Armerina.

Piazza Armerina, the Casale mosaics and the Erei hills

Piazza Armerina is known around the world for the Villa Romana del Casale, just outside town, whose late Roman mosaics are a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The town sits in the Erei hills, in the heart of Sicily, at around seven hundred metres, and the old centre climbs up to the cathedral, whose dome can be seen from far away.

Buyers here have to reckon with altitude and slopes. The centre is made of steep streets and stone palazzi, often in need of work, while the districts built from the 1960s onwards offer apartment blocks and villas with more space and car access. Woods and farmland surround the town. There is no railway: Enna, Caltagirone and Catania are reached by car or bus. Winters are cool, with the odd snowfall, and summers dry.

Istat, the national statistics office, counts 20,619 residents in 2023, down 7.1% since 2011. It ranks 2 by population in the province of Enna and holds 13.4% of its residents. The average age is 45.7 and foreign nationals make up 5.9%. Declared incomes are above the provincial average, and supermarkets and restaurants, helped by visitors to the Villa, are more common than elsewhere in the province.

Piazza Armerina is in seismic zone 2 of the Civil Protection classification, like 17 other municipalities around Enna, but the expected ground acceleration in the built-up area is more modest, about 0.097 g. For an old palazzo in the centre it is still worth asking what work has been done on the roof, floors and load-bearing walls, and under which permit.

The risk not to underestimate is a different one: on the clay slopes of inland Sicily landslides are common, and the report checks gradient and the official maps for the address. The Revenue Agency (Agenzia delle Entrate) publishes the land registry, so the address leads to the plot.

Key points

  • Villa Romana del Casale, a UNESCO site, and a hilltop centre.
  • 20,619 residents, down 7.1% since 2011.
  • Seismic zone 2, expected ground acceleration about 0.097 g.
  • Clay slopes: landslide hazard checked for the address.

Overview

Piazza Armerina is a municipality in the province of Enna, in Sicilia. At the end of 2023 it had 20,619 residents, the second most populous in the province.

Earthquakes

For Italy's Civil Protection Department, Piazza Armerina is in seismic zone 2, a zone where strong earthquakes are possible. Most municipalities in the province (18 of 20) are in the same zone.

In the built-up area, the expected ground shaking (peak ground acceleration, PGA) is about 0.097 g, a moderate value: the level with a 10% probability of being exceeded in 50 years, on rock.

For anyone buying in Piazza Armerina, 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 7.1%. The estimated average age is 46 years, in line with the province. 24% of residents are over 65 (the regional figure is 23%). Foreign residents make up 5.9% of the population. On average, a household has 2.1 members.

Income and climate

In tax year 2024, taxpayers in Piazza Armerina declared an average taxable income of 19,783 euros, above the provincial average (18,393 euros). The Italian average is 24,895 euros.

Piazza Armerina is in climate zone D, with 1,607 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 697 metres above sea level.

Services

In the official Ministry of Education and Ministry of Health lists, Piazza Armerina has 23 schools and 6 pharmacies. The Overture Maps data also lists 20 grocery shops and supermarkets, 12 healthcare facilities, 12 sports facilities and 4 parks and green areas.

There are 1.0 grocery shops and supermarkets per 1,000 residents, more 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 Piazza Armerina, compared with 3.2% in the province and 6.6% in the region. In 2024 built-up land grew by 1.3 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 Piazza Armerina; one has been cleaned up or closed.

Landslides and flooding

Landslide and flood hazard changes from one street to the next even within Piazza Armerina: 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 Piazza Armerina 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 122 inhabited census areas in Piazza Armerina. Half of the residents live in areas scoring 80 or more.

Residents by band

  • fair 18.3%
  • good 26.3%
  • very good 55.4%
  • excellent 0.0%

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 086014. The text on this page is generated automatically from the data.