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Rocca di Cave: what to know before buying a home

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

Liveability index free for any address

Search for an address in Rocca di Cave

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 Trento e Trieste 1, Rocca di Cave.

Rocca di Cave, a fortress village high in the Prenestini Mountains

More than nine hundred metres up, on a spur of the Prenestini Mountains east of Rome, Rocca di Cave looks down on the valley towards Palestrina and, on clear days, across the Roman countryside to the sea. The village is gathered around the medieval fortress, the rocca, that gives it its name. It is a place of stone houses, steep lanes and few access roads, busier in summer than in winter.

Buying here means choosing altitude. The climate zone is E, with cool winters and the occasional snowfall, and houses in the old centre are often small, on several levels, with steep stairs and no parking close by. It is worth seeing a house on a windy, rainy day and checking the roof, windows and damp in walls set against the rock. The report checks the official landslide maps at the exact address.

According to Istat, the national statistics office, there were 360 residents in 2023, 36 fewer than in 2011, a fall of 9.1%. The estimated average age is 49.3, against 46.0 for the metropolitan area of Rome, and over-65s make up 27.8% compared with 22.9%. Declared incomes are well below the Rome area average.

The municipality is in seismic zone 2 on the Civil Protection scale, like 96 other municipalities in the metropolitan area, with expected ground acceleration of about 0.156 g in the built-up area. With old masonry, ask a surveyor before buying how walls and floors are tied together and whether the roof has been rebuilt to modern standards.

Revenue Agency (Agenzia delle Entrate) cadastral maps are available, so the report links the address to its land parcel.

Key points

  • Prenestini Mountains village over nine hundred metres, above Palestrina.
  • Stone houses on several levels, steep lanes, little parking.
  • Over-65s at 27.8%, against 22.9% in the Rome area.
  • Seismic zone 2, expected acceleration about 0.156 g.

Overview

Rocca di Cave is a municipality in the province of Roma, in Lazio. At the end of 2023 it had 360 residents, among the smallest in the province (112 of 121).

Earthquakes

For Italy's Civil Protection Department, Rocca di Cave is in seismic zone 2, a zone where strong earthquakes are possible. The region uses a finer breakdown: here the classification is 2B. Most municipalities in the province (97 of 121) are in the same zone.

In the built-up area, the expected ground shaking (peak ground acceleration, PGA) is about 0.156 g, a medium-high value: the level with a 10% probability of being exceeded in 50 years, on rock.

For anyone buying in Rocca di Cave, 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 9.1%. The estimated average age is 49 years, higher than the province average (46). 28% of residents are over 65 (the regional figure is 23%). Foreign residents make up 2.2% of the population. On average, a household has 2.0 members.

Income and climate

In tax year 2024, taxpayers in Rocca di Cave declared an average taxable income of 22,692 euros, below the provincial average (28,682 euros). The Italian average is 24,895 euros.

Rocca di Cave is in climate zone E, with 2,958 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 933 metres above sea level.

Services

The data shows no schools within the municipality, against a provincial average of 0.7 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 2.3% of the land in Rocca di Cave, compared with 13.2% 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 Rocca di Cave.

Landslides and flooding

Landslide and flood hazard changes from one street to the next even within Rocca di Cave: 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 Rocca di Cave 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 6 inhabited census areas in Rocca di Cave. Half of the residents live in areas scoring 58 or more.

Residents by band

  • fair 100.0%

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 058085. The text on this page is generated automatically from the data.