Sanremo: what to know before buying a home
A municipality in the province of Imperia, Liguria. Official data on earthquakes, population, services and transport.
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Search for an address in Sanremo
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 Inglesi 1, Sanremo.
Sanremo, the Pigna, the greenhouses and the hills above the sea
The Italian song festival, the casino and the flower trade made Sanremo famous, yet anyone house hunting here soon notices that the town is almost entirely uphill. The modern centre fills a narrow strip between the sea and the hills, along Corso Matteotti and the harbour. Above it is the Pigna, the medieval quarter of lanes and stairways spiralling round its hill, and higher still the slopes of greenhouses and villas up to San Romolo and Monte Bignone.
The old railway along the shore has become a long cycle path, and trains now run in a tunnel with an underground station. For buyers, the gap in price and convenience between a flat on level ground near the centre and a villa in the hills reached by narrow hairpin roads is wide. France is close, and some residents work in Monaco or on the Côte d'Azur.
Sanremo is larger than the provincial capital, Imperia, and holds 25.4% of the province's population: 52,992 residents at the end of 2023, down 2.1% since 2011. It is an older town, with an average age of 49.5, over-65s at 29.6% and small households of 1.98 people on average. Foreign residents make up 14.0%.
On the Civil Protection map the province of Imperia is split between zone 2, with 30 municipalities, and zone 3, with 36. Sanremo is in zone 2, with expected ground acceleration of about 0.146 g. The 1887 earthquake destroyed Bussana Vecchia, a hamlet of Sanremo later resettled by artists. In the stone houses of the Pigna and the inland villages, a structural survey before buying is a sensible precaution.
Using the Revenue Agency (Agenzia delle Entrate) maps, the report finds the plot from the address. On hills this steep, with short streams running down to the sea, landslides and flash flooding after heavy rain are the real issue, and they are checked street by street.
Key points
- Seafront centre, the medieval Pigna and hills of greenhouses and villas.
- An older town: over-65s at 29.6%, average age 49.5.
- Seismic zone 2; the 1887 earthquake destroyed Bussana Vecchia.
- 52,992 residents, 25.4% of the province of Imperia.
Overview
Sanremo is a municipality in the province of Imperia, in Liguria. At the end of 2023 it had 52,992 residents, the most populous municipality in the province. 25% of the province's residents live here.
Earthquakes
For Italy's Civil Protection Department, Sanremo is in seismic zone 2, a zone where strong earthquakes are possible. Only 30 of 66 municipalities in the province are in zone 2.
In the built-up area, the expected ground shaking (peak ground acceleration, PGA) is about 0.146 g, a moderate value: the level with a 10% probability of being exceeded in 50 years, on rock.
For anyone buying in Sanremo, 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 49 years, in line with the province. 30% of residents are over 65 (the regional figure is 29%). Foreign residents make up 14.0% of the population. On average, a household has 2.0 members.
Income and climate
In tax year 2024, taxpayers in Sanremo declared an average taxable income of 22,237 euros, in line with the province (21,487 euros). The Italian average is 24,895 euros.
Sanremo is in climate zone C, with 1,105 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 15 metres above sea level.
Services
In the official Ministry of Education and Ministry of Health lists, Sanremo has 43 schools and 17 pharmacies. The Overture Maps data also lists 39 grocery shops and supermarkets, 58 healthcare facilities, 53 sports facilities and 12 parks and green areas.
There are 1.1 healthcare facilities 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 18.7% of the land in Sanremo, compared with 6.4% in the province and 7.3% in the region. In 2024 built-up land stayed almost the same.
Radon and contaminated sites
Sanremo is not among the radon priority areas designated by the Regione Liguria in 2026. 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 2 contaminated sites, or sites still under investigation, in Sanremo, and 7 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 Sanremo: 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 Sanremo 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 274 inhabited census areas in Sanremo. Half of the residents live in areas scoring 60 or more.
Residents by band
- modest 9.3%
- fair 65.5%
- good 25.2%
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.
- Radon priority areas (Legislative Decree 101/2020), Regione Liguria, national list compiled by ARPA Lombardia. Licence Atto pubblico (art. 5 L. 633/1941), 2026.
- 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 008055. The text on this page is generated automatically from the data.