Santa Maria Capua Vetere: what to know before buying a home
A municipality in the province of Caserta, Campania. Official data on earthquakes, population, services and transport.
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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 Aldo Moro 2, Santa Maria Capua Vetere.
Santa Maria Capua Vetere, ancient Capua and the law courts
Santa Maria Capua Vetere stands on the site of ancient Capua, one of the largest cities of Roman Italy. What remains includes the Campanian Amphitheatre, second in size only to the Colosseum, the Mithraeum with its frescoes and the Arch of Hadrian on the Appian Way. Caserta is a few kilometres away and the two towns have almost merged.
Today it is a service town. It hosts the law courts for most of the province of Caserta, with lawyers and professional offices keeping the centre busy, and schools are denser than average: 44 sites on record, 1.37 per 1,000 residents against 1.11 in the province. Average declared income is above the provincial figure. The centre has historic palazzi and courtyard houses; outside it are districts of small blocks built from the 1960s onwards.
Istat, the national statistics office, recorded 32,122 residents in 2023, down 1.2% since 2011. The town is slightly older than its province, with an average age of 44.5 against 43.1 and over-65s at 21.3% against 19.3%. Foreign residents make up 6.3%.
In the province of Caserta, 5 municipalities are in seismic zone 1 and 96 in zone 2 on the Civil Protection scale. Santa Maria Capua Vetere is in zone 2, with an expected ground acceleration of about 0.122 g. For old palazzi in the centre and blocks from the building boom, ask for structural surveys and check what work has been done.
The ground is full of ancient remains. Digging for cellars, garages or extensions may need approval from the Soprintendenza, the state heritage office, which can take time, so ask before buying with a project in mind. The Revenue Agency (Agenzia delle Entrate) land registry maps are published and the report also checks flood hazard for the address.
Key points
- Ancient Capua: amphitheatre, Mithraeum and Arch of Hadrian.
- Law courts, and schools at 1.37 per 1,000 residents.
- 32,122 residents, down 1.2% since 2011.
- Seismic zone 2, expected acceleration about 0.122 g.
Overview
Santa Maria Capua Vetere is a municipality in the province of Caserta, in Campania. At the end of 2023 it had 32,122 residents, among the most populous in the province (5 of 104).
Earthquakes
For Italy's Civil Protection Department, Santa Maria Capua Vetere is in seismic zone 2, a zone where strong earthquakes are possible. Most municipalities in the province (96 of 104) are in the same zone.
In the built-up area, the expected ground shaking (peak ground acceleration, PGA) is about 0.122 g, a moderate value: the level with a 10% probability of being exceeded in 50 years, on rock.
For anyone buying in Santa Maria Capua Vetere, 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 1.2%. The estimated average age is 45 years, in line with the province. 21% of residents are over 65 (the regional figure is 21%). Foreign residents make up 6.3% of the population. On average, a household has 2.4 members.
Income and climate
In tax year 2024, taxpayers in Santa Maria Capua Vetere declared an average taxable income of 22,571 euros, above the provincial average (20,073 euros). The Italian average is 24,895 euros.
Santa Maria Capua Vetere is in climate zone C, with 1,113 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 36 metres above sea level.
Services
In the official Ministry of Education and Ministry of Health lists, Santa Maria Capua Vetere has 44 schools and 9 pharmacies. The Overture Maps data also lists 27 grocery shops and supermarkets, 27 healthcare facilities, 25 sports facilities and 3 parks and green areas.
There are 0.8 healthcare facilities per 1,000 residents, more than the province average (0.5).
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 36.2% of the land in Santa Maria Capua Vetere, compared with 10.5% in the province and 10.6% 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 one contaminated site, or site still under investigation, in Santa Maria Capua Vetere, and 2 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 Santa Maria Capua Vetere: 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 Santa Maria Capua Vetere 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 185 inhabited census areas in Santa Maria Capua Vetere. Half of the residents live in areas scoring 69 or more.
Residents by band
- modest 0.3%
- fair 36.5%
- good 63.2%
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 061083. The text on this page is generated automatically from the data.