Skip to content
Vicinalia
Italiano Sign up

Schio: what to know before buying a home

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

Liveability index free for any address

Search for an address in Schio

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 Pio Decimo 1, Schio.

Schio, the wool town at the foot of the Pasubio

Schio is a wool town. In the nineteenth century the industrialist Alessandro Rossi turned it into one of Italy's first manufacturing centres, and the Lanificio Rossi mill left buildings that still shape the town, such as the Fabbrica Alta, and a whole district of workers' housing, the Nuova Schio. Behind it rise the Vicenza pre-Alps, with Monte Novegno and the Pasubio massif; in front the plain opens towards Thiene and Vicenza.

The municipality runs from the plain up the first slopes. On the flat are the centre, crossed by the Leogra stream, the post-war districts and the industrial zones; on the hills are the contrade, clusters of old rural houses, and scattered homes with narrow roads, gradients and harsher winters. A local railway connects Schio with Vicenza, but most journeys are made by car.

Anyone looking at an older house, including one of the workers' cottages, should budget for work on wiring, heating and insulation, and check whether the building carries heritage restrictions as part of the town's industrial legacy.

Istat, the national statistics office, counts 38,752 residents in Schio (2023), down 1.0% on 2011. The average age is 46.6, above the 45.9 of the province of Vicenza, and over-65s are 25.2% against 23.4%. Foreign residents make up 12.2%. Incomes are slightly above the provincial average.

For a town in the Veneto, earthquake hazard is not low. Schio is in seismic zone 2 on the Civil Protection scale, like 79 municipalities in the province, with an expected ground acceleration of about 0.160 g, and the foothill belt has had strong earthquakes in the past. For a masonry building ask whether structural work has been done. On the slopes, landslides and rockfalls are checked on the official maps for the address, as is flooding along the Leogra. The Revenue Agency publishes the cadastral maps.

Key points

  • Home of the Lanificio Rossi wool mill, between the Pasubio and the plain.
  • 38,752 residents, down 1.0% since 2011.
  • Seismic zone 2, expected acceleration about 0.160 g.
  • Hillside contrade and a flat centre along the Leogra.

Overview

Schio is a municipality in the province of Vicenza, in Veneto. At the end of 2023 it had 38,752 residents, the third most populous in the province.

Earthquakes

For Italy's Civil Protection Department, Schio is in seismic zone 2, a zone where strong earthquakes are possible. Most municipalities in the province (79 of 112) are in the same zone.

In the built-up area, the expected ground shaking (peak ground acceleration, PGA) is about 0.160 g, a medium-high value: the level with a 10% probability of being exceeded in 50 years, on rock.

For anyone buying in Schio, 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 number of residents is nearly unchanged. The estimated average age is 47 years, in line with the province. 25% of residents are over 65 (the regional figure is 24%). Foreign residents make up 12.2% of the population. On average, a household has 2.2 members.

Income and climate

In tax year 2024, taxpayers in Schio declared an average taxable income of 26,558 euros, in line with the province (26,150 euros). The Italian average is 24,895 euros.

Schio is in climate zone E, with 2,588 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 200 metres above sea level.

Services

In the official Ministry of Education and Ministry of Health lists, Schio has 29 schools and 11 pharmacies. The Overture Maps data also lists 18 grocery shops and supermarkets, 26 healthcare facilities, 28 sports facilities and 7 parks and green areas.

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 18.6% of the land in Schio, compared with 12.6% in the province and 11.9% in the region. In 2024 built-up land grew by 2.7 hectares.

Radon and contaminated sites

Schio is one of the municipalities designated as a radon priority area by the Regione Veneto in 2025. 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 9 contaminated sites, or sites still under investigation, in Schio, and 4 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 Schio: 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 Schio 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 615 inhabited census areas in Schio. Half of the residents live in areas scoring 65 or more.

Residents by band

  • modest 1.3%
  • fair 41.6%
  • good 57.1%

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 024100. The text on this page is generated automatically from the data.